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Event

Drowning of William Gibson and Edward Gallagher

Draft — sources verified, prose evolving

TypeEvent
Date1885-08-13
ErasIrish era
On this page
Event
Date
1885-08-13
Kind
Accident
Participants
William Gibson (victim) · Edward Gallagher (victim)
Eras
Irish era
Concepts
maritimeheritageirish-arranmore

Summary

William Gibson and Edward Gallagher were reported to have drowned together on 13 August 1885. The event is kept separate from both men and from the Gibson family, so the date, and the uncertainty about the vessel and exact location, stay visible.

Evidence and limits

The source calls Gallagher Gibson’s partner but does not provide a vessel name, coordinates, or a contemporary casualty report. This is therefore an undetailed event record, not a claim about a particular shipwreck.

Open questions

  • Was a vessel lost, and if so which one?
  • Where in the Great Lakes did the drowning occur?
  • Can a contemporary newspaper, lifesaving report, enrollment record, or cemetery record independently identify the loss?

See also

Sources

See the sources block above.

Sources

  1. Connie Wojan, "The Stories Behind the Names of Islanders Lost on the Great Lakes," Northern Islander, February 2026.
    Described in this archive: Northern Islander, 1850–1856.
    The article says William Gibson drowned with partner Edward Gallagher on 13 August 1885; it does not identify a vessel or precise location. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.

Added 1 August 2026 · revised 3 August 2026. Recent changes

Cite this article

Beaver Island Archive, “Drowning of William Gibson and Edward Gallagher”, https://beaverislandarchive.org/events/drowning-of-william-gibson-and-edward-gallagher-1885/, accessed [date], citing Connie Wojan, "The Stories Behind the Names of Islanders Lost on the Great Lakes," Northern Islander, February 2026..

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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