Summary
The Eclipse is a vessel named only in the January 1907 Charlevoix County Herald retrospective. That article says the boat was captained by James Jesse Strang, captured and burned after a bloody 1855 fight, and represented by partly burned hull fragments later found in Beaver Island sands.
Evidence and limits
The held source supplies only the name, the generic description “boat,” the
attributed Strang connection, and the alleged destruction. No official number,
builder, dimensions, rig beyond the source’s generic term, owner, crew, route,
or independent wreck identification is held. The vessel is therefore modeled
with confidence: contested; the record does not establish that the alleged
boat was part of Strang’s fleet or that the reported hull belonged to it.
Open questions
- Can a contemporary source or Great Lakes vessel register identify this Eclipse?
- Was the reported hull fragment from a vessel, and can its location be documented?
- What relationship, if any, did the boat have to Strang’s settlement?
See also
Sources
- "Relics of Michigan Mormonism," *Charlevoix County Herald*, January 5, 1907.The retrospective calls Eclipse a boat, says it was captained by Strang, and reports that a partly burned hull was found buried in the Beaver Island shore sands. These claims are not independently corroborated in the held corpus.
- Charlevoix County Herald, January 5, 1907, raw issue OCR.Raw issue OCR retained as a second representation of the same source and its uncertain vessel history.