R. J. Hackett
historic shipwreck in Lake Michigan
R. J. Hackett (official number 21934) was a steamer built in 1869 in Cleveland, Ohio, by Peck & Masters. When the ship was first launched, both its wide cross-section and long midships hold were unconventional. The design's clear advantages in moving cargo through the inland lakes quickly resulted in many imitators.
The Hackett is recognized as the first Great Lakes freighter, a vessel type that has dominated Great Lakes shipping for more than 100 years. In 1905, the Hackett caught fire and sank on Whaleback Shoal in Green Bay, 9.5 miles (15.3 km) southeast of the Cedar River in Menominee County, Michigan. The wreck site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992 because of the importance of this ship.
Shipbuilder Elihu M. Peck
Elihu Monroe Peck (1822 – May 8, 1896) was a pioneer in shipbuilding and passenger and freight hauling. He was born in Butternuts, New York in 1822.
When Peck was 16, he began working in the profession of ship's carpenter. He moved to Cleveland, Ohio and apprenticed to shipbuilder Philo Moses.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “R. J. Hackett” is historic shipwreck in Lake Michigan. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Hackett, historic and shipwreck, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “historic shipwreck in Lake Michigan” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 31, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7273711. Authority coordinates are 45.358, -87.182. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1869, 1905, 1992 and 1822.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
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Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “R. J. Hackett”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow R. J. Hackett primary sources, R. J. Hackett archive and Hackett research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “R. J. Hackett” 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.