- Rig
- Schooner, originally built as a bark
- Dates
- 1868 – 1889-11-02
- Eras
- Irish era
- Concepts
- shippingmaritimeshipwrecks
- Media
- Beaver Island History Map, 1978 revision
Summary
The Francis Palms was a Great Lakes sailing vessel documented in an 1872 federal harbor report. A compiled vessel history identifies it as official number 9749, built in 1868 as a bark and later described as a schooner, and places its loss near Gray’s Reef on November 2, 1889.
Historical Map identification
The 1978 Historical Map prints Princess Palms in a dagger-marked group at Hog Island Reef. The compiled vessel file explicitly identifies that form as erroneous and directs it to Francis Palms. It also places the vessel’s loss three miles northwest of Gray’s Reef rather than at Hog Island Reef. The KB therefore preserves “Princess Palms” as a source-specific erroneous form, not as a separate vessel or an accepted former name.
The 1872 federal report independently establishes a vessel named Francis Palms in Great Lakes trade, but it does not prove that every later compilation detail belongs to the same registry. Until the enrollment and contemporary 1889 casualty reports are inspected, the official number, build particulars, loss date, location, cargo, master, crew, and outcome remain probable rather than fully established.
Open questions
- Can the enrollment chain for official number 9749 establish the vessel’s rig changes, dimensions, owners, masters, and home ports?
- Which November 1889 newspapers or federal casualty records describe the loss?
- Why did the Historical Map relocate the casualty to Hog Island Reef and use “Princess Palms”?
See also
Sources
- Contemporary federal report lists the schooner Francis Palms among vessels trading between Chicago and other Great Lakes ports and gives 620 tons in its table. It establishes the vessel name and trade context, not the 1889 casualty or the later official-number and dimensions claims.
- Compiled vessel entry identifies official number 9749, says the 1868 wooden vessel was built by T. Arnold at Marine City as a bark, gives dimensions and tonnage, dates its storm loss to November 2, 1889, three miles northwest of Gray’s Reef, and calls Princess Palms an erroneous form. These details remain compilation evidence pending inspection of the cited enrollment and contemporary casualty sources.
- Described in this archive: Beaver Island History Map, 1978 revision.Prints “Princess Palms” in a dagger-marked three-vessel group at Hog Island Reef. Independent compiled evidence identifies the name as erroneous and places Francis Palms at Gray’s Reef; the map form and location are not adopted as vessel facts.
Added 7 August 2026. Recent changes
Cite this article
Beaver Island Archive, “Francis Palms”, https://beaverislandarchive.org/vessels/francis-palms-1868/, accessed [date], citing U.S. House of Representatives, 42d Congress, report on the Harbor at Toledo, federal serial set 1566, 1872. (and 2 further sources listed on the page).
Last revised 2026-08-07. Fill in [date] with the date you read it — this page is static and cannot know that.