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TS Christie. Library of Congress photo.
Shipwreck is still visible offshore near Manistee
This Great Lakes History Log is presented by Filer Credit Union, Mason County Historical Society, and Great Lakes Boat Blog.
By Rob Alway, Editor-in-Chief
MANISTEE — Shortly before 10 p.m. Nov. 8, 1933, Capt. Louis Strahan was steering the wooden steam freighter T.S. Christie toward Manistee harbor when it ran aground in a snowstorm about four miles north of the harbor. All 12 men aboard eventually reached shore in a lifeboat, but the ship was destroyed by heavy waves.
The 160-foot freighter had spent nearly half a century carrying cargo on the Great Lakes. Its remains lie in approximately 25 feet of water near the mouth of Barr Creek, where passengers on Manistee Harbor Tours’ Princess of Manistee can sometimes see the wreck under favorable conditions.
Snow and fog had obscured the shoreline, and the crew could neither see the harbor lights nor hear the fog signal. Despite taking soundings, the freighter grounded approximately 1,500 feet from shore.
Strahan and his crew attempted to free the vessel as waves struck its wooden hull. The ship had no radio, and rescue boats could not reach it because of the rough seas.
Shipwreck viewed from the Princess of Manistee. Photo by Rob Alway.
History of the freighter
The T.S. Christie was built in 1885 by F.W. Wheeler & Co. at West Bay City, now part of Bay City.
According to the Father Edward J. Dowling Marine Historical Collection at the University of Detroit Mercy, the wooden freighter measured 160 feet long, with a beam of 30.3 feet and a depth of 12 feet. Its official U.S. registry number was 145402.
Originally built as a double-deck package freighter, the Christie was converted to carry bulk freight around 1902.
Some of the machinery was older than the vessel. Its original engine, built in 1867, had previously powered the steamer B.W. Jenness. The machinery was modified during the Christie’s career.
The freighter had several owners, including Capt. Peter Peterson of Green Bay, Wis.; G. Engelkins of Chicago; H.H. Hettler Lumber Co. of Chicago; and Marinette Transportation Co.
Shipping notices from August 1904 placed the Christie in the lumber trade at Midland and Penetanguishene, Ontario.
By November 1933, the ship was carrying pulpwood for the Hettler interests. Its final voyage was from the city of Escanaba to Filer City, just south of Manistee.
Grounding in the snowstorm
Maritime historian James P. Barry recounted the voyage in his book, “Wrecks and Rescues of the Great Lakes: A Photographic History,” published in 1981 by Howell-North Books of San Diego. Thunder Bay Press published a second edition in 1994.
Barry’s account also appeared in Jim Hettinger’s Jan. 22, 2017, column, “The self-rescue of the T.S. Christie,” in the Battle Creek Enquirer.
On Wednesday evening, Nov. 8, 1933, snow and fog sharply reduced visibility along the eastern shore of Lake Michigan.
At about 8:40 p.m., Strahan ordered the engine checked as the Christie drifted and the mate took soundings. The crew found eight fathoms of water, approximately 48 feet, with the depth decreasing as the ship approached shore.
The crew continued searching for indications of the harbor’s location.
They looked for the harbor light and listened for its fog signal but could detect neither.
Shortly before 10 p.m., Strahan stopped the ship again while he and the mate tried to determine their position. Believing they were north of the harbor entrance, he turned southwest.
The vessel then struck bottom.
Although the initial impact was slight, attempts to free the ship drove it farther onto the shoal.
Barry wrote that the crew eventually could see activity ashore, but the harbor fog signal remained silent. Strahan fired distress rockets and sounded the ship’s whistle.
The crew received no response.
The Christie was stranded about 1,500 feet offshore, but the heavy weather made evacuation dangerous.
Without a radio, the crew could not contact rescuers.
Crew escapes in lifeboat
Conditions deteriorated on Thursday, Nov. 9.
The Ludington Daily News reported the grounding on its front page under the headline “Vessel Is Grounded North of Manistee.” The newspaper said the ship had been driven off course in the snowstorm and that efforts to free it had failed.
Waves struck the ship broadside, washing cargo off its deck. The wooden hull developed a heavy list, prompting concern that the waves would break it apart.
U.S. Coast Guard personnel at Manistee tried twice to leave the harbor, first in a powered lifeboat and then in a tug. Heavy seas forced both attempts to turn back.
With the ship in danger of breaking apart, Strahan and the crew decided to launch their lifeboat into the surf.
Contemporary newspaper accounts reported that Strahan and 11 crewmen reached shore Nov. 9. Barry’s later account placed their departure at approximately 6 p.m. and their landing 15 minutes later, although newspapers published Nov. 9 indicated the evacuation happened earlier in the day.
The accounts differed on the timing but agreed that all 12 men reached shore safely.
The men traveled to Manistee and spent the night at the Hotel Northern.
By the time Coast Guard personnel reached the site overland, the crew had escaped.
The crew’s escape became a story of self-rescue during a Great Lakes storm.
Freighter destroyed by waves
Although the crew survived, the Christie remained aground and exposed to Lake Michigan’s waves.
On Nov. 10, newspapers reported that the vessel lay broadside to the waves and had been driven farther onto the shoal.
The entire deckload of pulpwood had washed away.
Strahan feared the ship would not withstand the continued pounding. On Nov. 11, The Associated Press quoted him as saying its condition “looks bad.”
The report said the Christie was listing heavily to starboard and was hard aground about 1,500 feet offshore.
There were plans to bring in the barge Neff, operated by the same Chicago company, to remove cargo and pull the freighter into deeper water.
The Coast Guard cutter Escanaba was also assigned to the response. Contemporary reports said the cutter was standing by, but later coverage noted difficulties involving its repairs and availability.
Neither the Neff nor the cutter Escanaba saved the freighter.
By Nov. 15, the Escanaba Daily Press reported that the Christie had been battered to pieces by the storm. Salvage efforts focused on pulpwood and wreckage, including parts of the pilothouse, spars and timbers washed ashore.
Former captain Peter Peterson
Capt. Peter Peterson, a Norwegian immigrant, owned and operated the Christie from 1890 until his retirement in 1900.
Peterson was born Feb. 10, 1835, in Hardanger, Norway, and developed an early interest in maritime life.
He immigrated to the United States in 1853 and made his first Great Lakes voyage the following year, aboard the sloop Ebenezer from De Pere, Wis., to Chicago.
Peterson subsequently worked on several vessels before entering the shipowning business.
In 1862, he joined Olson and Gunderson in purchasing the schooner Alleghany. Working with Gunderson and Lambert Nau, he later built the schooner Mary Nau, followed by the Libbie Nau.
In 1873, Peterson built the schooner Anna M. Peterson, described at the time as one of the largest schooners on the Great Lakes. He operated the vessel from 1874 to 1884.
After Nau’s death, Peterson purchased the schooner F.A. Georger and operated it with Frederick Hurlbut.
Peterson owned the T.S. Christie from 1890 to 1900, after decades working aboard and operating sailing vessels.
Peterson retired in 1900 after nearly 50 years on the Great Lakes.
He died April 10, 1913, in Green Bay at age 78 following a prolonged illness. His obituary in the April 12, 1913, Escanaba Daily Press recounted his navigation and shipbuilding work.
He was survived by his wife, three daughters and five sons and was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Green Bay.
Peterson’s career extended from sailing schooners to steam-powered freighters, including the Christie.
Capt. Louis Strahan, final master of the Christie
Capt. Louis Francis Strahan Jr. commanded the Christie on its final voyage and later served as a captain of state ferries in the Straits of Mackinac.
Strahan was born Jan. 1, 1871, in Manistee County, the son of Louis Strahan Sr. and Johanna Elizabeth Quinn Strahan.
By 1880, his family was living in Door County, Wis.
Federal census records show Strahan was living in Marinette, Wis., and working as a captain in 1910. By 1920, he had moved to the city of Escanaba, where he was again listed as a captain.
His first wife, Fannie Estelle Machia Strahan, was born in Egg Harbor, Wis., in 1872. They had several children, including Gladys, Marian, Harold, Doris and Helen. Fannie died in Escanaba on March 1, 1923.
Strahan was 62 when the Christie grounded north of Manistee.
By the late 1930s, Strahan was commanding vessels in the Michigan state ferry fleet in the Straits of Mackinac.
On June 8, 1939, Strahan was master of the state ferry St. Ignace when it collided with the ferry City of Cheboygan, commanded by Capt. Andrew Coleman.
The collision occurred in dense fog near Graham Shoals, about five miles from Mackinaw City.
The St. Ignace was carrying passengers, automobiles and trailers. Several people aboard were injured, and the ferry sustained a large hole in its port side. The City of Cheboygan also was damaged, but no injuries were reported aboard that vessel.
Both ferries managed to reach dock under their own power.
A federal marine board investigated the collision. According to a report published June 28, 1939, the board charged both captains with failing to reduce their vessels’ speed in fog.
Strahan and Coleman pleaded not guilty. Capt. George Loughlin, superintendent of Michigan’s state ferry system, expressed confidence in both men, citing their experience and the difficult conditions.
The collision occurred six years after Strahan’s grounding of the Christie during another period of limited visibility.
Strahan married Myrtle Patterson Mero on April 8, 1939, in Sault Ste. Marie. She died in St. Ignace on Dec. 18, 1947.
Strahan died July 10, 1951, in Detroit at age 80. He was buried at Lakeview Cemetery in Escanaba.
His career included both Great Lakes freighters and state ferries.
Wreck remains north of Manistee
More than 90 years after the grounding, the remains of the T.S. Christie lie in Lake Michigan north of Manistee.
The wreck is near the mouth of Barr Creek, at approximately 44 degrees 18.366 minutes north and 86 degrees 18.393 minutes west, in about 25 feet of water.
The Michigan Underwater Preserve Council identifies the wreck among the area’s diving attractions, although it is outside the established boundaries of the West Michigan Underwater Preserve.
Under favorable lighting and water conditions, passengers aboard the Princess of Manistee can see the wreck from the surface.
Although the Christie was destroyed, all 12 men survived the grounding and reached shore without help from a rescue vessel.
The Christie operated on the Great Lakes for nearly half a century, carrying freight under several owners.
The ship’s final voyage ended about 1,500 feet offshore, after snow and fog prevented its crew from locating the Manistee harbor entrance.
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