Summary
Hog Island Reef is the charted hazard off the southeast end of Hog Island, in the approach to Beaver Island Harbor. Scott’s 1902 Coast Pilot describes a buoy at the reef and gives its greatest extent as roughly three-eighths of a mile east-west by 220 yards north-south.1
Maritime history
The December 1961 Beaver Beacon retrospective identifies the reef as the place where the three-masted schooner J. I. Case became stranded in 1883 and was saved by the Beaver Island Life Saving Station.2 That account is held local evidence for the incident, not a contemporary casualty report or a survey of the reef.
Open questions
- Can a contemporary chart or hydrographic survey establish the reef’s exact coordinates, shoalest depth, and buoy history?
- Can a contemporary report document the J. I. Case rescue and identify the station keeper and volunteer crew?
See also
Sources
Footnotes
Sources
- George Scott, Scott's New Coast Pilot for the Lakes (6th ed., Detroit, 1902), p. 140.Describes Hog Island Reef off the southeast end of Hog Island, with a red-and-black horizontal-stripe second-class can buoy; gives the reef's greatest extent as three-eighths of a mile east-west and 220 yards north-south.local_documents · 1902_scott-new-coast-pilot-for-the-lakes-6ed
- Beaver Beacon, December 1961, “The Changing Face of Beaver Island.”Retrospective identifies Hog Island Reef as the location where the three-masted schooner J. I. Case became stranded in 1883; it is not contemporary hydrographic evidence.