AH-WR-1915

Otter

Schooner · Lost 1885 · Door County & Lake Michigan

Six sailors clung to the rigging of a stranded wood schooner until lifesavers hauled them ashore by breeches buoy in 1885.

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Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents.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

James W. Scott built the two-masted schooner Otter in 1863. On October 10, 1885, loading wood for Chicago at a pier in Door County's Whitefish Bay, Captain William Kaufman put out to anchor in an easterly gale. By 8 a.m. her chain broke and she stranded. Lifesavers from the Sturgeon Bay Canal station fired a line aboard and brought all six crew ashore by breeches buoy; the schooner went to pieces soon after.

Vessel

Built: 1863
Registry: US registry no. 19125
Builder: James W. Scott
Yard: Not established
Material: Wood
Length: 105.4 ft
Beam: 25.9 ft
Tonnage: 205.08 gross tons
Propulsion: Sail
Owners: Not established

Loss

Date: October 10, 1885
Cause: Storm
Location: Beach at Whitefish Bay, about 12 miles north of the Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal, Door County, Wisconsin
Water: Lake Michigan
Voyage: Whitefish Bay, Door County, Wisconsin → Chicago, Illinois
Cargo: 130 cords of wood
Aboard: 6
Lives lost: 0
Master: William Kaufman