Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula

Tuesday August 20th, 2019 - 9:49 pm

Pirates on the Great Lakes?! Aye!!

The Great Lakes pirates were some of the most fearsome in the world.

These swashbucklers ruled the high fresh-water seas and made their living sailing and searching for treasure not known to Jack Sparrow – lumber, illegal alcohol and wild-game meat. Known as Timber Pirates by some, these buccaneers would ship up to the Upper Peninsula to cut down wide areas of timber to sell to industrializing cities east of the state. Alcohol runners would even steal alcohol to sell in Detroit or Chicago, or trade for guns and loot. But they also had a culture of their own—dressing for the weather in knitted wool caps, mittens and sweaters and generally not speaking pirate but instead in the dialect of those surrounding them—with a Scandinavian accent up in the Wisconsin area, a more German-Irish flair in Ohio. (perhaps some "Yooper" e.g. "Walk the plank, eh!)

The most notorious Great Lakes pirate, though, may be none other than Roaring Dan Seavey, who started as a regular sailor in the U.S. Navy. After leaving the military he found himself a poor man with only his ship, Wanderer, to his name and took up a life of plundering only to later become the only man known to be formally charged with piracy on the Great Lakes.

Seavey was a thief who had eyes for large shipments of venison and alcohol, to then later sell at a higher price. Anyone who tried to stop him faced the cannon he held on board. He also was known for putting up fake lights that simulated a port so that incoming ships would crash on the rocks and he could steal their cargo. Seavey’s most famous escapade was his takeover of a schooner docked named the Nellie Johnson. The clever seaman invited the Johnson’s crew to drink with him, staying mostly sober himself. He then threw the drunken sailors off their ship and sailed it to Chicago, where he sold the Nellie Johnson’s cargo.

Seavey retired sometime in the late 1920s, and settled in the town of Peshtigo, Wisconsin. He died in a Peshtigo nursing home on February 14th, 1949 at the age of 84.


Source:
Pure Michigan
www.michigan.org/article/trip-idea/michigan-pirates-great-lakes ... See MoreSee Less

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Tuesday August 20th, 2019 - 9:35 pm

Lace ‘em up and head to Copper Harbor for the 26th Annual Copper Harbor Trails Fest August 30 - September 1!Get your running shoes ready because our first course map release for the 26th Annual Bell's Beer Copper Harbor Trails Fest is for our 10k Trail Run! Racers will start with a climb up Downtown, followed by a brief rest lap around the Back 9 Trails at the Keweenaw Mountain Lodge. They'll then head down Dancing Bear and Red Trail before a fast descent down Mango and Manganese Road to the finish. Now that's a trail run! The 10k kicks off at 9AM on Sunday, September 1st. Register online at runsignup.com/copperharbortrailsfest 🏃‍♂️💀🏆 ... See MoreSee Less