History #
The John Burt was a schooner built in 1871 in Detroit, Michigan. It had an official number of 75300. The vessel was constructed with a wooden hull and had a single deck. The original owners, P. Ralph, H.E. Burke, and H. C. Ralph, were based in Detroit, Michigan.
The schooner had three masts and had dimensions of 138.2 feet in length, 26.2 feet in beam, and 11.3 feet in depth. It had a gross tonnage of 348 and a capacity of 18,000 bushels.
On September 26, 1892, the John Burt met its final disposition near Oswego, New York, in Lake Ontario. It was wrecked during a storm while carrying a cargo of grain. Two out of the seven crew members on board were lost in the incident. The vessel was driven past the harbor entry and beached when its rudder broke. The continuous action of the waves eventually led to the breaking up of the schooner.
Throughout its history, the John Burt had encountered various incidents. It was sunk in a gale at Leland Lake on October 23, 1871, but was later recovered and repaired in 1872. In 1887, the schooner underwent repairs and received new stanchions, planksheer, and rails at John Oades’ shipyard in Detroit. Additionally, in 1889, it was involved in a collision with the schooner C.C. Barnes at the head of Lake Huron, resulting in damage to its headgear. These events highlight the challenging and perilous nature of the vessel’s operations during its active years.
