Summary
Whiskey Island is a small island in the northern part of the Beaver Island archipelago. The current polygon is identified by OSM relation 6063930 and the GNIS feature identifier recorded above.
Its historical record in the sources held here is primarily navigational. The 1902 Coast Pilot lists Whiskey Island Shoal among the buoyed hazards of the archipelago. A 1961 local retrospective places the 1884 wreck of the schooner Chandler Wells near Whiskey Island, with the vessel and its lumber cargo lost. That retrospective is the basis for the linked shipwreck article; it does not provide a wreck coordinate or a primary casualty report. A 1977 transportation discussion again uses Whiskey Island as a route reference.
Open questions
- What is the relationship between the charted Whiskey Island Shoal and the island polygon, and where was the 1884 wreck located?
- Can an enrollment, casualty list, or contemporary newspaper establish the Chandler Wells’s owner, build, cargo, and loss circumstances?
Sources
- OpenStreetMap contributors, island polygons via Overpass API, retrieved 2026-07-28 (ODbL 1.0).Area 0.52 km² computed in EPSG:3078.osm · islands
- George Scott, *Scott's New Coast Pilot for the Lakes*, 6th ed. (1902), pp. 190-192.Describes Whiskey Island Shoal among the buoyed hazards of the Beaver Island group; this is navigational context, not a claim that the shoal and island are the same feature.local_documents · 1902_scott-new-coast-pilot-for-the-lakes-6ed
- Beaver Beacon, December 1961, “The Changing Face of Beaver Island.”Retrospective states that the schooner *Chandler Wells* was wrecked near Whiskey Island in 1884 and that the ship and lumber cargo were lost.
- Charlevoix Courier, 1977, discussion of Beaver Island transportation routes.Uses Whiskey Island as a geographic reference in a proposed route between Beaver Island and Skilagalee.