The Day The Ships Went Down

Part Three

Return to Part Two

On Sand Island

Like John Irvine at Outer Island, Sand Island Lighthouse keeper Emmanuel Luick knew that something was going badly wrong close by, but accounts differ as to what he knew, and when. Many later reports describe Luick as standing on the lighthouse catwalk with binoculars, helplessly watching the tragedy unfold offshore. However, the words in his logbook tell a different story:

"Sept. 2. At 5:45 am a steamer whistled a distress, not visible, but for fog and heavy raining. We were unable to see or tell where the steamer was, only knew she was NE of the station. At 10 am, it clear up some so we could see a steamer drifting in/out the East side of the station where she soon struck bottom. We could see no life on board or see any distress signal. We patrolled the beach from 10 to 12 but found nothing."

Later that same day, he saw the first of several victims:

"One man which was going back and forth in the sea but life was extinguished. We tried to get him but was unable to do anything as the sea did not bring him close enough."

Luick himself added to the confusion; in later years he was willing to assign himself a more heroic role. One Sand Islander remembered meeting him long ago: "He used to tell us about when he went out to try to rescue people off the Sevona."

That boast can be dismissed, but there are other stories about Emmanuel Luick and the wreck of the Sevona that are harder to assess. Luick was not well-liked in the close-knit community of lighthouse keepers; one former keeper described him bluntly: "He was a mean man. Miserable. He makes you appreciate the better ones."

Sand Island keeper Emmanuel Luick

Perhaps it was his odd-man-out status that set tongues wagging among the islands and back in Bayfield. One keeper's daughter recalled a ghoulish tale:

"He was fanatic about taking pictures... I remember when they had a bad storm up there and so many drowned. This one assistant, he wanted the assistant to hold up the drowned men so he could take pictures of them."

Others made a more serious accusation:

"They always told a story about him that I believed, " said one former keeper. "When the Sevona went down there the bodies came up on the beach there was a satchel. Each ship, the captain was the paymaster. The bodies and the satchel were there but no money. And (Luick) had a lot of money after that."

There's no question that Emmanuel Luick did at least some scavenging of the wreck. His own log records that for several days, he and his assistants walked the beach, watching for bodies. At the same time, they took the opportunity to gather up anything they might find useful. Luick was particularly pleased to round up the ship's hatch covers and drag them into the trees above the water line. They'd make good building material, he no doubt thought.

Indeed they would. Several days later, former Lt. Gov. Sam Fifield came up in his steam yacht from the south end of the island and grabbed all the hatch covers for a building project he had in mind. Luick was furious, but there was nothing he could do.

Sevona Memorial Cottage, Sand Island

In The Years Since

Both the Sevona and Pretoria rest below the lake; now and then sport divers visit their graves. In the 1990s, archeologists examined both wrecks, and discovered that the point where the Sevona broke in two was far from the segment added early in its final year. Contrary to speculation, chopping the boat in half and adding an extra section had nothing to do with its loss.

Sam Fifield used the hatches he collected to build what he called the Sevona Memorial Cottage, which still stands on Sand Island today.

John Irvine died less than three years after he waded out into a furious lake to rescue five sailors. Some say that the ordeal ruined his health.

Emmanuel Luick lived another 42 years. He had plenty of time to brag about the day he tried -- so he claimed -- to save the men on the Sevona.