On this day December 7, 1854, the propeller WESTMORELAND foundered about twenty miles from the dock at South Manitou after battling a snowy gale for two days. Seventeen of the thirty-three persons on board were lost. The following story from survivor Chief Engineer Clinton Wright was printed in the Buffalo Democracy of December 22nd describing his ordeal.
“The WESTMORELAND, Capt. Thomas Clark, left Chicago on Saturday, Dec. 2d, for this port with 29,0Q0 bushels of oafs, 90 bales of wool, 1,400 bbls of flour, 50 kegs of butter, 200 dressed hogs, 160 quarters of beef and a quantity of barreled beef, pork, lard, &e.
“The Propeller made a great deal of foe on the 4th and 6th, and labored heavily. On the 6th it blew a gale, and snowed very hard. She began to leak a little, but was kept free by the steam pumps, which were immediately set going. The storm continued, however, and on the morning of the 7th, the engineer discovered that the water was coming in rapidly. The pumps were again set to work, but the water gained so that all hands were called to bail her out.
“At 10 o’clock A. M., the water began to damage the fires from underneath the grates, and continued to rise steadily until all the fires were put out.
“The Propeller was then abreast of the point near the South Manitou, and about two miles and a half from shore, and within sight of the Light House. The wind blowing a gale from the northwest, took her out to sea, where she drifted about 12 miles. The crew were unable to head her for the shore, on account of an undertow
“After every attempt to get her in had proved unavailing, and no hopes were left of saving her, the boats were got ready for launching. They had three on board. Into the first got Captain Clark, the two women, both engineers, two passengers, one wheelsman, one deck hand, and the cook. This boat, after a pull of nearly two hours, reached the beach in safety. In the second boat were the two mates, the second mate and watchman of the Saginaw, one wheelsman of the WESTMORELAND, and three Germans. This boat also reached the shore in safety. The third boat, with several in it, got foul of the cabin in launching, and upset. All in it perished!
“The propeller continued to fill, and finally went down, between two and three o’clock in the afternoon, in about thirty fathoms of water twenty miles from the dock at the South Manitou, and three miles from shore. When last seen, several of the men WHO were to have taken the third boat, were clinging to the arches.
“The first and second boats landed at Platt River Bay, eighteen miles from Manitou Islands. The second boat was upset in the breakers and two of its crew were drowned. The boat was soon righted and then got safely ashore. The men from the boats then went back into the woods and built a cabin of branches, a fire, and remained there over night. The next morning the third boat was found bottom side up the beach, having drifted ashore. The beach was strewn for miles with barrels of flour pork, butter, &c., from the unfortunate propeller.
“The shipwrecked party staid in their cabin from Thursday night until Saturday morning, when the storm abated and they started in the boats for Manitou Islands. After being out two hours the wind sprang up and both boats were driven ashore. Here they built a new cabin and remained four days, until the storm subsided. Prior to this, however, and on the second day, the mate and two others started for the Island, going round by the beach. On the fourth day the first mate, not having returned, the second mate and the first and second engineers started on foot on the beach for Manistee ninety miles distant. In their route they had to wade through several streams, one in which the water was three feet deep. They reached Manistee on Friday evening and on Saturday evening got on board the schooner Whirlwind bound for Racine, which port they reached on Wednesday.
“When they left the Platt River the Captain was making preparations to go to the Island with the woman and was to leave five of his men in charge of what freight might wash ashore. Mr. Wright says the passengers will have to remain at the Islands, until spring or travel a distance of nearly three hundred miles on foot. …”
The WESTMORELAND was built in 1853 at Ohio City, Ohio, by Lafrinier & Stevenson for Anson D. Ellis of Buffalo and measured 200 feet in length, 28 feet in beam and 12 feet in depth.
The wreck of the WESTMORELAND was reported to have been discovered in 1872 and then was discovered again 138 years later in 2010. Our Shipwreck Ambassador Cal Kothrade shares his story and photos of his memorial dive on the wreck.
Cal’s painting of the WESTMORELAND wreck
The Great Lakes is a Mecca for wreck divers the world over, because of their ability to preserve shipwrecks as well, if not better than any other body of water on the planet, thanks in large part to their cold, dark and fresh water. Intact wrecks or wrecks with undisturbed artifacts are what I refer to as a ‘Quality’ dive. The mid nineteenth century steamer WESTMORELAND is a prime example. Having succumbed to a winter storm near what is now Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in 1854, the sleek wooden vessel had been on the bottom of Lake Michigan a full decade by the time President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated.
Photo at top of page: Cal’s painting of the bow of the WESTMORELAND
One of my best friends, Ross Richardson found her in 2010, after years of exhaustive searching. That’s 156 years after she went missing for those of you who are math challenged. Her condition on the bottom today is proof positive my earlier claim about the preservation capabilities of the Great Lakes is truth. But, I knew all of this full well before ever seeing her in person. Her discoverer hired me in 2012 to work my artist magic and conjure up a painting of the wreck to be used as the cover of a book he was writing about the vessel, and his journey to find it. Ross and I were aware of each other, through mutual respect in the small community that is Great Lakes Shipwrecks. We were both divers and during a short meeting at the end of a dive symposium, we naturally hit it off. We have since become the best of friends and remain in contact at least every week. We have an antebellum shipwreck to thank for that.
I was provided copious amounts of underwater video and still footage to facilitate the artwork’s creation. The process of creating an archaeologically accurate rendering of a two hundred foot long wreck requires time, attention to detail, good video, and persistence. After a month of long nights at my computer digitally ‘painting’ her, I felt as though I knew the old girl better than perhaps any other wreck. I chose to depict the vessel at the moment Ross arrived at the bow, where his grapple line had snagged tight. This was the tenuous connection between the sunlit surface, and 1854. The thin yellow polypropylene line was Ross’s time machine, and he rode it 170 feet down by himself, unsure of what he would see at the bottom. This is what I call a ‘big boy dive’. Ross always tells me; “fortune favors the bold”, and he is not wrong.
the windlass
Shortly after painting the WESTMORELAND, I was invited to dive the wreck from Ross’s small boat at my convenience. My long time dive companion, best friend, and WMHS member Steven Wimer II was extended the same invitation. We attempted to dive her in September of 2012, the same year I painted her. Sadly the weather and waves conspired to keep the three intrepid explorers off the lake for an entire four day visit, forcing Steve and I to make the 450 mile drive back to Milwaukee somewhat dejected, with our camera’s SD cards barren, and our dive tanks still full of compressed air. It would be three agonizing years before the stars aligned for us and the WESTMORELAND.
Bow and anchor
The weather in Northern Michigan on that late June week in 2015 gave us just enough of a window to make 2 ½ dives on her. How do you make half a dive? By descending 160 feet down, waiting for your partner to arrive, only to find out he has safety issues that cannot be resolved at depth. I read Steve’s hand signals in disbelief, he was calling the dive before it ever really got started. My dive buddy is the most issue free partner I have ever had underwater. I don’t recall him ever calling a dive out of the hundreds we’ve made. If anything, I was the one who had had to pull the plug once or twice over the years. But the deal is simple: no matter the reason, no matter the situation, if somebody calls the dive, it’s over for everyone, no questions asked. Much to my chagrin, I acquiesced, and up the line we went. Upon breaching the surface, I asked questions. It was a shame the dive had to be scrapped, the conditions had been perfect, both above and below. That was the second dive, the first dive taking place the day previous, and that day’s dive had been issue free and quite enjoyable. I felt as though I was diving in my digital painting, each and every missing board and piece of debris just where my brush said it was, thanks to the comprehensive footage provided me three years earlier. Vis could have been a bit better than the 25 feet we had, but it could have been worse too, and beggars can’t be choosers. An incoming weather front kept us from making dives three days in a row, and it looked as if we might not get back on the lake/wreck at all before our scheduled departure for home.
the hogging arches
Days later, a last minute weather window opened up and we pressed it to get one more shot at the grand old dame. Unlike earlier in the week, we were now dealing with 2-3 foot waves, which made launching and recovering the boat at the sketchy ramp dangerous at best. Additionally, gearing up on Ross’s boat while bobbing on the surface made for green divers who were thankful to splash and submerge where the sickening motion finally stopped, at least for the next 35 minutes or so. Upon leaving the surface, I privately hoped the waves would lie down in my absence.
the engine
The images of WESTMORELAND’s bow were taken on this final dive, and we also discovered her bell. Vis was about the same as earlier in the week. As for the wreck itself, it sits upright on a flat and level bottom, and is nearly all intact with the exception of the as of yet unaccounted for wooden cabins which once stood atop her now collapsed decks.
the helm with davits behind
Interestingly, this was the first wreck I had ever dove that exhibited large hogging arches, a feature employed in many Great Lakes vessels from the 1800’s. They were a structural component that helped to keep the ship from sagging under its own weight at the bow and stern. WESTMORELAND’s arches are much larger in person than I imagined them, and are still stout. Just aft of the arches is where her two lifeboats were kept, at the stern. The boats are gone now, having been used by some of the people aboard trying to escape death at the hands of hypothermia and drowning. Some were successful, and some were not. The davits that those boats were launched from are still standing in place. One of them was responsible for flipping one of the lifeboats filled with would be survivors as the vessel slid below the waves, throwing them into the churning, icy waters. This thought did not escape me as I photographed the davits, watching the one our mooring line (and ride home) was attached to wiggle and otherwise move violently back and forth in its recessed hole in the old wood deck, a consequence of the waves above, and constant tugging of Ross’s boat.
Climbing back aboard the tiny craft as it was being tossed in the now 3-4 footers that had built in our 25 minute absence was a test of physical and mental will, as well as skill acquired from having been in this exact situation more than a few times over the years. The goal is to not let the boat’s swim platform or ladder come down on you as you maneuver into place to climb aboard. A strike could leave a diver badly injured, or even worse. We all three were glad to be safely on our way back to the dock sans injuries. That afternoon Steve and I were able to review our photos from the third and final dive. It was mutually agreed upon that the wait of several years had been worth it, the wreck was in every way… ‘Quality’.
Still images were taken with a Canon T1-I Rebel DSLR mated to a Canon 10-22mm super-wide rectilinear lens, in an Ikelite housing using natural light and Ikelite DS-161 Movie strobes X2. Post production was performed in Adobe Lightroom. Digital artwork was created in Affinity Photo.
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All photos are by Cal Kothrade. Cal Kothrade is the Shipwreck Ambassador of the Wisconsin Marine Historical Society, a diver, a photographer and an artist. His work can be viewed at www.calsworld.net
This story was originally posted on December 7, 2023
