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The Keweenaw is rich with maritime history, but with that history comes many sinking ships. There were boats called “packet steamers”, which were medium-sized and made for transport across rivers, canals, and possibly lakes.
The Bon Voyage packet steamer set off on May 10, 1901 with a crew and passengers from Ontonagon Harbor to Keweenaw ports.
“It caught fire on May 10th, 1901 with the loss of 4 lives [at] Redridge. There were probably, lets see, 33 survivors- they all survived except for 4 passengers. There was not a good reason as to why there was a loss of life, they all could’ve been saved, and it’s my understanding, you know, how things are supposed to work and they didn’t work, and [it’s] just kind of a complicated, long story but I’ll be doing that at the talk on Wednesday night. But the truth is, [we’ll] probably never exactly know for sure, because it was so long ago, and the descriptions are all different. I have my own ideas, but I have no concrete proof of my theory.” – Stephen Roblee, US Coast Guard Master (retired) and Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at Michigan Tech
Learn more about the mysterious circumstances of why the boat fire was so deadly at 7pm tomorrow at the Eagle Harbor Community building.
There is a $6 fee payable at the door, or a $5 fee for KCHS members.
