Built in 1862 by Hilyne C. Litchfield at Blendon’s Landing, Michigan, and rebuilt in 1889, the three-masted wooden schooner Lumberman spent three decades carrying lumber, barrel staves, railroad ties, and other forest products from isolated Lake Michigan towns to the markets of Chicago. The well-preserved wreck now lies four miles offshore in 60 feet of water in Lake Michigan. On April 6, 1893, on Captain Orin Vose’s first trip in command and while sailing northward for the season’s first load, fierce southwest winds struck the vessel. The crew tried to shorten sail, but the wind was too strong, and Lumberman capsized and sank. Captain Vose, entangled in the rigging, nearly drowned, but he and the crew climbed onto the tops of the masts, which still projected above the water after the schooner settled on the bottom. Three hours later, the passing steamer Menominee rescued them from their exposed perch.