Seeking out my ancestors ship wreck in Lake Erie is not easy at all. Not only are ship wrecks shrouded in mystery but so are Maritime records. Where does one even begin to know where to search?
I have been trying discover all possible leads on The ship "Good Intent". I find more then one vessel with the same name:
Here are some things I have discovered:
Newspaper clipping web site Maritime History Of The Great Lakes.,
NAVIGATION OF LAKE ERIE.---The GOOD INTENT, of 35 tons, was built by
Capt. Lee in 1799 and navigated the lake till 1806, when she ran on
Point Abino and was lost, together with her cargo and crew.
Monroe Evening News
February 1, 1834
The Schooner GOOD INTENT of 35 tons, was built in 1810, and lost on Point Appineau in 1816.
Report on Buffalo Harbor
Commercial Advertiser & Journal, Buffalo
Wednesday, June 9, 1841 pp 2 col. 3, 4 & 5
___________________ _________________________ ------------------------
See my dilema
Then in books/Web addresses I have found by searching the Internet:
------------------------------------------------------ 1187
GOOD INTENT
Other names : none
Official no. : none
Type at loss : schooner, wood
Build info : 180?, Mill Creek, Lake Erie
Specs : (30 t.)
Date of loss : 1825
Place of loss : 2 mi NE of Dunkirk, NY
Lake : Erie
Type of loss : (storm)
Loss of life : ?
Carrying : ?
Detail : Wrecked, no detail available.
Another vessel named GOOD INTENT (maybe same vessel) was reported lost
in 1805 or 6 on Point Abino with loss of all hands. She was built by
Capt. Wm Lee in 1799 or 1800.
Sources: sol,h,hgl,mpl
Nothing conclusive. Do you think they could ever say who the Captain was for the trip when it Sunk???
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Erie County,
Pennsylvania
History of
Erie County, Pennsylvania 1884
by Samuel P. Bates,
Chapter
XVI - Lake Navigation
|
The first vessel to
sail the waters of Lake Erie was built by Robert Cavalier de la Salle, an
adventurous Frenchman, on the Niagara River, six miles above the Falls, in
the year 1677. She was named the Griffin, and was of sixty tons burthen.
La Salle navigated Lakes Erie, Huron and Michigan, to Green Bay, in the
present State of Wisconsin, where, with a picked number of men, he left
the vessel and marched overland to the Mississippi. The remainder of the
crew attempted to return to the Niagara, and are supposed to have been
lost in a storm, as neither vessel nor men were heard from afterward.
Nearly a hundred years later the French built another sailing vessel with
which they undertook to navigate the lake. This second venture was as
unsuccessful as the first, the vessel having foundered and forty-nine of
her crew having been drowned.
No record is to be found of any other sailing vessel on the lake until
1766, when the British, who had secured possession of both shores, built
and launched four. They were of light burthen, and were chiefly used for
carrying troops and army supplies. All transportation of a commercial
character, and all of the very limited passenger business was carried on
by batteaux until after the close of the Revolutionary war. They kept
close to the shore, were mainly propelled by paddles or oars, and if a
sail was used it was simply a blanket fastened to a pole, to take
advantage of favorable winds. The earliest American sailing vessel on the
lake was a small boat, owned and run by Capt. William Lee, in which he
carried passengers and light articles of freight between Buffalo and Erie.
She was constructed to use oars in going against the wind, and had no
crew, the passengers being obliged to work for their passage.
The first sailing vessel built on the south shore of Lake Erie was the
sloop Washington, of thirty tons, under the superintendence of Eliphalet
Beebe, at the mouth of Four Mile Creek, for the Pennsylvania Population
Company, owners of the bulk of the land in the Triangle. She was launched
in September, 1798, was employed for some twelve years in the service of
the company, and was removed on rollers across the Niagara Peninsula, to
Lake Ontario in 1810, where she was lost. The first vessel launched at
Erie was built at the mouth of Mill Creek, in 1799, Capt. Lee and Rufus S.
Reed being her principal owners. She was named the Good Intent and sunk at
Point Albino in 1806, with all on board. The Harlequin, built at Erie in
1800, by Mr. Beebe, was also lost the first season, with her entire crew.
About 1801, the Wilkinson, of sixty-five tons, was owned at Erie. She was
commanded by Capt. Daniel Dobbins, in 1805. Another early Erie vessel was
the schooner Mary, of 100 tons, built by Thomas Wilson, 1805. |
Now to just find out where the ship was built???
