St. Joseph Traveler-Herald (St. Joseph, MI), 19 August 1882

A correspondent of the Inter Ocean, writing from Frankfort, Mich., under date of Aug. 10th, says:

The first vessel that ever loaded on the Atlantic seaboard for the great lakes was the schooner Thomas Bradley in 1856. Captain Nathaniel Robbins, at present Superintendent of the Life-Saving Stations, Eleventh District, was in command. She left New York City in September of that year, laden with a cargo of general merchandise, about 400 tons. Her log (yet preserved) is as follows: Passed through Hell Gate into Long Island Sound; thence to Vineyard Sound, and into the Atlantic Ocean; through the Gulf of Canso into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and river to Kingston; then over Lake Ontario and Welland Canal, through Lake Erie, Detroit river, Lakes St. Clair and Huron, Straits of Mackinaw, into Lake Michigan; here she was caught in a terrible gale, and was wrecked on the 4th day of November, 1856, seven miles south of St. Joseph, the crew narrowly escaping with their lives. It was here that Captain Robbins received his first lesson in saving lives, and he has continued his studies, so that he is at present one of the most practical men connected with the Life-Saving Service.