On this day November 17, 1886, the schooner LUCERNE was lost with her Capt. George L. Lloyd and entire crew during a blinding snowstorm which brought with it a severe drop in temperature, turning the snow to ice several inches thick. The LUCERNE went down off Chequamegon Point in Lake Superior. She was one of eleven ships lost on Lakes Superior and Michigan from this storm. Thirty-six others were wrecked but later recovered and forty-seven sailors perished.
The Milwaukee Sentinel of November 20th printed the following report of her loss:
“Ashland, November 19 – News has just been received here that the schooner LUCERNE, with a cargo of ore for Cleveland, has gone to the bottom of Lake Superior with all on board. She is not known to have been seen after she left here until Wednesday when the captain of the steambarge FRED KELLY, who was on his way here, saw her turn about and head for this port for shelter. She not arriving here this morning, the captain of the steambarge RALEIGH, who brought the LUCERNE, telegraphed to Bayfield for tugs to go in search of her. The str. S. B. BARKER immediately started out. She had only gone a few miles when the spars of a vessel were seen just above the water about one mile south and about ten miles from this city.
“The bodies of three men were found lashed in the rigging. They were immediately cut loose and brought to this city tonight. One is recognized as being the second mate. The vessel is now lying in forty feet of water. The LUCERNE left this port with a crew of nine men, all of whom are supposed to be lost. The tug BROUER, of Bayfield, has been searching about this wreck all day for more bodies, but has not yet found any. The bodies were covered with from one to six inches of ice. The LUCERNE is supposed to have gone to the bottom some time Wednesday night, as the wind blew a terrific gale that night with a blinding snowstorm from the northeast. The coroner’s inquest over the bodies will be held tomorrow, when further particulars will undoubtedly be obtained.”
In June of the following year, her owner James Corrigan was satisfied she was worth saving and hired a diver to examine the wreck. The attempt to raise her was abandoned a week later.
The three masted schooner LUCERNE was built in 1873 at Tonawanda, NY, by Parsons & Humble for the Winslows at a cost of about $65,000. She measured 195 feet in length, 33 feet in beam, 13.8 feet in depth and had a capacity for 52,000 bushels of corn.
Her captain was thanked in 1877 for assisting the disabled steamer PEERLESS. The Detroit Free Press of October 28th printed the following:
“Capt. MacLeod, of the schooner Lucerne, who discovered the steamer Peerless disabled on Lake Michigan September 2nd, was on Friday presented by the owners of the Peerless with a neat and costly combination of watch, thermometer and barometer, set on pivots in a beautiful gilt stand. The case is so arranged that the faces of the instrument may be seen while in it, or may be removed and set upon a table or suspended in a pilot-house. The gift was imported from France and is very valuable. It was properly inscribed.”
Photo at top of page is a pastel by W. Young
The wreck of the LUCERNE is a popular dive site as she is remarkably intact and lies in 24 feet of water.
Suzette Lopez
Photo credit: Great Lakes Marine Collection of the Milwaukee Public Library and Wisconsin Marine Historical Society.
This story was originally posted on November 17, 2023.
