"The Astor will never leave Copper Harbor."

"The Astor will never leave Copper Harbor.". . It is my painful duty to inform you of the loss of the Brig Astor… Her keel is badly broken [and] her rudder broke in two. , Captain Benjamin Stannard , September 27, 1844, On Friday, September 20, 1844, the John Jacob Astor lies at anchor on these waters while crewmen maneuver small boats to unload its cargo., By mid-afternoon, sudden gale force winds rip the vessel from its anchorage. When one anchor breaks free, the Astor whips wildly about on her second, smaller anchor until, in early morning darkness, it also fails to hold., Driven toward shore on crashing surf, Captain Benjamin Stannard finds it "impossible for us to get her underway to clear the rocks.", Rough seas heave the Astor upon the rocks and batter her hull., No Loss of Life , We are perfectly satisfied that had it been possible to prevent the accident, Captain Stannard would never have suffered her to go ashore; and it is most fortunate that no lives were lost, nor anyone hurt. , Ramsey Crooks, President , American Fur Company , November 12, 1844, Summoned to this shoreline from their encampment just 200 yards away, squads of soldiers struggle all night in torrential rain to tend bonfires and helplessly keep watch over the stricken ship and its crew. , Then What Happened? , Leaving just one small vessel on the Lake, the untimely loss of the Astor sends shock waves through the western settlements just when they are stockpiling supplies for winter. At army headquarters in Detroit, there is concern that the Fort Wilkins garrison can survive the winter only by strict rationing of provisions on hand. It does, and, by September 1845, the Lake Superior fleet grows to nine vessels., With the approval of its owners, Charles Brush, sutler at Fort Wilkins, salvages iron from the wrecked Astor. "This spring," he writes in 1847, "as soon as she got dry enough, I set fire to her and have collected a large quantity of spikes, bolts and bars. She is still on fire (some six weeks burning, as hard to burn as break).", We have used our utmost endeavors to get timbers under her to haul her out on, but cannot raise her up to get them under and our chains and tackles are not of sufficient strength to haul her out without something under her to slide on. , Captain Benjamin Stannard, December 9, 1844., Driven aground by the violent gale, the crippled Astor takes on water through its damaged keel., In the weeks ahead, tireless efforts by her captain and crew fail to free the Astor. Miners from the Lake Superior Mining Company blast away rock in attempts to make her level, but without jacks to raise her up, Captain Stannard is unable to pull the vessel up on dry land for repairs., Stannard stubbornly refuses to leave the Astor before trying again in late January to save her. But, already, there are reports that she will go to pieces, “doomed to leave her bones on the rocks of Copper Harbor.”, Battered by surf and ice, the John Jacob Astor breaks apart in February 1845.