Through Surf and Storm

Muskegon served as the eastern terminus for a huge fleet of scows, schooners, side-wheelers, steamers, and propellers.  Often those expected never made port and those departing never arrived at their destinations.  Fierce Lake Michigan gales, sudden snow squalls, waterspouts, and even a rarely-recorded Lake Michigan seiche, capsized vessels, stranded them on shore, froze their rigging, tore their sails, and tossed many a crewmember into the icy water.