A Lake Michigan storm claimed the Erie L. Hackley.

THE ERIE L. HACKLEY, which made stops
in Glen Arbor and Glen Haven in the early 20th century,
sank in a 1903 storm in Lake Michigan. Fifteen people
died in the accident.

The little steamer sank Oct. 3, 1903, taking the lives of a dozen passengers and three crewmen, including the owner/captain, Joseph Vorous, of Fish Creek, Wis.

The steamer had spent less than a season on Green Bay before succumbing to the elements.

Seven people, clinging to wreckage, were rescued by the Goodrich sidewheel steamer, Sheboygan, and taken to Fish Creek. The survivors related that the Hackley’s upper works were destroyed by waves and vessel capsized, sinking almost immediately “like a rock.”

During the previous season in 1902, the Hackley operating between Frankfort and the Manitou islands, with stops at both Glen Arbor and Glen Haven.

Trouble had beset the Hackley during that season, too – although nothing approaching the seriousness of actually sinking.

In April 1902, the ship had a broken tailshaft, and in August the crankshaft broke. It had to have been very disconcerting for the owner at that time, Capt. Sam Rose of Charlevoix.

The vessel, built in 1882 for use on Muskegon Lake, was named for the daughter of prominent Muskegon lumberman, Charles H. Hackley. It was built at J.A. Arnold’s yard in Muskegon and was operated for almost 10 years as a local ferry by Capt. Seth Lee.

In 1891 the boat was put in operation on Pine Lake (now called Lake Charlevoix), shuttling between East Jordan and Charlevoix under the command of Capt. Peter Pillow.

Because of insufficient business there, the Hackley was back at Muskegon the following season.

In 1893, the little ship was sold to Captain P.D. Campbell of Whitehall for excursions to the Columbian Exposition in Chicago, but the trips “didn’t pay” and the steamer finished the season operating out of Chicago with local excursions.

The following two years found the Hackley operating between Muskegon and Whitehall. Finally, it was back to Charlevoix for operation to ports north of there and the run to Beaver Island before it was acquired by Rose for service to the Manitous from Frankfort.

Despite all the different routes the steamer was put on and the various changes in ownership, the 79-foot Hackley was never renamed.

The wooden steamer’s appearance was very similar to that of the steamers Crescent and Lou A. Cummings of the Traverse Bay Line. The Crescent and the Cummings regularly called at east shore Leelanau County ports until 1903, when the railroad to Northport was completed.

Some years ago, there was talk of raising the Hackley to make a marine museum out of it, but that never materialized.

The steamer that once connected the Manitou with the mainland still rests beneath the waves on the other side of Lake Michigan.

Bound from Menominee, Mich., for Egg Harbor, Wis., it only got as far as “Davy Jones Locker” – the resting place of all sunken ships.