Richard H.

June 2, 2003 was the last day of MSRA's 2003 search effort. It started around 8:00 AM at Bernie Harris’ slip in South Haven. We had transferred the sonar equipment from the Van Heest’s boat "Alexandria's Locker", a few days earlier, to Bernie’s 26' Century, "Spare Time".

The Van Heest’s 21' Cruisers Inc. Bonanza,, was a faithful search boat, but in a pre-launch inspection, Bernie saw the trailer rollers pushing through the gelcoat of the hull bottom. The search boat was deemed un-seaworthy, though the damage had probably been there for the previous week of searching. The boat had a very slow leak and running the bilge pump occasionally kept the water at bay, but for safety sake, we decided to switch to our back up boat.

We then took "Alexandria's Locker" from Saugatuck to Bernie’s home, which is just south of Allegan. At Bernie’s home we began to transfer the sonar gear from the Bayliner to Bernie’s 26' Century. After a few hours of situating gear and wiring power sources, we headed off to the South Haven slip where Bernie keeps his boat during the summer months.

We left the slip about 8:15 AM and dropped the fish in the water about 9:15am. The lake was flat; a dead calm. The water had an oily appearance which usually signifies bad weather is on the way. Launching the sonar fish went flawlessly. With the boat on course we started to settle in our search routines. Bernie was at the helm, Dave Trotter was watching the sonar readout, Jeff Moore was in the spacious cabin reading and relaxing, and I was at the back of the boat messing with my video camera and trying to stay out of the way. Dave commented that with the conditions being optimal, flat water and all, he could bump up the range on the sonar and we could cover a little more "ground".

Within 10 minutes of dialing in the sonar and starting our run, Dave called out for "numbers". This happens when something catches Dave’s eye and the numbers he asks for are LORAN numbers to give us a position for the target. After I hit the waypoint button on my GPS, I looked at the target and asked Dave what he thought. He said it looked to be the size of maybe a school bus and asked if any small vessels were known to be lost in this area. Two vessels came to mind. The SEA MAR III, which went down in 1980, and the Richard H. which went down in the great Armistice day storm of 1940. The SEA MAR was a fiberglass 23' Trojan. Dave explained that fiberglass has nearly the same density as water and it would be highly unlikely to show up on the low frequency the sonar was using. From what I knew of the Richard H., her last known position was right where we were searching. But the thing that really sticks with me most is when Dave said:" Out of all the targets I saw this search, I’d go back and look at this one. There is definitely something there."
 

The Boat
The Richard H. was 40 feet in length with a beam of 12 feet, and weighed 19 tons. She was a steam powered vessel built at Marinette, WI in 1923. The fish tug was owned by William Prue, Green Bay, WI in 1938. Captain McKay, who purchased the Richard H. in 1939, said he had recently remodeled the upper structure of the boat. The superstructure had been cut down ten inches in the remodeling.
 

The Crew

The tug Richard H. was owned by Captain John McKay, who originally hailed from Alpena, but had moved to South Haven with his family in the Spring of 1936. Capt. McKay was involved in the fishing industry, owning a number of tugs, and a laundry business. He had owned the Richard H. for about a year, having bought her in Green Bay Wisconsin. Captain McKay was not on the tug at the time of her sinking, but was very active in search and recovery efforts. Capt. McKay lived at 109 Michigan Ave.

John McKay Jr. was 28 years old, and the youngest member of the Richard H. crew. He was the son of the tug owner, Captain John McKay, mentioned above. Born in Alpena, John Jr. worked for his father, driving a laundry truck and working his father's fishing boats. He had married his sweetheart, Blanche Maxwell, a former Chicagoan, in March, previous to his disappearance. They lived at 308 Eagle St.

33 year old Stanley White originally hailed from Rhineland, Wisconsin. Stanley was an experienced fisherman and a seasoned sailor. His first voyage on the Richard H. was his last.

John Taylor was 35 years old. He left behind a wife and two young boys. The family had lived in an apartment above the Royal Blue store for a year prior to his disappearance.

The Storm
 

November 11, 1940. Armistice Day Storm.
The first day of trout season was Monday the 11th of November. The Indian and the Richard H. left the harbor to set their nets for trout and whitefish. The Indian headed past the pier heads first at 7:35am. The Richard H. headed out the of channel with its 3 man crew around 9:00am. The boat usually had four crewman aboard, but the fourth fisherman failed to show up at the dock on time. Missing the boat gave that man a much longer life. Shortly after the Richard H. hit open water the Coast Guard storm warning wa.s posted. Unfortunately the fish tugs had no way of receiving this information.
 

Around 1:30pm, shortly before a terrific gale hit this area the Richard H. was sighted about 5 miles out. Then the waters of the lake were whipped in an inferno by a sustained 60-mile per hour gale which rolled up mountainous waves and spread a milky mist over the water in which visibility was blacked out. Occasionally wind velocity reached 75 miles per hour. When the storm’s fury had spent from 20 to 30 minutes later, the Richard H. and the Indian were gone.

At 2:50pm, a Coast Guard powered lifeboat was launched to find the missing tugs. Shortly thereafter, contact was lost with the Coast Guard boat and she too was presumed lost.

A hundred miles to the North, the residents of Pentwater were witnessing the horrible power of the fresh water hurricane, and the enormous loss of life with the destruction of the Davock, the Minch, and the Novadoc.
 

The Aftermath
With the Richard H. and the Indian gone from sight, speculation began on shore. The Indian was thought lost a year earlier in rough weather, but made port in Chicago after fighting the storm. Her diesel power plant and larger size gave her an advantage over the smaller Richard H. Many on shore thought the Indian would make port later, like she did the year before. But the fate of the Richard H. worried people. The Richard H. was 8 feet shorter than the Indian, and she was powered by steam, which is not as reliable as diesel and requires much more attention to keep running in inclement weather. With the fish tugs and their only hope of rescue, the Coast Guard boat, missing, many South Haven families had a sleepless Monday night.

By Tuesday afternoon, hope for the survival of the three lost vessels was all but lost. The Coast Guard patrolled beaches between Benton Harbor and Holland with 4 mile intervals.

The Church of the Epiphany at South Haven announced that requiem mass would be held for the 12 missing men Wednesday morning.
The wrecked hull of the Indian was located shortly before 6:00pm Tuesday, by a party of four Coast Guardsmen patrolling the beach between Grand Haven and Holland.

Wednesday brought grim news from the Grand Haven area. Wreckage from the Indian and the Richard H. was found North and South of the Grand River. The top of the pilot house and stack for the fish tug Indian came ashore about 400 yards South of the Tom Johnson cottage. A life jacket from the Richard H. was found along with the tugs name board. The life jacket straps were broken indicating that the preserver had been used by a crew member and tore from his body by the violence of the storm.

The only good news of the day was the report that the Coast Guard power lifeboat and crew were safe in Chicago. They fought the weather 25 straight hours after leaving to search for the missing tugs. One of the crew claimed they encountered 40 foot waves in their journey across the lake. The boat made port in Chicago under its own power and the crew ate, slept, and got attention for minor injuries. The valiant crew received a well deserved hero’s welcome upon their return to South Haven.

The only body that was recovered and identified was that of John Taylor, Jr., machinist and engineer of the Richard H. His body was found at 9:00am Saturday morning near an inlet a half mile South of the Grand Haven breakwater, where bits of wreckage of the two tugs were found. The body was first identified as that of Stanley White, but Chris Jensen, owner of the fish tug Ike, later identified it as that of Taylor. The body was fully clothed and strapped in a life preserver. Taylor’s three brothers arrived in Grand Haven late Saturday to complete the identification.

They removed a watch which was found to have stopped at seven minutes to three, which lent support to the theory that the Richard H. may have gone down in a futile fight with the terrific squall which hit the area at 1:10pm Monday. The brothers said he usually wound the timepiece around 9:00am. It would stop six minutes after being submerged in water, at the latest.

The brothers admitted that the watch might have stopped 24 hours later, as Taylor would have wound the instrument again at 9:00am if it were still afloat. It was considered unlikely, however, the boat stayed afloat that long.. The watch was attached to a chain, its face yellowed by the water.
Two other life preservers of the Richard H. were found, accounting for all three presumably used by the crew members.

None of the crew of the Richard H. carried life insurance. The Richard H. also carried no insurance, according to its owner, John McKay Sr. 

The INDIAN was built by Burger Boat Co. in 1914, original owner not known. The 44 ft. x 12 ft. vessel was steam powered for some time. Owners listed in MVUS begin with; James P. Peterson, Muskegon, 1925-1926; George H. Senecal, Muskegon, 1927-1928; James Madsen, Chicago, 1929-1932; Thomas C. Green, Muskegon, 1933-1934; Chris Wakild, South Haven, 1935-1938; James Madsen, South Haven, 1939. During the summer of 1936 James Madsen installed a 50-60 hp. Kahlenberg oil engine.
 

By Ross Richardson

MSRA is partially funded through a grant from

and by private contributions from people like you.