In 1887, a horrid storm turned into a tragic accident on Little Traverse Bay.
The Coral was a pleasure yacht and its crew was the pride of Petoskey.
“And then she really won the favor of the town when she won an upset in a regatta against a sleek, fast Chicago sailboat," said Renee Tanner with the cemetery. "And I think the paper said that the boys were too big for their clothes because they were so proud.”
Tanner researched The Coral and the story of the people who died and survived a storm, on May 22, 1887.
Ten people from Petoskey went out that sunny Sunday including L.W. Cole, 38, and his son Fred, age 23. L.W. owned one of the first drug stores in town. Fred owned The Coral with his friend Dana Stark.
There wasn’t even a whisper of a storm that morning. But by 11 o’clock a sudden squall came from the west and turned the boat on its side.
The 10 man crew scrambled into a small yawl that was towed behind the yacht. That caused the yawl to sink almost level with the water. Eventually, it too was swamped in the storm.
L.W. Cole tried to swim for shore, but was found floating in the water near a nearby tannery. His son Fred, tried to swim after his father, but then turned around and clung to the swamped yawl. But he was overcome by the lake as well.
Leon Wilson and his father Andris Wilson rushed into the squall to rescue five survivors. In total, five men died that day. Some are buried in the scenic Greenwood Cemetery overlooking the Bay in Petoskey others were lost to the lake.
The Coral was towed to shore later that evening by a tug boat and eventually sailed again.
That’ll do it for this week’s maritime. You can visit the Cole family’s plot at Greenwood Cemetery as well as others who perished that day in 1887.
Hear our complete conversation with Renee Tanner.
