Early on Sept. 30, 1893, the Margaret A. Muir schooner, carrying cargo of bulk salt, cleared the narrow Straits of Mackinac on its way down Lake Michigan toward Chicago’s port.
As the crew rounded Michigan and steered south, the ship encountered relentless 50-mile-an-hour winds.
Captain David Clow and his crew of six barely made it out alive, steering a lifeboat through high waves to the Wisconsin shore.
In his grief, Captain Clow, who was 71 years old and had survived at least three earlier shipwrecks, swore off sailing.
The Muir joined thousands of other ships claimed by the stormy waters of the Great Lakes in the 19th century.
Persons:
Margaret A, Muir, David Clow, Clow
Locations:
Mackinac, Lake Michigan, Chicago’s, Michigan, Wisconsin, Great