The U.S. Coast Guard ship lost 100 years ago this fall off the Niagara, Ontario shores of Lake Erie.
Submitted by Paul Kassay
This year is the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the United States Coast Guard Light Vessel 82, just off the Lake Erie shores of Point Abino in the Niagara municipality of Fort Erie, Ontario. Six U.S. Coast Guard sailors perished in that terrible gale that struck the Great lakes on November 10th , 1913. and lasting for days.
More than 240 sailors from both Canada and the United States perished in that hundred-year-old storm overall.
In September of 2012, a plaque was dedicated to honour the six sailors that drowned a few miles off the Crystal Beach shore. Both U.S. and Canadian coast guards were in attendance with five vessels in the water at the Waterfront Park in the Fort Erie community of Crystal Beach. About 200 people attended the solemn ceremony in a cross-border remembrance.
Shortly after that event, surprising things started to happen. Our group of history buffs on the Canadian side of the border received a phone call from Michigan from one of the grandchildren of Captain Hugh Williams who commanded the Coast Guard vessel. His family had read the story in their local newspaper in Manistee, Michigan and from that point on, correspondence flew back and forth between them and our Marine preservation group in Fort Erie.
On Friday October 18th at 3 p.m. two grandchildren of the captain of that ill-fated vessel will be on site from Michigan to make an official remembrance at the monument , where a small ceremony is planned.
Waterfront Park is located just east of the former Crystal Beach amusement amusement park, near the Palmwood Hotel, well known to locals and Western New Yorkers
The public is welcome to the plaque site. Ample parking is available near the plaque. There is no rain date, so come prepared, just in case..
The text of the plaque reads reads as follows:
In Memory of Light Vessel 82 and its Crew, In November 1913 a White Hurricane Storm battered the waters of Lake Erie for three days. The United States Lighthouse Service’s Light Vessel 82 and its crew of six were duty bound to remain on station during this storm, to warn other ships of the dangerous rocky shoals off Point Abino. The 35-foot-high waves combined with the 80 mph winds proved too much and the anchored ship and crew were pulled beneath the cold, dark waters around November 10 1913. LV-82 was built in Muskegon, Michigan by Racine-Truscott-Shell Boat Co. in 1912. Made of steel with a whaleback design, it was about 100 feet long and 21 feet at the beam. A 90 hp steam engine powered its five foot cast iron propeller. The ship was fitted with a fog signal, a submarine bell, a hand-operated bell, a steam anchor and a cluster of lenses, each providing 180 candle power. The search began immediately and the ship was finally located on May 9 1914. No remains were found until one year later, when the body of Charles Butler washed up in the Buffalo harbor and was identified by his wife. LV-82 was replaced with other USLH Service Vessels off Point Abino until 1917-18 when the Canadian government erected the Point Abino Lighthouse, a gleaming white structure, containing a 3rd order Fresnel lens and a Diaphone Fog Alarm. The Lighthouse was declared a National Historic Site in 1998.
The Light Vessel sailors who sacrificed their lives were: Captain Hugh M. Williams from Manistee, Michigan Chief Engineer Charles Butler from Buffalo, New York, Assistant Engineer Cornelius Leahy from Elyria, Ohio, Mate Andrew Leahy from Elyria, Ohio (Cornelius’ brother), Seaman Willaim Jensen from Muskegon, Michigan, Cook Peter Mackey from Buffalo, New York.
(Paul Kassay is a Fort Erie, Ontario resident and long-time advocate for preserving and honouring our heritage in the greater Niagara region.)
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Niagara At Large 
Oops….1913?
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