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Vessel

Beaver Islander

Draft — sources verified, prose evolving

Locator map: Saint James Harbor highlighted within the Beaver Island archipelago
Home port: Saint James HarborLocator plate © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL 1.0); depths NOAA; names USGS GNIS. How the plates are drawn.
TypeVessel
Dates1962-07-27
ErasModern era
On this page
Locator map: Saint James Harbor highlighted within the Beaver Island archipelago
Home port: Saint James HarborLocator plate © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL 1.0); depths NOAA; names USGS GNIS. How the plates are drawn.
A black-and-white photograph of the motor ferry Beaver Islander under way on open water, heeling slightly, her upper deck crowded with standing passengers. The name BEAVER ISLANDER is lettered on the white hull; a rubble breakwater runs behind her and an ensign flies at the stern.
Vessel
Dates
1962-07-27
Length
96.5 ft
Beam
27 ft
Gross tonnage
100
Operator
Beaver Island Boat Company
Home port
Saint James Harbor
Eras
Modern era
Concepts
maritimeshippingtourismeconomytransportation
Media
The Beaver Islander under way with passengers · The Beaver Islander under way, colour photograph

Summary

The Beaver Islander is a motor ferry built in 1962 by the Sturgeon Bay Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Corporation for the Beaver Island Boat Company, running between Charlevoix and Saint James Harbor on Beaver Island, Michigan.1 Sources give her length as 95 feet, later corrected to 96 feet 4 inches, and separately as 96.5 feet; her beam was 27 feet and her gross tonnage 100.123 She replaced the smaller Emerald Isle in July 1962 and was christened at Saint James on August 5.4 For more than two decades she carried the island’s passengers, vehicles, freight, and winter supplies, captained through the 1960s and early 1970s by Lawrence McDonough and from 1973 by Russell Green.5 Ownership of the ferry operation passed to John McGoff in 1981 and was bought back by an island-connected shareholder group in 1984.67 She is still in service: as of August 2026 the Boat Company runs her in peak season and when the larger Emerald Isle is out for maintenance, making her the older of the route’s two working vessels at more than sixty years.8

Current operation

The Beaver Islander remains in service as of August 2026, the older of the two vessels on the Charlevoix run. The operator schedules her in peak season, on most summer weekends, and whenever the Emerald Isle is out for maintenance, and gives her as 95 feet long, 27 feet in beam, drawing 8 feet, with a maximum of 172 passengers and 10 vehicles.8

History

In February 1962 the Beaver Island Boat Company announced it would open bids on February 10 for a new ferry to succeed the Emerald Isle on the Charlevoix–Saint James run. The proposed design, by naval architect Mr. Hartell of Sturgeon Bay, called for a 94-foot vessel with a 27-foot beam and twin 1,000-horsepower engines, carrying 150 passengers and 12 cars against the Emerald Isle’s permitted 113 passengers and eight cars, at an estimated cost of $150,000.9 The following month the Beaver Beacon reported that the Sturgeon Bay Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Corporation had won the contract with a $187,000 bid, that construction would begin immediately, and that the new ferry would be named the Beaver Islander, with a June 23 start planned on the Charlevoix–Beaver run. Its builder was identified in the paper as Captain John Rowen, said to have come to the island decades earlier to cut fence posts and to have survived a 1912 freighter wreck near Looney’s Point.1

The March comparison table gave the new boat’s length as 95 feet against the Emerald Isle’s 72, with 1,020 horsepower, twin screws, a speed of 14-plus miles per hour, and a gross tonnage of 100;1 the following month the Beacon corrected the length to 96 feet 4 inches,2 and a Clarke Historical Library subject-card chronology separately records 96.5 feet.3 The three figures are not reconciled here. Construction reached the main deck by May, with the two main engines installed and work reported on schedule.10 In June, however, the boatyard reported the ferry would not be ready until July 20: as the first U.S. ferry built to greater length under the same operator’s license under recently relaxed Coast Guard rules, her design required Coast Guard approval of extensive shop drawings. A July 16 launch was then planned.11

Delivery slipped further still. Captain Forrest Pratt and other islanders traveled to Sturgeon Bay for the planned maiden voyage; when mechanical trouble delayed it, Pratt took a job picking cherries to cover his expenses. The Beaver Islander finally reached Saint James Harbor on July 27, 1962, and was christened there on August 5. Archie LaFreniere, the Boat Company’s secretary-treasurer, introduced company officials and employees; Father Louis Wren blessed the vessel; Mrs. Paul Heflin sang the national anthem; and Mary McDonough, mother of the ferry’s captain, Lawrence McDonough, broke the champagne bottle over the bow. About eighty guests then took a Boat Company excursion to Charlevoix for a meal at the Argonne restaurant.4 That spring the company’s earlier vessel, the Emerald Isle, had been sold to Arnold Transit Lines for $68,000, conditional on the Beaver Islander’s delivery, for service on the Mackinac Island run.10

Lawrence McDonough commanded the ferry through the 1960s. On December 27, 1968 the Beaver Islander made its 299th and final trip of the season, carrying winter supplies through a severe snowstorm: food, building materials, a snowmobile, and salt blocks for deer. With her radar, direction finder, depth sounder, and windshield wiper disabled, McDonough held the wheel by feel and marine radio while engineer Johnny Gallagher and first mate Russ Green joined passengers Walt Wogan and Bud McDonough watching from the icy foredeck for Charlevoix’s foghorn; the ferry made port and laid up for the winter at Round Lake, Charlevoix.12 The next December she beat that record with a 300th trip, a mark the Charlevoix Courier said had stood at 299 since 1968.13 Before the 1969 season the crew found one rudder missing, possibly lost the previous fall, and fitted a replacement;14 her passenger allowance had already risen from 150 to 200, on Coast Guard notice in January 1964.15

Service in the 1970s followed a seasonal rhythm: ice regularly delayed the spring start, and a December supply run through winter weather regularly closed the season. In 1972 a faulty water-cooling pump idled one engine for more than a week after the season’s first trip, and the ferry went to the Soo that May for a five-year Coast Guard hull inspection.1617 The 1971 season totaled 283 trips against 291 the year before;18 1975 totaled about 300 trips, six missed to weather, over an April 15–December 27 season.19 In June 1973 Russell Green, a crew member for fourteen years as purser and assistant skipper, was named captain; Lawrence McDonough, skipper for seventeen seasons, became business manager, succeeding the retiring James W. Gallagher.5 That same month a broken clutch laid the ferry up for a week, and the Boat Company chartered back its old running mate, the Emerald Isle, from the Arnold Line, with Green flying to Mackinac Island to bring her south.20 By the mid-1970s the Beaver Islander shared the route with a second company vessel, the South Shore.19

Ownership of the ferry operation changed in 1981, when John McGoff took a controlling interest in the Boat Company, afterward operating it as the Beaver Island Navigation Co.6 In January 1984 a committee of seven island businessmen negotiated with McGoff to buy back the Beaver Islander, the South Shore, the Beaver Island dock, and related assets; a newly incorporated Beaver Island Boat Co. signed a contingent asset-purchase agreement on February 27 and raised $450,000 through a stock sale to island-connected buyers.7 The purchase closed on June 29, 1984, and the new company took control the next morning, an occasion marked by a party at the Shamrock. By the company’s September 1 shareholders’ meeting, 4,016 of 5,000 offered shares had been sold to 267 stockholders, and the new board reported no plans to change the boat schedule, rates, or crew.6

Significance

The Beaver Islander recurs through the Beaver Beacon‘s community reporting for more than two decades as the island’s scheduled link to the mainland: schoolchildren bound for field trips and music festivals,21 ball teams to Mackinac Island22 and Manistique,23 ranchers’ cattle, and each December’s last supply run before four months of winter isolation all traveled aboard her. When ice, mechanical failure, or weather took her off the route, the gap showed — a chartered Emerald Isle,20 a McPhillips Flying Service mail plane, or, in May 1976, a chartered flight that carried the island’s entire student body off Beaver Island for spring trips because the ferry could not run.24

Evidence and limits

No held source gives the Beaver Islander’s official number, hull material, or depth of hold. Three lengths appear in the record and are not reconciled: 95 feet in the March 1962 comparison table, 96 feet 4 inches in the April 1962 correction, and 96.5 feet in the Clarke Historical Library subject cards. The 1962 Beacon names the builder “Captain John Rowen”; whether he is the John Roen later associated with the Sturgeon Bay Shipyard and Drydock Company is not established here, and the two are kept as separate, episode-qualified records. The 1984 buyback coverage describes a “Beaver Island Navigation Co.” (McGoff’s operating company) and a newly incorporated “Beaver Island Boat Co.” without stating whether the latter is a legal continuation of the 1954 corporation of the same name or an unrelated new entity. No source held here documents the vessel’s service, ownership, or disposition after September 1984.

Open questions

  • What was the Beaver Islander’s official number, hull material, and depth of hold, and which registry or Coast Guard record would supply them?
  • Which of the three reported lengths — 95 feet, 96 feet 4 inches, or 96.5 feet — is correct?
  • Is Captain John Rowen, identified in 1962 as the builder, the same person as John Roen, later associated with the Sturgeon Bay Shipyard and Drydock Company?
  • What was the ferry’s service and ownership history after 1984, and when and how did it leave service?
  • What relationship, if any, exists between the Beaver Island Boat Company incorporated in 1954 and the reorganized company of the same name incorporated in 1984?

See also

Footnotes

  1. Beaver Beacon, March 1962, “Bigger, Better Boat for Beaver”. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  2. Beaver Beacon, April 1962, “Beaver Island Boat Company”. ↩ ↩2

  3. Helen Collar Papers, “Ships and Boats,” Clarke Historical Library, Central Michigan University. ↩ ↩2

  4. “Welcome, Beaver Islander!”, Beaver Beacon, August 1962. ↩ ↩2

  5. Beaver Beacon, June 1973, “Beaver Islander Changes”. ↩ ↩2

  6. Beaver Beacon, September 1984, “Boat Company Purchase Completed - Island Celebrates!”. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  7. Beaver Beacon, April 1984, “Good News - Boat Company To Come Back To Island People”. ↩ ↩2

  8. Beaver Island Boat Company, “The Beaver Islander” and company history, retrieved 14 August 2026. ↩ ↩2

  9. Beaver Beacon, February 1962, “Boat Company”. ↩

  10. Beaver Beacon, May 1962, “Beaver Islander”. ↩ ↩2

  11. Beaver Beacon, June 1962, “Boat Company Progress”. ↩

  12. Charlevoix Courier, January 1, 1969, “Friday’s storm fails to halt final run for boat” and “Beaver Islander’s last trip”. ↩

  13. Charlevoix Courier, December 24, 1969, “Islander sets record”. ↩

  14. Beaver Beacon, April 1969, “Beaver Islander Runs”. ↩

  15. Beaver Beacon, January 1964, “Islander Expands”. ↩

  16. Beaver Beacon, May 1972, “Hectic Season Start”. ↩

  17. Beaver Beacon, March 1972, “Spring” report. ↩

  18. Beaver Beacon, January 1972, “Season Ends”. ↩

  19. Beaver Beacon, February 1976, “Boat Company News” and 1976 ferry schedule. ↩ ↩2

  20. Beaver Beacon, July 1973, “Emerald Isle Returns”. ↩ ↩2

  21. Beaver Beacon, May-June 1974, “School News”. ↩

  22. Beaver Beacon, May-June 1975, “Mackinac Island Excursion”. ↩

  23. Beaver Beacon, May-June 1976, “Tradition Revived”. ↩

  24. Beaver Beacon, May-June 1976, “School Trips”. ↩

Read the document

6 pages, rendered from the held scan.

Beaver Islander — p. 1
Page 1 of 6BI Pirate and forum contributors, “Beaver Islander,” Beaver Island Forum, November 4–5, 2017.Open the page image · Download this page
All 6 pages
  1. Beaver Islander — p. 11
  2. Beaver Islander — p. 22
  3. Beaver Islander — p. 33
  4. Beaver Islander — p. 44
  5. Beaver Islander — p. 55
  6. Beaver Islander — p. 66

Sources

  1. The thread reports that the vessel was out of service for what participants understood as routine maintenance connected with a possible sale, while also repeating an unverified rumor of a replacement faster boat in spring 2018. This is informal community discussion, not a Boat Company announcement, sale record, inspection report, or confirmation of a replacement vessel.
    forum · www.beaverislandforum.com · 12 · t012489
  2. A community tribute states that the Beaver Islander completed its maiden voyage from Beaver Island to Charlevoix on August 5, 1962. It is a commemorative date claim and does not replace the vessel's contemporary construction, arrival, or service records.
    forum · www.beaverislandforum.com · 01 · t001227
  3. A commemorative post said the ferry made its maiden voyage to Charlevoix in 1962, served as the flagship for 37 years, and was replaced on the run by the Emerald Isle in 1997. The dates are broadly consistent with the contemporary vessel chronology, but the post is not a shipyard, Boat Company, or Coast Guard record.
    forum · www.beaverislandforum.com · 03 · t003856
  4. Announces the February 10 bid opening for a new ferry designed by naval architect Mr. Hartell of Sturgeon Bay: proposed 94 feet, 27-foot beam, twin 1,000-horsepower engines, radar, ship-to-shore phones, 150 passengers and 12 cars against the Emerald Isle's permitted 113 passengers and eight cars, and an estimated $150,000 cost. It does not name a builder or the eventual vessel.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1962-02_Beaver-Beacon
  5. The held six-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1962-02_Beaver-Beacon
  6. Reports the accepted $187,000 Sturgeon Bay Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Corporation bid, immediate construction, the name Beaver Islander, and a planned June 23 Charlevoix–Beaver run. Its comparison table gives 95 feet length, 27 feet beam, 1,020 horsepower, twin screws, 14-plus m.p.h., 12 large cars, 150 passengers, 100 gross tons, and 9'6" gangway clearance; this length differs from the April correction and the Collar subject-card measurement. It names Captain John Rowen as head of the building company and recounts his account of cutting posts on Beaver Island and surviving a 1912 freighter wreck near Looney's Point.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1962-03_Beaver-Beacon
  7. The held six-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice or report; it does not expand the source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1962-03_Beaver-Beacon
  8. Corrects the March report’s 95-foot figure, saying the Beaver Islander is 96 feet 4 inches long. This source-specific correction is retained alongside the 96.5-foot subject-card measurement and the March comparison table. The same issue reports negotiations to lease the Emerald Isle to the Straits Transit Company, superseded by the May report of its sale to Arnold Transit Lines.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1962-04_Beaver-Beacon
  9. The held six-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice or report; it does not expand the source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1962-04_Beaver-Beacon
  10. Reports construction progress to the main deck and arrival of the two main engines, with work continuing on schedule, and separately reports the Emerald Isle's sale to Arnold Transit Lines for $68,000, conditional on the Beaver Islander's delivery, for the Mackinac Island run.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1962-05_Beaver-Beacon
  11. The held six-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice or report; it does not expand the source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1962-05_Beaver-Beacon
  12. Reports that the ferry would not be available until July 20, that it was the first U.S. ferry built to greater length under the same operator's license under recently relaxed Coast Guard rules, that extensive shop drawings needed Coast Guard approval, and that a July 16 launch and delivery to the island were planned. It does not establish that those planned dates occurred.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1962-06_Beaver-Beacon
  13. The held four-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice or report; it does not expand the source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1962-06_Beaver-Beacon
  14. Contemporary report says the new ferry appeared in Saint James Harbor on 27 July 1962 after delivery delays, began the Charlevoix–Beaver run, and was christened at Saint James on 5 August; it names Lawrence McDonough as captain, Archie LaFreniere as the officials' introducer, Father Louis Wren as the officiant, Mrs. Paul Heflin as the anthem singer, and Mary McDonough (the captain's mother) as the woman who broke the champagne bottle, with Captain Forrest Pratt present. It also describes Pratt's earlier wait in Sturgeon Bay for the delayed delivery and an excursion of about 80 guests to Charlevoix.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1962-08_Beaver-Beacon
  15. The held five-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice or report; it does not expand the source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1962-08_Beaver-Beacon
  16. Subject-card chronology identifies the Beaver Islander as a 96.5-foot ferry carrying 150 passengers and 12 cars, citing an August 1962 Beaver Islander item, and separately dates the Beaver Island Boat Company's 1954 incorporation and 1955 formation.
    web · collar_subject_cards_q-z
  17. Reports that the U.S. Coast Guard at St. Ignace notified the Beaver Island Boat Company that the Beaver Islander's passenger allowance had increased from 150 to 200.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1964-01_Beaver-Beacon
  18. The held issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1964-01_Beaver-Beacon
  19. Names Captain Lawrence McDonough, John A. Gallagher, and Russell Green fitting out the Beaver Islander for the 1965 season, including a new heating plant reported to more than double the original output, engine work, cleaning, and painting.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1965-04_Beaver-Beacon
  20. The held seven-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1965-04_Beaver-Beacon
  21. Local report says the Beaver Islander had been reduced to one trip a day as the summer season ended, confirming continued service in 1970 without establishing its later disposition.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1970-09_Beaver-Beacon
  22. The held seven-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice or report; it does not expand the source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1970-09_Beaver-Beacon
  23. Charlevoix Courier, January 1, 1969, “Friday’s storm fails to halt final run for boat” and “Beaver Islander’s last trip.”
    Reports the ferry’s 299th and final 1968-season trip on December 27, its winter supply cargo (food, building materials, a snowmobile, deer-feed salt blocks, and materials for a new telephone building and the Dominican Sisters' convent), the storm return with radar, direction finder, depth sounder and windshield wiper disabled, and a three- or four-month winter rest at Round Lake, Charlevoix. It names Capt. Lawrence McDonough at the wheel, with Green and Gallagher as crew and Walt Wogan and Bud McDonough as passengers who helped search for Charlevoix's foghorn and stack; it does not establish a final vessel disposition. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request. The page reader on this article shows pages 2-7 of the 482-page bound annual volume; it is an extract, renumbered from one, not the whole volume.
    charlevoix · charlevoixcourie1969unse
  24. Held raw issue OCR preserves the transport report independently of the normalized Markdown rendering.
    charlevoix · issues · charlevoixcourie1969unse · charlevoixcourie1969unse_djvu
  25. Charlevoix Courier, December 24, 1969, “Islander sets record.”
    Within the same held combined-year file, a separate December 24, 1969 item reports the Beaver Islander setting a new record of 300 trips for the year, beating the previous record of 299 set in 1968; it quotes boat company manager James Gallagher, says the ferry would sail no later than December 31 while carrying winter supplies, and that McPhillips Flying Service held the winter mail contract. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
    charlevoix · charlevoixcourie1969unse
  26. Reports the crew flying to Charlevoix to ready the boat, engine checks and a test run, discovery that one rudder was missing (possibly lost on the rough final crossing the previous fall), and installation of a replacement.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1969-04_Beaver-Beacon
  27. The held six-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1969-04_Beaver-Beacon
  28. Reports the Beaver Islander heading to Charlevoix for the winter immediately after Christmas, completing a season of 300 round trips totaling 18,600 miles.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1969-12_Beaver-Beacon
  29. The held issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1969-12_Beaver-Beacon
  30. Reports the Beaver Islander’s December 27, 1971 final trip, planned winter maintenance and a spring five-year Coast Guard hull check, 283 trips in 1971 against 291 in 1970, unchanged car and passenger volume, and four snowmobiles on the final trip; quotes company manager James Gallagher. Also reports McPhillips Flying Service taking over winter mail and perishable freight.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1972-01_Beaver-Beacon
  31. The held nine-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1972-01_Beaver-Beacon
  32. Reports the ferry’s April 20 first trip, ice-delayed return, April 26 water-cooling-pump failure and repairs, and May 14–19 Soo dry-dock period for a five-year hull inspection.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1972-05_Beaver-Beacon
  33. The held eight-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice or report; it does not expand the source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1972-05_Beaver-Beacon
  34. Anticipates the vessel’s departure for a five-year inspection in the Soo before the 1972 schedule; it is a pre-season plan rather than an inspection record.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1972-03_Beaver-Beacon
  35. The held eleven-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice or report; it does not expand the source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1972-03_Beaver-Beacon
  36. Reports Russell Green’s promotion from purser and assistant skipper (fourteen years) to captain, Kevin McDonough as deckhand, Jerry LaFreniere as engineer since June 1972, and Lawrence McDonough’s move after seventeen seasons as skipper to business manager, succeeding the retiring James W. Gallagher; also announces a two-daily-trip summer schedule beginning June 16. 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 · 1973-06_Beaver-Beacon
  37. The scan confirms the command changes and the two stated departure times.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1973-06_Beaver-Beacon
  38. Reports the Beaver Islander’s first 1973 trip on March 30 and says the regular schedule would begin April 16; it does not provide the captain, cargo, passenger count, or voyage log.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1973-04_Beaver-Beacon
  39. The held eleven-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice or report; it does not expand the source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1973-04_Beaver-Beacon
  40. Reports a clutch breakdown and week-long repair interval that removed the Beaver Islander from service, the Boat Company's charter of the former Emerald Isle from the Arnold Line, and Captain Russ Green flying to Mackinac Island to bring it back and return it to the run.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1973-07_Beaver-Beacon
  41. The held eleven-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice or report; it does not expand the source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1973-07_Beaver-Beacon
  42. Reports the entire school boarding the Beaver Islander at 7 a.m. on May 1 for school field trips; it does not provide a passenger manifest or voyage log.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1974-05_Beaver-Beacon
  43. The held eleven-page combined May–June issue scan is paired with the OCR source stored under the archive 1974-05 key and confirms the published notice or report; it does not expand the source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1974-05_Beaver-Beacon
  44. Reports the Beaver Islander carrying the Beaver Island ball team and approximately 100 fans to Mackinac Island on June 1, 1975. It does not provide a passenger manifest or voyage log. 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 · 1975-05_Beaver-Beacon
  45. The held combined issue confirms the vessel’s role in the baseball excursion.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1975-05_Beaver-Beacon
  46. Reports 300 Charlevoix–Beaver trips in 1975, six missed for weather, a season from April 15 through December 27, and lists Lawrence McDonough as manager of the Charlevoix business office. The printed 1976 schedule and fare table names the Beaver Islander and a second motorship, the South Shore, as the company's two vessels, with fares of $5.00 one-way ($9.00 round trip) for adults, $2.50 for children, and $15.00 one-way for cars. 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 · 1976-02_Beaver-Beacon
  47. The held issue confirms the reported trip count, weather cancellations, season dates, and printed schedule.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1976-02_Beaver-Beacon
  48. Announces that on May 5, 1976 the Beaver Islander would leave the island at 7 a.m. with the entire student body, faculty, and chaperones for spring trips, with a May 7 return. 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 · 1976-03_Beaver-Beacon
  49. Reports that on May 5, 1976 the boat was not running because of weather — the first such day since the ferry started that spring — so all 70 students were flown off the island instead, by McPhillips Flying Service and Welke Flying Service, arriving on the mainland by 11 a.m. The same issue reports the June 6 softball excursion: about 150 people aboard the Beaver Islander to Manistique, arrival about 10 a.m., a 15-13 win and 17-13 loss, and a 4 p.m. departure. 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 · 1976-05_Beaver-Beacon
  50. The held issue confirms the school-trip flight substitution and the Manistique softball excursion.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1976-05_Beaver-Beacon
  51. Reports that John McGoff took a controlling interest in the Beaver Island Boat Co. in 1981 and operated it as Beaver Island Navigation Co.; that a committee of seven island businessmen negotiated with McGoff beginning January 1984; that a newly formed Beaver Island Boat Co. signed a contingent asset-purchase agreement on February 27, 1984 for the Beaver Islander, the South Shore, the Beaver Island dock, and related assets; and that the new company sought to raise $450,000 through a stock sale to island-connected buyers, naming its seven founding directors. 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 · 1984-04_Beaver-Beacon
  52. The held thirteen-page April issue PDF is paired with the canonical OCR source and confirms the ferry buyback report.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1984-04_Beaver-Beacon
  53. Reports that the new Beaver Island Boat Co. closed the purchase from Beaver Island Navigation Co. on June 29, 1984, took control June 30, celebrated with a party at the Shamrock, sold 4,016 of 5,000 offered shares to 267 stockholders by August 21, held its first shareholders' meeting September 1, and that the new board indicated no major changes to the schedule, rates, or crew. Names the founding directors and officers. 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 · 1984-09_Beaver-Beacon
  54. The held fifteen-page September issue PDF is paired with the canonical OCR source and confirms the ferry purchase-completion report.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1984-09_Beaver-Beacon
  55. A contemporaneous community post marks the Beaver Islander's 45th anniversary of its maiden voyage and reports the June 2007 sale of the Emerald Isle to Arnold Transit, its final Beaver Island trip on August 4, and the Beaver Islander's arrival and first run on August 5. This is participant recollection and operational reporting, not a vessel registry or company transaction record.
    forum · www.beaverislandforum.com · 00 · t000947
  56. A commemorative forum post said the motor vessel Beaver Islander completed its maiden voyage on August 5, 1962, and summarized its long service. The date is consistent with the held Beaver Beacon chronology, but the forum post is a retrospective community claim rather than a shipyard, Boat Company, or Coast Guard record.
    forum · www.beaverislandforum.com · 02 · t002637
  57. The operator states she remains in service, running "during peak season and when the M/V Emerald Isle is out for maintenance," and that riders "can still ride the historic Beaver Islander on most weekends in the summer." Gives 95 feet in length, 27 feet in beam, 8 feet draft, 13.5 knots, and a maximum of 172 passengers and 10 vehicles.

Added 31 July 2026 · revised 9 August 2026. Recent changes

Cite this article

Beaver Island Archive, “Beaver Islander”, https://beaverislandarchive.org/vessels/beaver-islander/, accessed [date], citing BI Pirate and forum contributors, “Beaver Islander,” Beaver Island Forum, November 4–5, 2017. (and 56 further sources listed on the page).

Last revised 2026-08-09. Fill in [date] with the date you read it — this page is static and cannot know that.

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