About two miles offshore from here, the wooden schooner Kate Kelly lies broken and scattered in 55 feet of water. She had departed Alpena, Mich., in early May 1895, loaded with railroad ties and bound for her home port of Chicago. In command was Captain Hartley J. Hatch, one of the Great Lakes' most experienced captains. He had led Great Lakes schooners and steamers on trips to South Africa, the Mediterranean Sea and Europe. Captain Hatch was also an inventor and had outfitted the Kate Kelly with novel life-saving devices that were 'a wonder to all lakemen.' On May 13, the Kate Kelly encountered a raging storm that proved too much for her and Captain Hatch's inventions. She sank just short of her home port, as farmers watched helplessly from the shore. Soon, the only signs of the Kate Kelly were her masts protruding from the water and thousands of railroad ties floating off Wind Point. Captain Hatch and all six crewmen perished. During her three decades of service, the Kate Kelly made many long trips hauling grain and coal between Lake Michigan ports and Kingston, Ontario. Similar wooden schooners dominated Great Lakes shipping after the Civil War. Even with stiff competition from steam vessels, the adaptable vessels survived on the lakes into the 1930s.