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Tragic Loss of the MARINE CITY Illustration from Detroit Graphic, courtesy Rev. Edward J. Dowling, S. J. IT WAS a beautiful Sunday afternoon, Auge 29, 1880, and the wooden sidewheel steamer MARINE CITY was downbound out of Alpena for Detroit. She-had stopped at Alcona to load shing- les and was about three miles off Sturgeon Point when fire broke out in the cargo hold. The crew of the Sturgeon Point lifesaving station were picking blueberries on the hill back of the station and apparently no one was left in the watch tower. The MARINE CITY turned toward the shore in an attempt to reach the beach but the fire burned too fast for that. Two tugs, the VULCAN and the GRAYLING, saw the blaze and steamed to the rescue. By the time they reached the vessel the decks were too hot to stand on and the approximately 100 passengers and 41 crewmen were leaping into.the water to escape the flames. The tugs put two hoses on the MARINE CITY and used one to keep their own boats from catching fire. The lifesav- ing crew arrived after all were removed from the blazing ves- sel but managed to save quite a few of those struggling in the water. Most of those rescued were brought in by the two w tugs. Still blazing, the MARINE CITY finally beached three miles north of Sturgeon Point where her rusted boilers may be seen to this day. The MARINE CITY was built in 1866 at Mar— ine City and was listed as 337 g.te and 267 n.t. The death toll, many from a picnic at Black River, was listed at 18