The "Jane Miller," a wooden-hulled freight and passenger vessel, was built in 1879 at Little Current. A screw-propelled, 210-ton ship 78 feet 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.

Location

In the Colpoy's Lookout Conservation Area, approximately 11 kilometres (seven miles) northeast of Wiarton.

Themes

• Archaeology
• Disasters
• Transportation systems and communications