ANTHONY WAYNE

GENERAL WAYNE

The Anthony Wayne, an aging steamer operating on the Buffalo and Sandusky packet line, met a tragic fate on April 28, 1850. While on a routine trip on Lake Erie, the boat suffered a devastating explosion opposite the mouth of Vermillion River, approximately eight miles from the shore. Within a mere twenty minutes, the steamer sank, with the hull separating from the hurricane deck, leaving the latter adrift on the lake. The survivors, comprising passengers and crew, clung to this fragment of the wreck until daybreak.

Fortunately, the schooner Elmira, captained by Captain Nugent, arrived and rescued the survivors, along with the wounded and the bodies of the deceased that could be recovered. Out of the eighty-four individuals aboard the Anthony Wayne, approximately half were saved, albeit some sustaining severe injuries.

The list of casualties included names such as Myron Tytus from Dayton, Ohio, M. Hart from Perrysville, Ohio, the wife and child of John Ellis from Mount Hope, Michigan, J. W. Doty from Warsaw, Illinois, J. J. Elmore, J. Burchard, Henry Sturges (the steward) from Mount Clemens, Michigan, G. Franklin (a fireman) from Detroit, A. J. Meade (the barkeeper), Wiley Robinson, John Williamson, Henry Kelly (the cook), two unnamed waiters of color, Alexander Cartwright (a deck-hand), John Brainard, James O’Neil, Whitney Parsons (a porter), Henry Blane (a deck-hand), John Falkner, Henry McDonough, and several others whose names remained unknown.

Among the critically wounded were J. H. Josler from Crittenden County, Vermont, Robert Shay from Dayton, Ohio, John Terry from Louisville, Kentucky, C. G. Lawrence from Angelica, New York, A. W. Gray from Stillwater, New York, and the son of Mr. Ellis from Mount Hope, Michigan. John Beadley from Cleveland, Ohio, and Matthew Faulkner from Sheffield, Massachusetts, sustained minor injuries.

One passenger, Mr. Archer Brackney, had a particularly poignant story. He was traveling from Lafayette, Louisiana, to Philadelphia, accompanying the remains of his recently deceased wife and child, both enclosed in a single box. When the explosion occurred, he managed to save his two living children by dragging them out of their berths and into the water. Realizing he couldn’t support both children on the surface, he searched for any piece of wreckage that could assist in their survival. He noticed a floating object—it was the box containing the bodies of his wife and child. Placing his son and daughter on the box, he tried to keep it upright. However, the turbulent waves caused the box to pitch and roll, resulting in his son being washed off and drowned. Brackney shifted his focus to saving his remaining child and succeeded in reaching a floating part of the wreck with his daughter, ultimately ensuring their rescue.

The history of the Anthony Wayne dates back to its launch on May 20, 1837. It initially operated between Perrysburgh, Toledo, Ohio, and Buffalo, New York, on Lake Erie. Over the years, it faced several incidents, including catching fire at a wharf in Sandusky, Ohio, in May 1843, and losing its upper deck due to hurricane force winds in Detroit on May 23, 1848. The steamer underwent repairs, rebuilds, and changes in ownership. In April 1849, it was rebuilt in Trenton, Michigan, under the ownership of Charles Howard from Detroit. The Anthony Wayne suffered various mishaps, such as being crushed and sunk by ice at the John Chester & Co