Sailing Adventures of Captain William E. Wright
Above: 2479 S. Austin St. (1893-probable 1895), the house where William Wright was living while a lake captain. This was his first home in Bay View. However, the ship(s) he captained while living here are not documented. Photo: The Small Studio Brand Shop, LLC., Bay View; https://www.hellosmallstudio.com/
Above left: 2477 S. Burrell St. (1896-1900), the house where William Wright was living at the time of these adventures. Photo: The Small Studio Brand Shop, LLC., Bay View; https://www.hellosmallstudio.com/
Above center: the steamship Neosho, 1897-99; Sailing adventures while captain: On 28 April 1899, the first ship to arrive coming back from Buffalo to Milwaukee for the 1899 sailing season and was carrying a cargo of coal. After unloading the coal, the ship was loaded with 90,000 bushels of wheat, probably bound for Buffalo again. 30 Cargoes of wheat from Milwaukee going out to Buffalo and coming back with coal was typical for the time. On 08 August 1899 on Lake Michigan near Port Washington, Wisconsin, enroute to Milwaukee from Buffalo with a cargo of coal, hit a log that was floating on the lake’s surface which caused damage to the ship’s rudder and steering gear. Repairs were made while the coal was being offloaded in Milwaukee. 31 Photo courtesy the Edward J. Dowling Collection, University of Detroit-Mercy; the Alpena County George N. Fletcher Public Library, Thunder Bay Research Collection.
Above right: the steamship Helena, 1900-early 1901; Sailing adventures while captain: None reported.
Photo courtesy of the Historical Collections of the Great Lakes, Bowling Green State University.
Above left: 2958 S. Logan Ave. (1901-03), the house where William Wright was living at the time of these adventures. Photo: The Small Studio Brand Shop, LLC., Bay View; https://www.hellosmallstudio.com/
Above right: the steamship Christopher, 1901-03;
Sailing adventures while captain: its first captain and was the largest steamship in Milwaukee when built and when he commanded it. 32 On 16 December 1901, arrived in port Milwaukee looking like a giant block of ice. It had sailed from Ohio but encountered a huge snowstorm that literally coated the ship in its entirety in ice. Most aboard suffered some degree of frostbite as the temperature was past 20 degrees below zero. Captain Wright stated it was hands down the most horrible experience he’d ever had on the lakes. 33 On 18 December 1902, was delayed while attempting to leave port at Toledo, Ohio, with a cargo of coal for Milwaukee. The icebreaker Promise opened a channel in the Toledo River so that the Christopher could exit, but upon making it out into Lake Erie, the Christopher had to stop and anchor near Belle Isle (just south of Detroit) to wait for the Promise to come up and break a path in the ice up through Lake St. Clair. 34 This was likely the occasion in late 1902 when it was the last freighter to sail up through the St. Clair River enroute to Lake Huron and ultimately Milwaukee carrying a cargo of coal. 35 On 22 April 1903, carried the second largest cargo of grain in history to that point out of South Chicago: 190,500 bushels of corn and 65,000 bushels of wheat. The largest was two years earlier by another ship carrying 265,000 bushels of grain. 36 On 23 September 1903, went aground at Huron, Ohio, as it was leaving the port at night. It was without a tugboat and the heavy wind and seas blew it out of the channel. Attempts to pull it off were unsuccessful so it had to have its cargo of coal removed so it could be towed off, which it was accomplished several days later. It then steamed to Detroit, took on fuel, reloaded its cargo, and continued back to probable Milwaukee. 37
Photo courtesy Kenneth Thro, the Alpena County George N. Fletcher Public Library, Thunder Bay Research Collection.
Above left: 2761A S. Logan Ave. (1904-19), the house where William Wright was living at the time of these adventures. Photo: The Small Studio Brand Shop, LLC., Bay View; https://www.hellosmallstudio.com/
Above center: the steamship Christopher, 1904-07, 1909-16; Sailing adventures while captain: The evening of 27 October 1906, ran aground in Sandusky, Ohio, while leaving the harbor with a cargo of coal enroute Duluth, Minnesota. The combination of low water in the harbor and a heavy gale is what caused the grounding. 38 On 14 October 1909, while sailing down past Detroit towards Lake Erie, went aground on the Canadian side of the Detroit River at Bar Point. 39 On 10 September 1915, ran aground on Russell Island in the St. Clair River north of Detroit during a nighttime gale blowing 45-50 miles per hour. 40 On the night of 16 August 1916 at about 2:30 a.m. in extremely thick fog, the older and wooden-hulled Topeka captained by Stephen Brownell collided in the Detroit River with the newer steel-hulled steamer Christopher (above right) captained by another Bay View Lake Captain William E. Wright. The Topeka, with Stephen’s brother David serving as his first mate, sank in mere minutes. 41 Immediately after the crash, the Topeka’s first mate Charles Washlefski (of West Allis, Wisconsin) ran down into the crew quarters and hollered for everyone up. Accompanying him was the ship’s dog mascot, whose name is unknown to history, that barked and barked as loud as it could to get everyone up and out of their bunks. The little dog’s frantic alarm worked, with the last of the crew just making it out on deck and to the rescue ladder of the steamer Christopher that had pulled alongside to effect a rescue before the Topeka went down. Three ended up in the water as the Topeka sank but were quickly rescued by the Christopher’s lifeboat. When the Topeka’s crew mustered aboard the Christopher for a head count, all were there. But then suddenly everyone’s attention turned to their dog mascot that had barked so loudly to tell them to get out. Their little friend wasn’t there. Several crew of the Topeka jumped into the Christopher’s lifeboat to go out and search for the dog, but they weren’t successful. The little dog, their ship’s mascot and their friend, that had barked so loudly and frantically to wake them up and got them to safety, had drowned, the only casualty of the sinking. 42 Later, Captain Wright (who told reporters he had trained both Stephen and David Brownell how to sail steamships) 43 stated when he threw over a ladder to the sinking Topeka that Stephen and David Brownell were the first to clamor up it in front of their crew and passengers. 44 Stephen denied this. 45 The next year, the inquiry into the accident found Wright negligent, 46 and two weeks later he resigned and left Bay View to go raise cattle on his ranch in Las Vegas. 47 He died just three years later. The accident also likely had an adverse effect on Captain Stephen Brownell, who isn’t documented to have received another ship to captain and died just 2.5 years later. 48 On 24 November 1916, ran aground at Mission Point, Mackinac Island (between the two peninsulas of Michigan), and was released after 400 tons of cargo was removed. 49
Above right: the steamship W. D. Mathews, 1908; Sailing adventures while captain: none reported.
Not pictured: the probable steamship Escort, 1918; Sailing adventures while captain: none reported.
Both photos above courtesy Kenneth Thro, the Alpena County George N. Fletcher Public Library, Thunder Bay Research Collection.
Above left: 2976 S. Superior St. (1912), the house where William Wright was living at the time of these adventures. Photo: The Small Studio Brand Shop, LLC., Bay View; https://www.hellosmallstudio.com/ The steamship Christopher (see above for photo), 1912; Sailing adventures while captain: none reported.
