One of the classic shipwrecks of Georgian Bay was the sinking of the Jane Miller in the late fall of 1881. Although the story has been told many times, it is fascinating to go back to the original newspaper stories of the tragedy. The following reports were carried in the Wiarton Echo in December, 1881.
“Jane Miller Reported Lost,” reads the headline read in the Echo for December 2nd. “As we go to press a report has reached us by telegraph from Big Bay that the propeller Jane Miller, belonging to this port, has foundered and all hands lost. A fisherman named Scales from Big Bay who has been out to White Cloud Island reports having found three caps, two tubs of butter and two oars, the latter marked Jane Miller.”
On December 9th, 1881, the Echo headlined, “The Treacherous Deep.” The story read, “What was foreshadowed in these columns last week has now become an absolute certainty, the propeller Jane Miller has gone down with every soul on board, leaving nothing behind to mark the spot where the dreadful calamity befell her, and only a meager remnant has been given up by the cruel treacherous deep to proclaim the awful tidings of the hapless steamer’s fate.”
“A broken flagstaff, four or five caps belonging to the crew, some parts of the hurricane deck, a few pieces of freight and four oars identified as belonging to the ill-fated steamer are all that have been found.”
“Though the amount of the wreckage this far discovered has been small, yet the fact that the steamer has completely disappeared and no human eye has seen her since leaves not a single doubt in the minds of all that there is one more vessel to be added to the list of mysterious disappearances and the waters of Georgian Bay have engulfed another ill-fated ship and 28 unfortunate human beings.”
Originally aired March 6th, 2016
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