YOHOHO Exploring the lives of Great Lakes pirates who roamed the Inland Seas.
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nder the cover of darkness, they commandeered ships and slipped out of sight with their cargoes. They occupied private and federal lands in the wild northern frontier so they could steal its precious timber. They trafficked in prostitution, booze and gambling. One even called himself king. The Great Lakes pirates weren’t traditional swashbucklers in the vein of Blackbeard, Captain Kidd or even the fictional Captain Jack Sparrow. They didn’t have eye patches and peg legs, hoist the Jolly Roger or carry parrots on their shoulders (at least as far as we know). But this colorful, rough-andtumble lot were pirates just the same. In the 19th century, timber was big business in the Great Lakes. And in remote forests, not all businesses were legitimate. Those seeking to work outside the law had plenty of room to do so — and plenty of help. “They had real cabals,” says Dr. Richard Boyd, an acclaimed authority on Great Lakes maritime archaeology and maritime history. “It wasn’t just the robber barons who ran the operations. They had quite a crew behind them, from the cutters and everyone who worked at their sawmills, to the captains and sailors who were willing to run contraband, to those in the big markets who were willing to sell it.” They were willing to do anything to protect their illicit activities. Even sink a U.S. gunboat. Commissioned in September 1844, the USS Michigan was the first ironclad ship in the U.S. Navy, and she was the fastest ship on the Great Lakes. She also was a significant threat to the timber pirates who, by the 1850s, were going wild in the region. While the ship was docked in Erie, Pennsylvania, in the summer of 1853, word got out that the federal government was about to send her into the western lakes and put marines
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ashore to break up the illegal sawmills and catch any vessels running contraband. “The bad guys were keenly aware of the impact on their nefarious activities,” Boyd says. “They enlisted the largest propelled steamer in the Lakes, the Buffalo, to ram and sink the Michigan.” On May 6, 1853, the Michigan cruised through the St. Clair River into Lake Huron. According to Boyd, a deck watchman saw lights in the distance, and the ship changed course. All too soon, however, it became clear the vessels were on a collision course. Although the Michigan was badly damaged in the crash, she fortunately didn’t even spring a leak. “The crew chased down the Buffalo and likely exchanged niceties,” Boyd notes with a laugh. “They thought it was an accident for the longest time, but numerous investigations later showed it was a plot to sink the only boat that could put a dent in the pirates’ activities. The Michigan came back, and she raised hell.”
The SS Michigan was an ironclad U.S. Navy ship used to break up illegal timber pirate activity.
MICHIGAN PHOTO COURTESY OF HAZEGRAY.ORG; BACKGROUND PHOTO COURTESY NATIONAL ACHIEVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION
The Timber Pirates