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- Modern era
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Summary
The Erie L. Hackley (also spelled Eric L. Hackley) was an 1882 Muskegon-built screw steamer that served the Charlevoix/Beaver Island and later Green Bay routes. The October 1903 Charlevoix County Herald reports the vessel’s sinking with nineteen aboard; the later detailed account and Wisconsin shipwreck record place the wreck two miles northeast of Green Island.
The vessel identity is retained as one record because the sources agree on the name stem, 1882 Muskegon build, Beaver Island/Pine Lake service, Green Bay route, and final wreck. The service chronology conflicts: local histories place Campbell’s acquisition in 1893 or 1897, the Beaver Island mail contract in 1902 or earlier, and sale/final service in 1903 or 1906–07. The primary report gives 54 tons; the 1973 reconstruction gives 90 gross/75 net tons and 79 by 17.4 feet; another local history gives 100 feet. Dimensions and tonnage are therefore left blank, while the 1973 registry number is retained.
Open questions
- Which official records reconcile the 54-ton, 90-gross-ton, 79-foot, and 100-foot descriptions?
- Which mail-contract and ownership records reconcile the 1893/1897 acquisition and 1902/1906–07 service chronology?
- Can contemporary Menominee or Door County reports identify the other casualties and survivors?
See also
- Nellie
- Sinking of the Erie L. Hackley
- Squaw Island Light-Crew Tragedy (1900)
- Joseph Vorous (Erie L. Hackley loss)
- Fish Creek Transportation Company
- Green Island (Green Bay)
Sources
- Beaver Beacon, March 1973, “Beaver Tales.”Local retrospective says Peter D. Campbell purchased the Eric L. Hackley in Muskegon in 1897, brought it to Charlevoix, and used it on the Beaver Island run until 1906 or 1907; it gives a length of 100 feet and a small steam engine.
- Beaver Beacon, March 1973, “Beaver Tales.”The normalized continuation repeats the 1897 Muskegon purchase and approximate 1906–07 mail-contract endpoint, and describes the Hackley’s competition with the steamer Joe; the retrospective does not resolve the vessel’s registry, dimensions, or chronology conflicts.
- Beaver Beacon, February 1973, “Beaver Tales.”Preceding installment identifies the Eric L. Hackley as the successor to the small Nellie and says it carried the established mail and passenger run between Charlevoix and Beaver Island.
- Beaver Beacon, February 1973, “Beaver Tales.”The normalized issue rendering preserves the retrospective account that the small Nellie was replaced by the Eric L. Hackley after an established Charlevoix–Beaver Island mail and passenger run had developed.
- Helen Collar Papers, “Ships and Boats,” Clarke Historical Library, Central Michigan University, retrieved in the local web capture.Subject-card chronology independently places the Eric L. Hackley on the route from 1897 and says Campbell sold it in 1906 or 1907; it also notes a later loss on Green Bay, without supplying a casualty record.web · collar_subject_cards_q-z
- "Steamer Erie L. Hackley Lost," *Charlevoix County Herald*, October 10, 1903.Contemporary local report says the passenger steamer Erie L. Hackley sank in Green Bay with nineteen aboard, twelve reported drowned, and identifies it as a 54-ton screw steamer built at Muskegon in 1882.
- Beaver Beacon, May 1973, “Ships of The Past.”Detailed local reconstruction uses Erie L. Hackley, gives registry number US 135615 and 79-by-17.4-foot/90-gross-ton dimensions, dates the Green Bay loss to October 3, 1903, and reports eleven deaths. These dimensions and the chronology conflict with other held histories, so only the registry number is promoted to structured metadata.
- Wisconsin Shipwrecks, “Erie L. Hackley Maritime Trails Marker,” retrieved August 1, 2026.Shipwreck record corroborates the 1903 loss, nineteen aboard, eight survivors, eleven deaths, and wreck location; it does not resolve the Erie/Eric spelling or earlier Beaver Island service chronology.
- Beaver Beacon, January 1972, “Squaw Island Story, Part II.”Clementine McCauley’s family account says the mail boat Hackley could not cross from Charlevoix until December 24 during the aftermath of the 1900 tragedy; this supports route-era context without adding vessel registry data.