Sailors Miguel and Moises Vargas, the day after the wreck of their sailboat, the Even Keel, now dry-docked at Veterans Memorial Marina in Arcadia. Photo by Stewart A. McFerran.
By Stewart A. McFerran
Young Charles Slyfield looked out the window and counted more than 100 sailboats passing by his home at the Point Betsie Lighthouse north of Frankfort, along Lake Michigan. Sails dotted the horizon on that day in 1861, and some tacked close to his perch in front of the Fresnel light. One October morning, he saw a barefooted man in ragged clothes walking on the beach toward the lighthouse. After hearing a knock, Charles let him in to warm himself by the fire. His sailboat had grounded on the beach.
On August 8, 2021, Miguel Vargas and his brother Moises were sailing from South Manitou Island. There was a storm and trouble with the headsail on their sloop. In the darkness of early morning, they could see the light shining from the brick tower of the Point Betsie Lighthouse. Their boat, the Even Keel, struck the beach near the light and laid on her port side as waves crashed into the hull.
Miguel’s brother abandoned ship as he attempted to pull the 8,000-pound fiberglass sailboat off the sandbar. Moises had pulled on his life jacket before swimming through the surf to the beach. He huddled there until his brother joined him at first light. The brothers were barefoot as they walked down the beach to seek help.
Account of the Comet
Alonzo Slyfield, M.D., had moved his family, including sons Charles and Ed, to the newly built lighthouse on Point Betsie on September 9, 1861, after serving as lighthouse keeper at South Manitou Island. During the 20 years his family was at Point Betsie, there were many shipwrecks, including the Comet, a schooner filled with 23,500 bushels of oats.
In his memoir, “A Brief Sketch of the Life of Charles B. Slyfield,” Charles told of adventures he and Ed had while tending the Point Betsie light, as their father tended to the medical needs of Benzie County residents. About the shoeless man on the beach, Charles wrote:
He said that he was from the schooner Comet aground at the point and that was all he could say, he was so near frozen. I had him come in and set him by the fire while I called the rest of the family. Father got him some dry clothes and as he warmed up he told us of their sad experience in that terrible gale. It seemed that they were bound north and when near the Manitou Island the wind which had been east shifted suddenly to the northwest and in her sails jibing, broke her forepeak-halyard so their foresail was useless and they could not keep her clear of the point as they were trying to run before the gale up the lake.
Account of the Even Keel
The brothers Vargas started from Muskegon Lake on August 4, 2021. Miguel said it was “36 hours nonstop shift sailing” to South Manitou Island, where the brothers stayed overnight.
MIGUEL: That is a nice harbor, there. The flies are pretty bad right now; we had some bug gear, net jacket, net hat. They were relentless; they would come in like clouds. It was great sailing out of there. (We) left, it must have been, Saturday morning (and) set sails; it was perfect conditions. (We) cruised toward Sleeping Bear, and … the wind died out a little bit as we were approaching Frankfort. And then that night the storm came up. We didn’t make it to Frankfort. The wind kicked up; we were trying to hightail it into Frankfort during the night, and that’s when we wrecked on the sandbar. The people that morning (at) the lighthouse could probably look down the beach and see the boat wrecked on the shore.
MOISES: We abandoned ship right as the sun was coming up. You couldn’t see much; it was dark, stormy. I just kind of knew the direction of land. Right as the storm was getting worse, we pulled out the lifejackets, just in case. I was sleeping, and right as I woke up, we hit the sandbar.
MIGUEL: That was right around 5 a.m. We even got this (glancing toward his wrecked vessel) turned around. I went around the front and was pushing with all my might. We got it to spin in place 180 (degrees). We threw up the jib again, hoping it would fill with some wind, so it would pull us out of the sandbar. But the waves were coming ashore, pushing us back that way. We battled it for another hour-and-a-half.
MOISES: In the morning, he walked two miles up to the (Crystal Downs) country club, so he could get (cell) service, so he could call the Coast Guard and the towing boat.
MIGUEL: I got ahold of the towing guy, but he said the storm was too bad. He couldn’t get near it. He couldn’t pull it out.
MOISES: Then (Miguel) came back, and we took the seven-mile hike to Frankfort. We didn’t have shoes on, because we grabbed a tent, a sleeping bag and a few clothes off the boat. We found a motel and stayed at the motel overnight until the towboat could get there in the morning. We walked down the road to where they were launching. We hitched a ride back to our boat.
MOISES: (Miguel) was on the boat, and I stayed on the towboat.
MIGUEL: I was bailing and trying to clear the cabin. Everything dumped from all the storage compartments. All the hatches opened up. There was water down inside, just sloshing back and forth. Our cleaning supplies were kicked up; sailing supplies, lifejackets were floating. Cushions were floating. I tried to clear the cabin as best I could, so we could get the water out of there.”
MOISES: After we got it free, he swam back to shore to grab our dingy that we had up on shore.
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Epilogue
None of the marinas at Frankfort had the capacity to haul the Even Keel out of the water, so the brothers traveled with their towed boat to Arcadia Harbor, where Jim Stoops of Arcadia Marine met them with his hydraulic lift trailer. Soon enough the wounded sailboat was high and dry but leaked water out of the crack in the port side.
On the afternoon of August 9, I talked to the brothers as they pulled their belongings from the boat. A friend had come to pick them up and take them back to Muskegon. Recently, I spoke to a friend at Arcadia Marine who said that the Even Keel was a total loss.
All these years later, Point Betsie, which marks the entrance to the Manitou Passage, sees boats of all sizes passing. The stormy waters of Lake Michigan still toss ships about in the darkness and some, sad to say, still wreck on the beach at the point, as happened in the early morning of August 8.
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The Charles B. Slyfield memoir resides at the Benzie Area Historical Society and Museum. Thanks to Andrew Bolander and the BHM staff for their help. Copies of Dr. Alonzo Slyfield’s 1868 diary are available through the Empire Area Historical Museum.
The historic Point Betsie Lighthouse offers tours. (Always call ahead.) Entry is $5 per person. Museum hours for September 6-October 17, 2021, are: 10 a.m.–5 p.m., Monday and Thursday-Saturday; Sunday, 12-5 p.m. Closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Find the lighthouse at: 3701 Point Betsie Road, Frankfort. For information, call (231) 352-7644 or email: director@pointbetsie.com.
