Overview

By virtue of its location directly across from Milwaukee on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, Saugatuck was a thriving shipping town in the late nineteenth century. Entire families earned their livings on the lake as fishermen, navigators, ships' officers, and crewmen. Peaches from the area were shipped daily to the Chicago market by large steamships. Hundreds of ships of various types were built in Saugatuck shipyards, and the town was a haven for ship captains. Although it was a bountiful source of economic activity, Lake Michigan could quickly become a dangerous foe. Storm, Fire, and Ice: Shipwrecks of the Saugatuck Area records major Lake Michigan ship disasters from 1836 to 1965, including the Chicora, which disappeared in a storm in 1895; the Lady Hamilton, which burned in dry dock in 1923; and the steamer Michigan, which was crushed in ice in 1885. This fascinating volume also discusses the general causes of shipwrecks and covers the changing equipment used in the search for sunken hulls.

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9780965704243

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Jack Sheridan is an amateur Saugatuck historian who has provided technical support, and research and writing assistance for two Saugatuck-Douglas Historical Society books as well as other local publications. He manages the Society's extensive collection of digital images. Kit Lane has more than thirty-four years of experience in the newspaper business and has written more than twenty books on Michigan History, including a collection of short stories based in the western Michigan town of Saugatuck and several books for the Saugatuck-Douglas Historical Society.

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