Posted on 11/11/2014 2:24:31 PM PST by Alex Murphy
Ross Richardson of Lake Ann said he uncovered the wrecks this summer in the waters around the small Island of Skillagalee, located between Beaver Island and the northern Lower Peninsula community of Cross Village, The Grand Rapids Press (http://bit.ly/10KU6ac ) reported. An extensive reef system about four feet under the water was responsible for many shipwrecks in the area before advanced navigation.
[SNIP]
He found four other wreck sites during his three trips to the island. Richardson believes one of his other discoveries, the largest of the Skillagalee wreck sites with the greatest amount of artifacts present, is the wreck of the 150-foot brig Julia Dean. The captain blamed the ship's 1855 sinking on Beaver Island pirates. The three other wrecks remain unidentified.
(Excerpt) Read more at crescent-news.com ...
The community of avowed Mormons led by James J. Strang on the Beaver Island in Lake Michagan broke up soon after Strangs death at the hands of disenchanted followers in 1856. The ambush and killing of Strang followed a punishment of 79 lashes meted out against a follower whod been caught in bed with another followers wife. From published accounts of the islands history, we know that Strang, who reportedly struggled with Brigham Young for control of the LDS Church following the death of Joseph Smith, moved with a group of followers from Nauvoo, Ill., to Voree, Wis., and finally Beaver Island in the late 1840s. There, Strang declared himself King of the Kingdom of God on Earth and presided over a community of up to 230 devotees, imposing strict rules of behavior that included an edict that all women wear bloomers instead of dresses and that all men take up polygamy.
-- from the thread James Strang, "King of the Kingdom of God on Earth"The New York Times reported on people in the area around Saugutuck, Mich., "thrown into the most intense excitement by the operations of a gang of marauders, who are reported to be Mormons from Beaver Island"....Beaver Island is located toward the north end of Lake Michigan between the Upper and Lower Peninsulas of Michigan, and it has its own bizarre history. In the 1850s, James Jesse Strang crowned himself the king of the island and declared it a separate country from the United States. Strang was eventually assassinated.
-- from the thread Arrrr! Real Pirates Once Sailed On Lake Michigan [and avast! They be Mormons!]
Beaver Island is where I’m going when the zombie apocalypse hits.
I guess he wasn't faithful enough,.................
” imposing strict rules of behavior that included an edict that all women wear bloomers instead of dresses “
So he wasn’t all bad! Eh? 8^)
Hmmm didn’t know two things: #1 that coral reefs were possible in lake Michigan, and #2 that there were pirates in Lake Michigan.
Today’s PSA: Talk Like a Pirate Day is September 19.
The whole story of the failed kingdom is actually pretty interesting. Seems that they opened fire on a tavern with a cannon.
SAVE THE BEER!...................................
Very informative and interesting-I’d have thought “Mormon pirates” was an oxymoron...
Heh heh... Saugutuck, Mich... more like Sausagetuck. It’s the Providence of the North.
Mormons did pretty much the same thing on land. They raided the wagon trains.
I figured they find a giant pile of bicycles.
Well, there's a headline for the ages.
Article said reefs, no mention of coral.
The reefs were four feet deep, the trailerable boat I’m building is going to have a three foot draft. I’m headed that way some day:)
Fortified to keep the Ducks away (Oregon joke)
I read a fiction book in grade school set on the Mississippi, about a gunsmith who was working to develop and improve breech-loading firearms to help repel the pirates.
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