AH-WR-1968

Lookout

Schooner · Lost 1897 · Chicago & Southern Lake Michigan

The old schooner Lookout stranded off Rawley Point in an 1897 gale; her seven crew rowed ashore as Life-Savers raced up the beach.

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Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents.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 1855, the three-masted schooner Lookout was beating north without cargo from Chicago to Masonville, Michigan, when a northeast gale drove her too close to Twin Rivers Point, now Rawley Point, before dawn on April 29, 1897. She stranded 200 yards offshore. A Life-Saving patrolman spotted her and raced to raise the alarm, and the station crew hired horse teams to haul their boat up the beach. Fearing she would break up first, Captain John Olson sent his seven men off in the yawl, and all reached shore.

Vessel

Built: 1855
Builder: Not established
Yard: Not established
Material: Wood
Length: Not established
Beam: Not established
Tonnage: Not established
Propulsion: Sail
Owners: Not established

Loss

Date: April 29, 1897
Cause: Grounding
Location: About 200 yards off the beach, roughly five miles north of Two Rivers, Wisconsin, near Rawley Point
Water: Lake Michigan
Voyage: Chicago, Illinois → Masonville (Little Bay de Noc), Michigan
Cargo: None (light)
Aboard: Not established
Lives lost: 0
Master: Capt. John Olson