A violent storm in November 1886 resulted in the loss of thirty ships and the lives of thirty-seven sailors. One victim of the storm was the Schooner Marinette. She, and the Schooner Menekaunee, had been loaded with lumber and were being towed by the Steamer Manistique, bound for Chicago. The Manistique and her tow sought shelter from the fury of the hurricane winds in the lee of the Manitou Islands. At 2:20 AM on November 18, the tow broke up and the Marinette, with its crew of eight were left to their fate. She struck the beach, south of the present day Watervale resort at 10:30 PM. All but one of the crew (including Mary, the cook, and her thirteen year old daughter, Minnie) perished. C. W. Annis was the only survivor. He crawled to a nearby farmhouse. It was a sad end to his first trip before the mast.
Today, the wooden skeleton of the Marinette still rests in the shifting sands south of Watervale Inn and Resort. In 2002, it was clearly visible all summer. It has disappeared and reappeared many times over the years. We were unable to reach this location during the high water level of 2020. When we visited in April 2021, parts of wreckage had moved North almost a quarter mile. The cache was gone, so we placed a new one near the wreckage (N44 32.796, W086 13.480). Who knows when and where we will next see the Marinette?
Even without sighting the wreck of the Marinette, this is a beautiful stretch of beach for a hike. Park at the end of Watervale Road (N 44 33.274 W 086 13.291) and cross the dunes to the water’s edge. (No-trespassing signs are posted refering to the Watervale Beach proper and not necessarily the Lake Michigan Shoreline which is part of the Grand Traverse Nature Conservancy.) Walk South about 0.50 miles to the coordinates listed and look for an ammo can cache hidden a few feet up the dune. Another option is to take the 3.8 mile long Old Baldy Trail which starts near the Watervale Inn and climbs to the top of the bluff. The trail then takes you down to the water’s edge south of the site – you can look for the cache on hike North.
For a more detailed account of the wreck and some great photos, check out www.snavemij.com/watervale/marinette/. Thanks to Jim for the illustration above.