AH-WR-1920

Reciprocity

Schooner · Lost October 1880; waterlogged off Two Rivers on Saturday, October 16, during the Alpena Gale, then drifted ashore and went to pieces. · Door County & Lake Michigan

A Detroit-built schooner laden with cedar posts waterlogged in the 1880 gale and drifted onto the reef at Foscoro.

Become Captain of Record

Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents.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

J.L. Wolverton built the two-masted schooner Reciprocity at Detroit in 1855. Owned at loss by Captain E.D. Wilson of Chicago, she was carrying cedar posts and telegraph poles in October 1880 when she waterlogged off Two Rivers in the gale of Saturday, October 16. She drifted onto the reef off Foscoro and was a complete wreck, her stern broken up aft of the mainmast. Her crew escaped with difficulty.

Vessel

Built: 1855
Registry: US registry no. 21185
Builder: J.L. Wolverton
Yard: Detroit, Michigan
Material: Wood
Length: 124.11 ft
Beam: 26.5 ft
Tonnage: 236.73 gross tons
Propulsion: Sail
Owners: Not established

Loss

Date: October 1880; waterlogged off Two Rivers on Saturday, October 16, during the Alpena Gale, then drifted ashore and went to pieces.
Cause: Storm
Location: Reef off Foscoro, Door County, Wisconsin
Water: Lake Michigan
Voyage: Not established
Cargo: Cedar posts and telegraph poles
Aboard: Not established
Lives lost: Not established
Master: Not established