The packet steamer Vernon, built in 1886 by J.P. Smith in Chicago for the Booth Fish Company of Chicago, regularly carried passengers and cargo between Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and Chicago. Though fast and elegantly adorned, she was top-heavy and unstable because of a math error by her designer, and from the time she was launched onlookers predicted bad luck. On October 28, 1887, Vernon left Frankfort, Michigan, for Lake Michigan’s western shore with 40 to 50 passengers and crew aboard. That night, a northeast gale forced the vessel to battle heavy rolling seas until immense waves swamped her through open hatches and cut her power. By 4 a.m. on October 29, 1887, she had sunk in deep water off Two Rivers, Wisconsin. Sole survivor Axel Stone said the captain had overloaded the ship, leaving the side-loading hatches only six inches above the water, while cargo overflowing from the holds blocked the forward hatches so they could not be closed. These conditions left Vernon dangerously vulnerable to flooding and were the likely cause of her sinking. Today the wreck lies in 200 feet of water about five miles due east of Rawley Point, listing to starboard amid cargo scattered from her packed holds, with the forward gangway hatches still open.