AH-WR-1975

Guiding Star

Schooner · Lost 1883 · Chicago & Southern Lake Michigan

The coal schooner Guiding Star ran onto the rocks at Mequon in fog in 1883; Life-Savers and a tug rescued her stranded crew.

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Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents.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

Interpretive Reconstruction, drawn to convey the vessel's era, type and general form. See the documented evidence.

The Vessel and Her Loss

Built in 1869, the three-masted schooner Guiding Star was nearly at the end of a long voyage from Oswego to Milwaukee with 560 tons of coal when she stranded in heavy fog on the rocks at Mequon on November 5, 1883. Her stern lifted three feet out of the water and her hull filled. The captain and three men rowed ashore in the yawl, and the Milwaukee Life-Saving crew and the tug Welcome took off the other four the next day. Salvors spent $4,000 before giving up, and she broke up within weeks.

Vessel

Built: 1869
Builder: Not established
Yard: Not established
Material: Wood
Length: Not established
Beam: Not established
Tonnage: Not established
Propulsion: Sail
Owners: Not established

Loss

Date: November 5, 1883
Cause: Grounding
Location: On the rocks at Mequon, about 12 miles north of Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Water: Lake Michigan
Voyage: Oswego, New York → Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Cargo: 560 tons of coal
Aboard: Not established
Lives lost: 0
Master: Not established