L. L. Lamb (Schooner), U15609, scuttled, 23 Aug 1897

STRIPPED AND SUNK.
      Queer Doings Charged Against Officers Of The Schooner L.L. LAMB.
Capt. Cosgrove and mate Jack Boyle of Sarnia, Mich., rest under the charge of a very serious crime. In the Erie Basin the schooner L.L. LAMB of Port Huron lies scuttled and stripped, and the police and Federal authorities charge her former captain and mate with doing this work.
      The LAMB arrived in port last Friday, bringing a cargo of ties for the Lehigh Valley Railroad. It is said that Capt. Cosgrove and Mate Boyle had trouble with the crew over the payment of wages. The men, it is said, suspected that they were to be beaten out of their pay. They were afraid that the LAMB would leave port with the debt unpaid, and so they libeled the vessel.
When Deputy Marshal Cavanaugh on Monday morning went to the wharf where the LAMB had been moored, he learned that she had been taken outside the breakwater on Sunday. He traced the vessel to her anchorage and was rowed out to her, expecting to serve the papers on the captain. But when he arrived he found the ship abandoned, stripped and rapidly filling with water. She was towed in by tugs, and moored in the Erie Basin, where she sank soon afterwards. The water where the LAMB lies is not very deep, so that the greater part of the schooner is out of water.
      It is considered by the police that the schooner was plundered during Sunday night. She was found to have been stripped of her foresail, mainsail, staysail running gear and everything which could handily be turned into cash. A towline worth $250 was one of the stolen articles.
      Capt. Pritchard and Detective O"Connor of the patrol boat and Marshal Cavanaugh made a search of the water front and found the missing property, where it had been sold. The men, who are alleged to have been Cosgrove and Boyle, represented to the purchasers that the gear was from a schooner about to be turned into a propeller. The thieves realized about $300 on the sales and are charged with also retaining the money which they received for transporting the ties.
      Examination of the boat shows that a hole was bored in the hull. The LAMB is owned by Matilda Gree of Port Huron.
      Buffalo Evening News
      Wednesday, August 25, 1897 4-5

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      No owner appearing, the authorities at Buffalo will remove the hulk of the schooner L.L. LAMB from Erie Basin.
      Milwaukee Library Scrapbook
      September 1, 1897

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Schooner L.L. LAMB. U. S. No. 15609. Of 253.50 tons gross; 240.83 tons net. Built Erie, Pa., 1869. Home port, Port Huron, Mich. 120.3 x 26.1 x 10.7
      Merchant Vessel List, U. S., 1897