The A.P. Nichols

The A.P. Nichols was built at Madison Dock, Ohio, in 1861 by the Bailey Brothers for James Butler of Buffalo, N.Y. Her original measurements were 146.75' by 30.03' by 11.7', 300 gross tons , with three masts (bark-rigged), and the official number 566.

The Nichols had an eventful, rather accident-prone career. On September 24, 1865, she collided with and sank the schooner William 0. Brown at Bar Point, Lake Erie. However, the water was only twenty-four feet deep, and the William O. Brown was later raised. In June of 1869 the Nichols was damaged by collision while at anchor off Buffalo, and in November of the same year, heavily laden with grain, she struck a sand bar while entering Racine Harbor and "suffered considerable damage."

A painting of the A.P. Nichols

The Nichols was sold to A.P. Dutton of Racine in 1871, and in the summer of 1877 she was rerigged at Manitowoc as a three-masted schooner. She was sold to Capt. David Clow and Son of Crystal Lake, Ill., in 1883, with a home port of Chicago. She was again repaired in 1884, which may have been necessary following an incident on August 22, 1883. The Nichols dragged her anchors off Mackinac during a heavy southwest gale and went ashore on Mission Point. She lost her small anchor and chain, broke her steering gear, and began to leak badly. She was pulled off the Point and towed to Cheboygan, Michigan, by the propeller Messenger, and a diver made temporary repairs to get her back to Chicago. Her repairs in Chicago included part of a new keel, a new rudderpost, and recaulking.

In June of 1885, off Milwaukee, the Nichols struck the schooner Saveland on the quarter, damaging her rail and stanchions . The Nichols had her pump well rebuilt and her bottom recaulked in 1886, and she had a steam pump well fitted and another recaulking in 1890. 

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