by James Spurr
Thomas Douglas, the Fifth Earl of Selkirk, is a historic figure. He founded his “Red River Colony” west of Lake Superior, in Canada and held a major interest in the Hudson Bay Company. His colony interfered with its fierce competitor, however, the North West Company. He later seized the North West Company’s Fort William in 1816 amid reports of mistreatment of the Metis. The North West Company procured a sheriff from York and together with an armed party of ambiguous authority, departed aboard the Schooner Invincible on 14 November, 1816. Several offered cautions as to their safety in attempting to navigate Lake Superior so late in the season, but as with so many tragic ends for vessels and mariners upon the inland seas, there was thought to be time for just one more run. The weather was as described by the survivors, making their way back to the Sault without their vessel.
Invincible foundered near Whitefish Point, later well known as the “Shipwreck Coast.” The geography is tricky; the weather often treacherous. The Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society Museum is now located at the site of the former United States Coast Guard and Lifesaving Station at Whitefish Point and a part of its many excellent exhibits speak to the Kithigamig Anishinbeg as Lake Superior’s first mariners and the schooner Invincible as her first shipwreck.
Invincible has not been found, yet, although Lieutenant Henry Bayfield’s 1825 nautical chart, beautiful for its fine detail and respected for its accuracy, noted the precise location of her remains. That chart is available for inspection at the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society Museum, currently hanging in the restored 1923 United States Lifesaving Service Crew’s Quarters. The curious thing about the chart is that its line of longitude located so close to Whitefish Point appears to so many who have studied it closely, to be in error.
The Book of Common Prayer, quoted in the last chapter, was standard issue among the Royal Navy. It was frequently utilized for a variety of everyday purposes and ceremonies, as authorized by the Anglican Church. Its burial rites were frequently relied upon and in dire need following the Battle of Lake Erie. While Catholicism was also well established throughout the Northwest, especially among the French and their native converts, Catholics of the day would not have been encouraged to read, let alone travel with and worship from a Bible.
Harsh elements over time take a toll upon a people and its abandoned vessels, strewn along a beach. Perspectives and beliefs, as with water levels, change over two hundred years. Some walked the beaches and scavenged from vessels having served a culture and in stealing from their past, failed to record or recall.
But how entire ships of significant burthen, such as Friends Good Will and Invincible could essentially disappear is just one of the intriguing questions about the history of the inland seas. Such questions drive the research; the answers drive the writing.
The lives of Great Lakes mariners, natives and pioneers, their endeavors, courage and failings, as cultures clashed with often such violence as waves crash on a beach, render their stories equally fascinating, even today.
~ James Spurr