Loss of the 'Jane Miller'

Photo by Alan L Brown - June 13, 2005

Plaque Location

The County of Grey
The Township of Georgian Bluffs
In Colpoy's Lookout Conservation Area on the north side of County Road 1, about 11 km east of Wiarton

Plaque Text

The "Jane Miller", a wooden-hulled freight and passenger vessel, was built in 1879 at Little Current. A screw-propelled, 190 tonne ship 24 m in length, she was owned by her skipper, Andrew Port of Wiarton. On November 25, 1881, at Owen Sound and Meaford, she loaded a heavy deck cargo destined for Michael Bay, Manitoulin Island. Not obtaining enough wood at Big Bay dock (North Keppel) to reach his destination, Captain Port attempted to reach Spencer's Landing, immediately north of here, but the ship was capsized by gale-force winds almost within sight of it. Some 30 aboard, including her crew of nine, were lost in this, one of Georgian Bay's worst marine disasters.