AH-WR-0272

D.A. Van Valkenburg

Bark (or Barque) · United States · Lost 1881 · Door County & Lake Michigan

A corn-laden bark wrecked on a Door County reef in 1881, her crew's escape boat swamped twice, leaving only one survivor.

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Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents. See the documented evidence.

Historically Reconstructed. Drawn from partial documentation of this vessel together with her known class and configuration. See the documented evidence.

The Vessel and Her Loss

D.A. Van Valkenburg was a three-masted wooden bark that had survived the Alpena Big Blow of 1880 before her final voyage. Bound from Chicago to Buffalo with corn in September 1881, she struck a reef near Jacksonport in Door County, Wisconsin. Her crew's yawl capsized twice trying to reach shore, and only one of nine aboard survived.

Vessel

Built: 1866
Registry: US 6318
Builder: A. Little
Yard: Tonawanda, New York
Material: Wood
Length: 167 ft
Beam: 34 ft
Tonnage: 538
Propulsion: Sail, three masts
Owners: Thomas Hood; Captain McMillan of Chicago

Loss

Date: September 15, 1881
Cause: Navigational error
Location: Reef off Whitefish Bay, about three miles south of Jacksonport, Door County, Wisconsin
Water: Lake Michigan
Voyage: Chicago, Illinois → Buffalo, New York
Cargo: 30,000 bushels of corn
Aboard: 9
Lives lost: 8
Master: Captain Andrew Keith