An 1881 Lake Michigan shipwreck story of a leaky ship, a lost dog and a brave crew
The Great Lakes are full of shipwreck stories. This one is about a two-masted schooner in Lake Michigan, a big dog that didn’t make it, a shivering crew that did, and a nearly 20-year obsession to locate that wooden vessel that almost ended in failure.
"Finding a previously unknown historic site is a substantial responsibility," Wisconsin historian Brendon Baillod recently wrote about finding the Trinidad, which sank in 1881. He added that this shipwreck site, which he and fellow historian Bob Jaeck found in July, is "remarkably intact."
Shipwrecks are more than artifacts from the past, preserved in cold water. They tell the stories of loss and survival, and give us a glimpse of what life was like years ago. They also are the objects of obsessions by historians, like Baillod and Jaeck, who spend years chasing obscure clues to solve a mystery.
Baillod’s story, which was published earlier this month in shipwreckworld.com, started nearly 20 years ago with a database of all known vessels lost in Wisconsin waters. The Trinidad, the historian said, was "a candidate for discovery" because after it went down, the crew gave a clear description to reporters of where it sank.
On top of that, Baillod said, few had searched for the ship, which meant it probably was well preserved.
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From there, Baillod began researching news articles — the first drafts of history — from the 1800s about the ship: about it being built, its launch and its final hours. Baillod looked for other documents at the National Archives. He studied shipping lanes.
And then, two years ago, he and Jaeck went looking for it with sonar.
From New York to Wisconsin
The Trinidad was built for the Great Lakes trade in 1867 by William Keefe at Grand Island, New York, according to the Wisconsin Historical Society. The shipyard had been established specifically for the construction of the 140-foot-long schooner, which had unusually large accommodations for its time.
A canal schooner, the Trinidad was built to pass through the Welland Canal connecting Lake Erie and Ontario. That meant parts of the ship, such as the lifeboat davit could fold in so the ship could pass through the narrow canals. The ship also was outfitted with wire rigging, which was uncommon back then.
The plan was for the ship to carry coal or iron from Oswego, New York, to Chicago and Milwaukee, and then return with Midwest wheat, known back then as "prairie gold," to make bread and other baked goods for the large East Coast cities.
The grain trade, Baillod explained, was extremely lucrative, and made a fortune for its owners.
But by 1878, the ship was no longer in the best shape. The ship’s captain was almost killed when a block that fell from decaying rigging. And its value, according to insurance records, had dropped by half: the ship’s hull began to leak.
The next year, the Trinidad was no longer fit to carry grain.
Still, extra pumps were added to allow it to keep sailing. So, in 1881, when the ship started taking on water, in Lake Michigan, the captain and crew were unconcerned. They figured that the pumps, as they had been for years, would keep the vessel afloat.
Not this time.
Lost dog, found shipwreck
The Trinidad sank on May 11, 1881, near Algoma, Wisconsin.
By Baillod’s account: Capt. John Higgins and his eight-man crew narrowly escaped death in their yawl-boat. They didn’t have time to retrieve much — and they didn’t have coats, even though it was freezing cold out. They also couldn’t save the ship’s mascot, a large Newfoundland dog.
The dog’s name may have been lost to history, but one detail about it wasn’t: It loved to sleep near the cabin stove.
The shipwreck survivors headed to Algoma, nearly 10 miles away. It took them about eight hours.
Another schooner the J.B. Merrill took them to Chicago, and there, the captain told reporters what happen, speculating the hull was damaged by ice in the Straits of Mackinac. Years later, those news accounts aided in Baillod and Jaeck’s search.
The historians said they used a low-frequency sonar fish-finder to map the bottom of the lake.
At one point, they saw what looked like a smudge instead of a ship — and almost missed finding the wreck. But, Baillod said, a second pass, at a slower speed and higher resolution, revealed the shipwreck, almost exactly where the captain had said it went down.
Once the wreck has been fully documented, the historians said they will reveal its exact location.
Contact Frank Witsil: 313-222-5022 or fwitsil@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Lake Michigan's Trinidad shipwreck found after almost 20 year search
