Jupiter (Barge), aground, 27 Nov 1872

The barges SATURN and JUPITER, owned by Capt. E.B. Ward, were lost near Whitefish Point, on the morning of the 27th of November with all on board. The schooner MIDDLESEX went ashore on Point au Pins but all her crew were rescued. The schooner W.O. BROWN laden with grain from Duluth and the ore laden schooner C.C. GRISWOLD, from Marquette, are supposed to have been lost with all on board Six were lost on the JUPITER and seven on the SATURN.
      Port Huron Daily Times
      Friday, December 6, 1872

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Milwaukee, Dec. 10 - Capt. Thompson, late of the LAC LA BELLE, who was on the propeller CUYAHOGA arrived here and reports the schooner MIDDLESEX ashore opposite Round Island, with all hands saved. The schooners W.O. Brown and D.R. OWENS, from Duluth are reported lost with all hands on board. The schooner C.C. GRISWOLD from Marquette, is reported lost with all hands. The barges JUPITER and SATURN, ore laden broke loose from the steamer JOHN A. DIX and drifted ashore at Whitefish point, all hands lost. The Canadian steamer CUMBERLAND is frozen in at Bear Lake, with 50 passengers on board.
      The Toronto Mail
      Wednesday, December 11, 1872
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VESSELS LOST ON LAKE SUPERIOR-- TWO BARGES AND TWO SCHOONERS GO DOWN WITH ALL ON BOARD. -- The Detroit Tribune has a dispatch dated Marquette, December 5. -- The propeller CHINA returned to that port from the south Wednesday evening, Mud Lake was closed on the 17th and nothing has passed down since. Thirteen propellers and a number of vessels are frozen in on the river and above the canal. The barge JUPITER and SATURN were lost near Whitefish Point on the morning of the 27th with all on board. The CHINA saw their masts out of water 5 and fifteen miles above the point. The GENERAL DIX is all right at the Sault. The schooner MIDDLESEX went ashore near Pointe Aux Pins but her crew were saved. The St. PAUL and ATLANTIC are at Sailor's Encampment. The schooner W.O. BROWN was loaded with grain from Duluth and the schooner C.C. GRISWOLD with ore from Marquette are supposed to have been lost with all on board. The schooners, ESCANABA, EXILE, GOLDEN RULE, and CAMBRIDGE and the barque HEMISPHERE on Wiaska Bay were all in the same storm and lost most all their canvas. The CHINA brought to Marquette 400 men. The barges SATURN and JUPITER were owned by Capt. E.B. Ward of Detroit and were loaded with iron ore, 840 tons all together were bound from Marquette to Wyandotte in tow of the steam tug GENERAL DIX. They left Marquette at three p.m. on Tuesday previous to the disaster. The JUPITER was commanded by Capt. Peter Howard of Detroit. He leaves a wife and children. The names of the balance of the crew, are not known. The SATURN was commanded by a man from Amherstburg and his name is unknown, he having shipped recently. The balance of the crew consisted of Harvey Cusher, of Defiance, O.; William langendorff who was accompanied by his wife, of Toledo, O.; George Archer, residence unknown; and two other men known only as James and Philip. There was no insurance on the barges, but the cargo was insured.
      Port Huron Times
      December 12, 1872
     
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Barge JUPITER, of 400 tons. Owned Detroit by E.B. Ward. Bound from Lake Superior to Wyandotte, foundered Lake Superior, November 1872, with the loss of 8 men. Loss to ship $28,000. Loss to cargo $13,000. Insurance on ship $16,000. No insurance on cargo.
      Marine Casualties of the Great Lakes
      1863 to 1873, Report of U.S. Coast Guard

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      LOSS OF THE SCHOONER W.O. BROWN.
      In the great gale that swept over Lake Superior on the 26th and 27th of Nov. the schooners C.C GRISWOLD and W.O. BROWN were lost. The fate of the crews were in doubt for a long time, but the following extract from a letter from Mr. James McGowan, shipkeeper on the steamer St. LOUIS at the Sault, to Capt. Ed. Kelley, of this city gives further particulars. The letter is dated December 28th, and says: "About a week ago the news came down from the North Shore that a vessel was ashore on Mamainse Point, opposite White Fish Point, but I could get nothing definate whether it was the BROWN or the GRISWOLD until today. We now learn that it is the BROWN, three of her crew having arrived here. The captain and mate were washed overboard outside; two men and the cook were frozen to death after landing. The men here say that she sprung a leak before the wind changed to the Northwest, and she became unmanageable; all they could do now was to keep her before it. The barges that the DIX lost I suppose you have heard from. One of them lies about three miles from White Fish Point, and the other two at Two Hearts River. No sign of the crews." - Cleveland Leader
      Buffalo Commercial Advertiser
      January 14, 1873

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ABANDONED. - The attempt to recover the barges JUPITER and SATURN, sunk in lake superior last fall, has been abandoned. A corydon of life lines had been strung aft the decks to protect them from being washed from the decks show that the crew did not abandon themselves to the elements, without a desperate struggle for life.
      Buffalo Evening News
      May 29, 1873

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ABANDONED. - The expedition which started out from this place some 3 weeks since for Lake Superior, to recover, if possible, the barges JUPITER and SATURN which got adrift from the steamer JOHN A. DIX in a gale last fall, have returned, the project being necessarily abandoned. One of the wrecks lies above Whitefish Point, and the other some 18 miles above Vermillion Point. Both are badly broken up, imbedded in sand, and impossible of recovery. It was the most fearful event of navigation of 1872, the crew of both barges perished. The bodies of none however have ever been recoverd. - Detroit Free Press.
      The Toronto Mail
      Saturday, May 31, 1873