Pilot

Pilot Built – 1825 63 ft. x 15 ft. x 11 ft. Built on the St. Clair River in St. Clair, the Pilot was in commission for about twenty years when it grounded and filled in heavy weather off of Beaver Island in Lake Michigan on December 14, 1845. She was loaded with 100 stoves and merchandise headed from Mackinac to Milwaukee, Racine and Chicago. All of the passengers were rescued immediately, but the captain and crew were forced to spend eight days trapped aboard, exposed to the elements before they were rescued. 

While standing on the Boardwalk plaque for the Pilot, look back to the starting point to envision the length of this historic Great Lakes freighter. You are standing on the point which would have been the bow. The Starting point plaque would be the stern for all ships.

St. Clair, by Charles Homberg, St. Clair Historical Commission, 2007; St. Clair Historical Museum and Research Center archives; Great Lakes Ships data base, Alpena County George N. Fletcher Public Library, Alpena, Michigan; Great Lakes Freighters by Rand Shackleton, Thunder Bay Press, 2003.