The wooden steam barge Francis Hinton was built in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, in 1889 for the Lake Michigan lumber trade and was the last ship built by Danish immigrants Jasper Hansen and Hans Scove. On the morning of November 16, 1909, while carrying a full load of Norway pine from Manistique, Michigan, to Chicago, she encountered heavy seas in a gale and began taking on water. Captain John Campbell turned toward Two Rivers Harbor, but rising water extinguished the fire in the steam boiler. He ordered the anchor dropped and signaled for help, but the heavy seas prevented any rescue from reaching the vessel. With the ship in danger of sinking, he then ordered the anchor chain released in hopes that she would drift to safety. The wind blew her aground, but pounding surf began breaking up the hull. Captain Campbell and his eleven-man crew escaped in a small boat and skillfully maneuvered through the breakers while hundreds of people watched from shore. Today the wreck lies about one-quarter mile offshore in 15 feet of water, with its boiler rising 10 feet above the lakebed.