The schooner Alide J. Rogers struck a reef near the Old Mission lighthouse in Lake Huron on a Sunday night. Captain Frank Coulson and the crew sought refuge in the lighthouse. However, the wind pushed the schooner off the reef and into the lake, where it eventually sank in fifty feet of water, approximately 6 miles from Old Mission Point. The vessel was carrying a cargo of iron ore, and both the cargo and the schooner were well insured.
Schooner Alide J. Rogers was registered under U.S. number 1552 and had a tonnage of 340.08 tons. Its home port was Chicago, Illinois, according to the records in the Merchant Vessel List, U.S., 1871.
