The Sailing Adventures of Captain Nels P. Miller & Captain Otto. C. Grimm
Captain Nels P. Miller (1855-1923)
His Only Home in Bay View (1890)
322 East Lincoln Avenue
His Ships and Sailing Adventures While Living Here
The schooner Rob Roy, 01 January – 06 August 1890; Sailing adventures while captain: none reported. Photo courtesy the Alpena County George N. Fletcher Public Library, Thunder Bay Research Collection
His Ships and Sailing Adventures Before Bay View
Not pictured (no photo discovered): The schooner Hetty Taylor, 1876-78; Sailing adventures while captain: On 29 October 1878, at 11:15 p.m. in rain and fog, collided with the scow-schooner Maria when 10 miles east of Manitowoc, Wisconsin. The Hetty Taylor’s bowsprit was split, the jibboom was gone, and the schooner began to leak. Repairs made in Manitowoc and later Milwaukee, no injuries reported. 19
Above left: the schooner Milton, 1879-16 July 1880; Sailing adventures while captain (also owner): none discovered. Photo courtesy the Alpena County George N. Fletcher Public Library, Thunder Bay Research Collection.
Above center: the steamship William H. Wolf, post-1887; Sailing adventures aboard as second mate: none discovered. Photo courtesy the Edward J. Dowling Collection, University of Detroit-Mercy; the Alpena County George N. Fletcher Public Library, Thunder Bay Research Collection.
Above right: the schooner Rob Roy, 1886-89; Sailing adventures while captain (also owner): On 03 August 1887, rescued the captain and crew of the schooner Robbie Knapp which capsized in a storm on Lake Michigan the night of 02 August. The crew clung to the capsized-but-floating hull of the Knapp all night until Captain Miller and his crew of the Rob Roy rescued them the next morning. After the rescue, the Captain of the Knapp wrote a letter that was published in the Milwaukee Sentinel praising and thanking Nels Miller and his crew for saving their lives. 20 On 15 August 1888, ran aground at Northport, near Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, but the damage was minimal. 21 Photo courtesy the Alpena County George N. Fletcher Public Library, Thunder Bay Research Collection.
Captain Otto C. Grimm (1875-1960)
His Second Home in Bay View (1926-40, probably 1960)
2535 South Superior Street
(his first home in Bay View was 609 East Russell Avenue but he wasn’t a captain while there in 1924-25)
His Ships and Sailing Adventures While Living at 509 E. Homer St. (1897-99)
Above: the steamship General George G. Meade, 1922-45 (pictured as General Gillespie prior to renaming); Sailing adventures as an officer (1926-31, 1934-39) and captain (1932-33, 1940-45, probable 48): On Monday, 29 August 1932, collided with the Pittsburgh Steamship Company’s B. F. Affleck in the Neebish Channel of St. Mary’s River near Sault St. Marie, Michigan. The Meade’s steering gear failed just as the two vessels approached each other in the channel, forcing and swerving the Meade uncontrollably (and to no one’s fault aboard) directly into the path of the B. F. Affleck’s bow, puncturing it. The Meade suffered an eight-foot gash from its waterline to its deck rail. After the collision, both vessels were able to continue under their own power, and there were no injuries reported. The Meade put into Sault St. Marie for repairs, while the Affleck continued on into Lake Superior. Note that it was after this collision that Otto Grimm became captain for the first time, remaining so through the next year, 1933 (thus really interim captain), suggesting the captain at the time of the collision (name unknown) had either decided to retire or was relieved of command though either is not known and that Grimm was named interim captain until a new captain could be selected by the federal government which owned the Meade. 28 On 11 November 1943, caught in huge storm (called a “hurricane” in the news report) on Lake Michigan near Grand Haven, Michigan. The Meade (with Otto Grimm as its captain) hurriedly dumped the sand it had just dredged from Grand Haven harbor and made it back through the huge wind and waves to port in Grand Haven. 29 Postcard, as General Gillespie, courtesy the Alpena County George N. Fletcher Public Library, Thunder Bay Research Collection.
His Ships and Sailing Adventures Before Bay View
Above, left-to-right: the steamships Merrimac, Maryland (both photos courtesy the Edward J. Dowling Collection, University of Detroit-Mercy; the Alpena County George N. Fletcher Public Library, Thunder Bay Research Collection; and the steamship and Massachusetts (photo courtesy the Alpena County George N. Fletcher Public Library, Thunder Bay Research Collection).
Smith was 17 when he began sailing the Great Lakes in 1875, and he didn’t become a captain until 1893, confirmed as being one or all of the above ships. Before 1893, his ships are unknown, but he was crew. Sailing adventures as crewman, 1875-92: unknown; Sailing adventures as captain of one or more of the above steamships, 1893-96: unknown since there is no confirmation of exactly which one or ones he captained during this time.
His Ships and Sailing Adventures After Bay View (1900-18)
Above: The passenger steamship Georgia, 1918; Sailing adventures as first officer: On 17 March 1918, freed the steamship Alabama that was trapped in ice in the harbor of Muskegon, Michigan. 30 Photo courtesy Ed Middleton, the Alpena County George N. Fletcher Public Library, Thunder Bay Research Collection.
