SS Erie L. Hackley
passenger and cargo ship that operated in Lake Michigan
SS Erie L. Hackley was a passenger and cargo ship that operated in Lake Michigan from 1882 to 1903. The ship sank in a storm near Green Island on 3 October 1903.
Construction and career
The Erie L. Hackley was a wooden steamer built in 1882 in Muskegon, Michigan by J. Arnold. It was 79 feet (24 m) long, with a beam of 17 feet (5.2 m), a depth of 5 feet (1.5 m), and a gross tonnage of 55 tons.
The Erie L. Hackley's first owner was Seth Lee of Muskegon, who operated the Hackley as a ferry between Muskegon and the suburb of North Muskegon (along with another ship, the Centennial).
On 2 August 1902, the Hackley broke its shaft near North Manitou Island, and had to be towed to port.
In the spring of 1903, the Hackley was purchased by Captain Joseph Vorous and three other men, becoming part of the Fish Creek Transportation Company. It carried passengers and cargo on a route from Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin to Marinette, Wisconsin and Menominee, Michigan, then back across Green Bay to Egg Harbor, Fish Creek and Washington Island, also stopping at Ephraim, Sister Bay, and Ellison Bay
Loss
At 5:45 pm on 3 October 1903, the Erie L. Hackley departed Menominee, Michigan, bound for Egg Harbor, Wisconsin. Fifteen minutes after departing, the Erie L. Hackley was just north of Green Island when a sudden storm blew up. The ship began to list and take on water.
The public source identifies “SS Erie L. Hackley” as passenger and cargo ship that operated in Lake Michigan. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Erie, Hackley and passenger.
Why this record matters
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The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jan 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q21469592. Authority coordinates are 45.062, -87.456. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1882, 1903 and 1902.
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This entry incorporates text from “SS Erie L. Hackley” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.