Schooner Oriole, The

DESCRIPTION: "Attention give both young and old... While I relate the hardships and the dangers of the sea, I'll tell you of the Illinois and of her reckless crew, How she sank the schooner Oriole...." The ships collide, and twelve on the Oriole die; only one survives
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1933 (Collected from Ben Peckham by Walton)
KEYWORDS: ship death disaster
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Aug 8/9, 1862 - Collision of the _Illinois_ and the _Oriole_, resulting in the destruction of the latter
FOUND IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Walton/Grimm-Windjammers-SongsOfTheGreatLakesSailors, p. 216, "The Schooner Oriole" (1 text)
Roud #19870
NOTES [160 words]: According to Julius F. Wolff, Jr., Lake Superior Shipwrecks, Lake Superior Port Cities Inc., Duluth, 1990, pp. 8-9, the schooner Oriole left Marquette, Michigan on August 8 with about 500 tons of iron freight and 13 people aboard, including Captain Daniel McAdams, his wife, and his mother-in-law.
The ship soon ran into a heavy fog, but the captain did not slow down. Around 3:00 a.m., the Illinois rammed the Oriole. It was still foggy, and the Illinois took damage itself, so Captain Ryder headed on to Marquette without pausing to see what had happened.
He had, however, sliced the Oriole in half. Of the 13 people on board, only one survived: Cook Andrew P. Fleming managed to cling to wreckage until he made his way to the Oriole's stern, then still afloat, and lower a boat. He was rescued a day and a half later.
There would not be another accident on Lake Superior with such heavy loss of life until 1875, according to Wolff, p. 23. - RBW
Last updated in version 5.0
File: WGM216

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