“She Will Be My Coffin”
By James Donahue
Capt. John McKay had a love for the sea and an equal love for his fellow man. He had the best of both worlds. As an experienced master he commanded some well-known steamboats on the Great Lakes in the 1870s, including the Dubuque, St. Paul and Norman. His position put him in contact with many people, both passengers and businessmen, among the port towns of Lake Superior. The Cleveland Herald once said he was so well loved and respected that a coastal town “on the north side of Lake Superior” once bore his name: McKay’s Harbor.
Although his last command, the twelve-year-old steamer Manistee, was not so accommodating as some of the newer steamboats operating in 1883, people liked to book passage on it because they said the preferred traveling with “Johnny McKay.” They were drawn to the man because McKay loved people. He carried that devotion to his death when the Manistee foundered in a bad Lake Superior storm off Bayfield, Wisconsin, on November 16, 1883. One of the three survivors later said McKay refused to leave his sinking ship because nearly all the lifeboats were smashed or carried away by the storm and it was obvious that people were going to be left behind. “I am captain of this boat, and if she is a coffin for anybody, she will be my coffin,” he was quoted as saying.
Only one lifeboat was launched and only three of the nine people who got in it survived a three-day ordeal before the boat washed ashore near Houghton. There were twenty-three lives lost when the Manistee went down. Most were crew members, but there were a few passengers. McKay was bringing his command from Duluth, Minnesota, to Ontonagon, Michigan, with a load of oats and general merchandise. The steamer called at Bayfield and lay over for three days because of bad weather. Some of the passengers transferred to the steamer City of Duluth at Bayfield because the Duluth planned to go directly to Houghton, which was their destination.
The Manistee ran into a serious southwest gale when about twenty miles out of Bayfield, and McKay decided to try to turn the boat around and steam back to the harbor. Something went wrong and before he knew it, the vessel began breaking up. Lifeboats were run out on the davits, but before they could be launched all but one were swept away by the storm. The steamer sank quickly. She was a wooden hulled vessel, built in Cleveland in 1866. She was rebuilt and lengthened to one hundred eighty-four feet two years later.
By James Donahue
Capt. John McKay had a love for the sea and an equal love for his fellow man. He had the best of both worlds. As an experienced master he commanded some well-known steamboats on the Great Lakes in the 1870s, including the Dubuque, St. Paul and Norman. His position put him in contact with many people, both passengers and businessmen, among the port towns of Lake Superior. The Cleveland Herald once said he was so well loved and respected that a coastal town “on the north side of Lake Superior” once bore his name: McKay’s Harbor.
Although his last command, the twelve-year-old steamer Manistee, was not so accommodating as some of the newer steamboats operating in 1883, people liked to book passage on it because they said the preferred traveling with “Johnny McKay.” They were drawn to the man because McKay loved people. He carried that devotion to his death when the Manistee foundered in a bad Lake Superior storm off Bayfield, Wisconsin, on November 16, 1883. One of the three survivors later said McKay refused to leave his sinking ship because nearly all the lifeboats were smashed or carried away by the storm and it was obvious that people were going to be left behind. “I am captain of this boat, and if she is a coffin for anybody, she will be my coffin,” he was quoted as saying.
Only one lifeboat was launched and only three of the nine people who got in it survived a three-day ordeal before the boat washed ashore near Houghton. There were twenty-three lives lost when the Manistee went down. Most were crew members, but there were a few passengers. McKay was bringing his command from Duluth, Minnesota, to Ontonagon, Michigan, with a load of oats and general merchandise. The steamer called at Bayfield and lay over for three days because of bad weather. Some of the passengers transferred to the steamer City of Duluth at Bayfield because the Duluth planned to go directly to Houghton, which was their destination.
The Manistee ran into a serious southwest gale when about twenty miles out of Bayfield, and McKay decided to try to turn the boat around and steam back to the harbor. Something went wrong and before he knew it, the vessel began breaking up. Lifeboats were run out on the davits, but before they could be launched all but one were swept away by the storm. The steamer sank quickly. She was a wooden hulled vessel, built in Cleveland in 1866. She was rebuilt and lengthened to one hundred eighty-four feet two years later.