Blazing Star (1873)
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Service History

The Blazing Star was a three masted, wooden schooner built in 1873 by Henry B. Burger in Manitowoc, Wisconsin.

The Blazing Star had gone ashore at Long Point, Lake Erie on November 12th, 1883 and was heavily damaged. Later that month she was raised and taken to Pt. Dover and repaired.

In May of 1884 she was chartered by the Ogdensburg and Lake Champlain Railroad. She was towed by Monteagle.

Last Document Of Enrollment Surrendered: Chicago: December 2, 1887: "Vessel Lost">
Final Voyage

October 10, 1887, 1:00 pm. The three masted schooner Blazing Star was bound for Chicago from Manistique, Michigan, with a cargo of lumber (both below deck and on the deck), ran onto the reef at Fisherman shoals in broad daylight and clear weather. The crew attempted to lighten the craft, but as they raised the craft the waves worked the vessel further onto the rocks. Once it became obvious that they could not release the vessel, they abandoned it by using the yawl and rowing to Plumb Island. The crew was picked up by a steambarge and taken to Chicago while Captain Comerford remained on Pilot Island to guard the wreck.

Within a month (December 1887) Leathem and Smith had anchored a barge along side of the Blazing Star with the intent of using their centrifugal pump to pump her out. But a storm forced them to abandon everything, although the pump and the barge were later retrieved. Further salvage attempts the next year revealed that the bottom had been ground away while the ship lay on the rocks. The wrecking tug Leviathan was used to removed the lumber and was taken to Washington Harbor to be sold. The rigging and any removable items had been stripped off over the winter. She was abandoned as a total wreck.
 
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