Lizzie Throop
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| History | |
|---|---|
| Name | Lizzie Throop |
| Builder | J. O'Connor of Mill Point, Michigan, United States |
| Laid down | 1849 |
| Launched | 1849 |
| Out of service | October 18, 1873 |
| Fate | Foundered and sunk during a storm on October 18, 1873 in Lake Michigan. |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Schooner |
| Tonnage | 97 at time of sinking |
| Length | 86 ft (26 m) |
| Beam | 21 ft (6.4 m) |
| Decks | 1 |
| Propulsion | Sail |
| Crew | 8 |
The Lizzy Throop was a two-masted wooden schooner, that transported general goods and later, timbers across the Great Lakes from 1849 until 1873, when she broke up in a gale on October 17, 1873. The wrecked hull of the Lizzie Throop was discovered in the summer of 2016, while searching for the lost airliner Northwest Airlines Flight 2501.
Built by J. O'Conner, in what was previously known as Mill Point, Michigan, the wooden vessel was crafted out of timbers milled from one of Grand Haven's earliest saw mills. The single deck schooner was constructed to a length of 86 feet (26 meters), a breadth of 21 feet (6.4 meters), with a depth of 8 feet (2.4 meters). She displaced 123 tons. The vessel had an almost 4:1 ratio in length and width, giving the ship an unusual wide appearance. She could be operated by a crew of 6 to 8 men. The ship's namesake comes from a derivative of the ship owner, Nathan Throop's deceased wife, Caroline Elizabeth Throop.
History on the Great Lakes
The Lizzie Throop encountered some misfortunes on the lakes in her quarter century on the lakes. Two grounding events occurred in 1854. According to insurance claims, in April, 1854, she was driven against breakwater, near Chicago, Illinois. She ran aground again that same year, in November. In 1865, her tonnage was reduced to 97 tons and her cargo hold was outfitted to carry timbers, logged from Northern Michigan. Towards the end of her life, she ran regular routes from Muskegon to Chicago, carrying timbers to the rebuilding metropolis of the Midwest that was recovering from the Great Chicago Fire.