|
Drawing
by Ian Morgan - Photos by John Veber - Graphics by Dan
Lindsay
Copies of this detailed artist
rendition of the wreck site are available at the
Books & Videos
Store
 This shipwreck lies in 120' of water south of
Long Point, Lake Erie; as a result of damage in a collision
with the Brigantine Sir Charles Napier during a heavy snow
squall. Cargo was 1000 cast-iron stoves in the hold, 200
tons of railroad iron on deck, with 2 brand new Francis
Metallic Lifeboats. They made it possible for all the
crew to escape the rapid sinking.
This poster has been drawn by Canada's renown
marine artist Ian Morgan. Ian's drawing depicts the
shipwreck exactly as it lays on the bottom of Lake Erie
today. The detail is amazing. Photos around the
drawing are by John Veber. His photos and Dan Lindsay's
video have aided Ian in compiling this fantastic colour
rendition.
Scroll down to
see photos of the shipwreck.
News Articles about the Trade
Wind
Oswego Times, Wed., June 1, 1853
The "Trade Wind. " The
Brighton Sentinel has a long and spirited account of the
launch of the schooner Trade Wind, which took place at
Colborne, C. W. , on Wednesday last. This being the first
vessel built at that place, the launch called together two or
three thousand persons to witness it.
Among them was a large number of ladies, who
presented Mr. J. M. Grover, the owner, with a beautiful flag,
for his vessel, in a neat and appropriate address, to which
Mr. Grover responded in suitable terms. The Sentinel says,
"great praise is due to Mr. Peter Lamoree, the builder, for
his skill and calculation, in arranging everything so that no
accident occurred, and that the vessel did not ground, as the
water was barely enough to carry her through.
"After the launch a number of Mr. Grover's
friends repaired to his residence, and partook of a lunch
prepared in sumptuous style. We wish Mr. Grover every success,
and long may he be spared an ornament to Colborne and
surrounding country. "
Since writing the above, we have seen the
Trade Wind, she having arrived in our harbor; and a beautiful
craft she is, a credit to her enterprising owner and the
skillful mechanic who built her. Mr. Lamoree is an old
resident of our city and we are pleased to witness this
evidence of his skill as a shipbuilder. The Trade Wind is to
be employed principally, in the large and rapidly increasing
trade between this place and Colborne.
TRADE WIND was hit when she
was new by schooner CITIZEN off Barcelona NY Oct 3, 1853 with
damage to starboard bow and fore rigging.
Democracy (Buffalo),
Dec. 4, 1854
COLLISION - We learn from
Mr. Walker that the Captain of the Canadian barque SIR CHARLES
NAPIER writes to this city that he came in collision on Friday
near the cut at Long Point, with a vessel supposed to be the
Barque TRADE WIND bound up from this port to Chicago.
The Captain says that the collision occurred
in a snow storm and that he remained by the other vessel a few
minutes and enquired of them what damage they had sustained,
but recieved no answer, and when the snow storm cleared away
the other vessel was not to be seen. What became of her he did
not know. Nothing had been heard from the Trade Wind up
to a late hour on Saturday evening. The SIR CHARLES
NAPIER sustained about $1,000 damage by the collision, and was
in the Welland Canal, repairing. It is supposed by the
owners of the TRADE WIND, Messrs H.C. Walker & Co., that
that vessel had not had time to reach the cut when the snow
storm came on, and they are inclined to believe that it must
have been some other vessel that the NAPIER ran into.
Since the above has been in type we learn
from Mr. Walker that Captain Eastwick and crew of the TRADE
WIND have arrived. The captain states that after the
collision with the SIR CHARLES NAPIER, the TRADE WIND sunk
almost immediately, and the crew had barely time to take to
the lifeboats, which they happened to have on board for
Chicago, and thus save themselves. Their only boat was
smashed at the time of the collision. The TRADE WIND was bound
from this port to Chicago with 200 tons railroad iron and
1,000 stoves. She was owned by H.C. Walker & Co.,
and was insured for $12,000.
The captains of several vessels that arrived
in port on Saturday report that they passed a sunken brig
(sic) off Grand River with her topmasts out of the water about
fifteen feet. What vessel it is, is not known, but it is
thought that it may be the vessel that collided with the
NAPIER."
Daily News,
(Kingston), 12 Dec 1854
Collision - The Buffalo Com. Advertiser of
the 2nd learns that on the 1st, during the thick snow storm,
the barque Trade Wind and Charles Napier, both bound up, while
on opposite "tacks," came in collision a short distance above
Long Point. The barque had her fore rigging much damaged, and
hull probably badly cut. The brig put into Gravelly Bay, and
her Captain reports as being unable to see the Trade Wind,
shortly after the collision, when the weather had cleared up
so as to see any distance. It is feared that she sunk.
The
barque American Republic is ashore at Long Point Cut, Canada.
She has on board 18,000 bush. of corn for this place.
The
Captains of several vessels says the Buffalo Democracy that
arrived in port on Saturday, reports that they passed a sunken
brig off Grand River with her topmast out of the water about
fifteen feet. What vessel it is not known, but it is thought
that it may be the vessel that came in collision with the
Napier.
The Luther Wright, schooner, ashore at Gravelly
Bay, with 8,000 bush. corn from Toledo for Mr. Morton,
Kingston, will be a total loss. Her cargo was fully insured.
Only part of it will be saved in a damaged
condition.
Daily News, (Kingston),
19 Dec 1854
p.2 The Gale On Lake
Erie
The gale at Cleveland, some particulars of which
we have received by telegraph, has been most violent and
destructive, and the loss of property along the lakes must be
quite large. We find in the Cleveland papers some incidents
connected with the storm, which are of interest. The barque
Trade Wind, whose loss has been recorded in our paper, had on
board, among a large quantity of other freight, two Government
Lifeboats, which were being forwarded to the upper lakes. The
crew were very much annoyed at the encumbrance they made,
being stowed on the upper deck, in their way should a storm
occur. Capt. Judson hearing their complaints, casually
remarked that said boats might be of service to them before
they got through the lake. That very day during a thick and
blinding snow-storm off Long Point, the barque came in
collision with the brig Chas. Napier and sunk so suddenly that
the crew had just time enough to get into these same
life-boats and were all saved. In noticing the loss of the
R.R. Johnson, with all on board, the Cleveland Plain Dealer
gives some interesting particulars of this mournful affair. At
Chicago, whence the ill-fated vessel last sailed, Capt. Snell,
her owner and commander, put her in charge of the mate, who
was his brother, and left her to make her way down the lakes,
while he took the railroad for the purpose of getting a
special insurance upon her in Buffalo. She weathered the
storms, passed over the flats, and beat her way down on to
this lake, when the big north-wester of Sunday caught her this
side the islands. The next seen of her was at daylight Monday
morning, about two miles west of Fairport and twenty rods from
the shore, beached, and the men hanging in her rigging. She
lay broadside to, and every sea careened her over so as to
bring her masts under water, and of course immersing the poor
fellows clinging there for life. She was first discovered by a
family of farmers living opposite on the bluff which
overlooked the wreck. They immediately despatched a messenger
to the harbor for a life-boat. They watched the sufferers on
the wreck until one by one they were washed off, so that when
the life-boat started for their relief, there were but three
remaining. Intensely excited did they beckon the boat on,
which for two miles rowed amid surges and breakers that
one-half the time hid the rescuers from view. Two more of the
sufferers were washed off by the sea, and yet the boat was
some half mile to row. One, probably the most hardy and robust
of them all, remains. He seems lashed to the rigging and rises
and falls with it as it dives beneath the surge, then rises
with it to nearly a perpendicular. The boat is almost to him,
when suddenly the mast disappears again and he rises no more!
All on board, nine in number, have been lost, and none left to
tell the tale of their suffering. Portions of the wreck came
ashore revealed the fact that it was the schooner R.R.
Johnson. The farmer's house we have described was the very
home of the mate, and the family on shore who had sent after
the life-boat was the family of the mate. In all probability
the man who hung so long in the rigging was the mate himself,
as he was a very resolute and robust man. Thus in the sight of
his family and home he died a martyr to his mysterious fate,
his wife unconsciously a spectator to the terrible scene.
There is probably not on record a coincidence so strange,
where a wife at her own home should witness the wreck of her
husband at sea. Among those lost on board the schooner was Mr.
John Gallaher, of this city. [Buffalo paper]
 |
 |
| Collision
Damage on Starboard Side |
Capstan |
 |
 |
| Bow
Deck |
Stern
Cabin Area |
 |
 |
| Wheel |
Windlass |
 |
 |
| Mizzen Mast
Post |
Diver Ed
McLaughlin |
 |
 |
| Wheel from
Below |
Stove inside
Hold |
 |
 |
| Deadeyes |
Wheel from
Below |
|
