According to the GLSHS, near the end of August 1892, he decided to take family members on a cruise through Lake Huron and Lake Superior to Two Harbors, Minn. Conditions were good until the vessel reached Whitefish Bay, where rough weather developed, prompting the crew to drop anchor for a while.

After searching for two years, researchers discovered the shipwreck of the Western Reserve, an early all-steel ship that broke apart in a gale in 1892 with a sole survivor.

In August 1892, the Western Reserve was sailing across Lake Superior when it got caught in a late summer storm. The 300-foot vessel was roughly 60 miles north of Whitefish Point when a powerful gale swept in and broke up the ship,