Name: John James Martin drowns when a tender tug sinks near Beaver Island, 1959
Start: 1959-08-23
End: 1959-08-29
Location: Beaver Island

Locator map: Beaver Island highlighted within the Beaver Island archipelago — Took place at Beaver IslandLocator plate © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL 1.0); depths NOAA; names USGS GNIS. How the plates are drawn.

Event

Dates: 1959-08-23 – 1959-08-29
Kind: Disaster
Where: Beaver Island
Eras: Modern era
Concepts: disastermaritimedeathfamilytransportation
Within: Beaver Island

Summary

The September 1959 Beaver Beacon reports that John James Martin drowned on August 23 when a 36-foot tender tug sank between Beaver and High Islands while supporting a wreck-identification effort. A diver located the tug in about 60 feet of water and recovered Martin’s body August 29.

Evidence limits

This is a newspaper casualty report, not an official investigation, vessel registration, exact-coordinate record, or complete salvage file.

Sources

Beaver Beacon, September 1959, "JOHN JAMES MARTIN."
Reports that lifelong island resident John James Martin drowned August 23 when the 36-foot tug he operated with his brother Charles sank about a mile off Beaver Island’s northwest shore in the channel between Beaver and High Islands; a diver located the tug in about 60 feet of water and recovered the body August 29. The tug was serving a larger craft investigating a hull believed to be the Carl D. Bradley. It does not provide an official casualty investigation, vessel registration, exact coordinates, or complete salvage record. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1959-09_Beaver-Beacon
Beaver Beacon, September 1959, held issue PDF, source scan.
The held three-page issue PDF is paired with the canonical OCR source and confirms the drowning and recovery report; it does not expand the casualty or salvage record.
data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1959-09_Beaver-Beacon

Added 3 August 2026. Recent changes

Cite this article

Beaver Island Archive, “John James Martin drowns when a tender tug sinks near Beaver Island, 1959”, https://beaverislandarchive.org/events/beaver-island-john-james-martin-tug-drowning-1959/, accessed [date], citing Beaver Beacon, September 1959, "JOHN JAMES MARTIN." (and 1 further source listed on the page).

Last revised 2026-08-03. Fill in [date] with the date you read it — this page is static and cannot know that.

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