So as many of you are aware our family along with the Kinnaird and Million families started out with an old wooden hull twin screw (engine), 36-foot-long Chris Craft boat. The boat was aptly named the “Shakillion” and was quickly and affectionately known to those as the Polish Navy. I’m not totally sure how this name evolved beyond some form of misplaced humor actually came about. I’m fairly sure it was related to one of the infamous “booze cruises”. Perhaps it was the combination of one brilliant attorney with no common sense or possibly the mechanically inclined member. It probably had nothing to do with the namesake of one Tennessee Whisky maker and smuggler of said hooch. I will leave Dad anonymous on this for he disliked anyone knowing of our true Family heritage. This is despite my great-great aunt passing away in cottage 211 during the Summer of 1916. 

This boat would be the first of a total of three boats that our families shared together. The reason behind the large boat partnership was simple. First, it was the conduit for “booze cruises” into Lake Charlevoix for evening cocktails. Lastly and more importantly, this boat and the two other boats thereafter served as a major fishing platform for the families and their friends. When I say fishing, I am referring to everything from overnight journeys to the Beaver Islands and the Manitous. Whether chasing smallmouth bass, trout, or salmon, Big George and the aforementioned partners were all into fishing!

So the story I am referring to takes place one Summer day dating back to the mid-1970s. I’m fairly sure of this because I still lived on the west coast and the accompanying guests that July day were not formally cottage owners yet but renters. George Crook and Jefferey Buntin Sr were the crew along with Big George (aka dad), myself, and Bob Million. 

This trip started out as a rather typical journey across Lake Michigan en route to North Hat Island and around Hog Island Bay. We would anchor in the largest bay of Hog Island then take dingy rides to shore to go wade fish for smallmouth bass. By the time we dropped the hook, the wind had come up and was swinging the boat about on the anchor line. George Crook volunteered to stay with the boat to make sure it didn’t come loose from the bottom. He was also a long-time yacht owner with the Crooked Arrow as many of you may recall. 

Well off we set, in groups with our fishing tackle and such. The wind continued to steadily increase that day and the waves from Beaver Island back to the large bay on the southwest side of Hog Island were basically a murky mess, to say the least. No fish either. So, we all returned to the boat via the dinghy. 

We were greeted by one very happy George Crook who had been fishing over the side of the boat. He had struck gold with the smallmouth bass and caught enough for all of us. I recall he even had a couple of very nice smallies too. This is defined in the 3 lbs class. 

So upon our return to Shakillion (ie the name of the boat), the discussion quickly ensued regarding the wind. Of course, the marine forecast was for the usual July Summer day on Lake Michigan before we left Port Charlevoix for the Beaver Islands. For those of you familiar with marine forecasts and such, that day was basically forecasted to be 1–3-foot seas from the southwest, high in the mid-’70s, and nothing more. We were always very, very careful to consider weather, wind, and waves when planning these trips to go to Hog Island. 

So, Hog Island is/was an incredible place to go wade fishing for bass. However due to the nature of all of the huge rocks, shoals, points, etc…great care was required to navigate around the smaller islands and shoals to get into its large protected bay which afforded us some lee from the wind. When I tell you all it was too windy to fish except over the side of our primary boat, I mean it was super, super windy. The Shakillion was even swinging about on the anchor line; henceforth, this is why George Crook remained on board to make sure the boat did not come loose from its mooring. 

Then the boat and its crew decided it was time to get the dinghy hooked up to its davits and prepare for the boat ride home. So, our return journey back to Port Charlevoix started out without incident as we cleared Hat Island and all the other small shoals and rocks, etc… that make navigating the Great Lakes less than straightforward. 

Hog Island sits in the lee of Beaver Island and numerous other small islands. So, we settled down for the usual two-hour boat ride back to Charlevoix. Since we left a bit earlier than anticipated, we had cold cuts vs the usual fare of Polish tube steaks (aka hotdogs) and such. Yes, it was a tad choppy but nothing of any significant concern. This was until we finally cleared the last of the various islands about the Beaver Island chain. By now we were navigating a huge wind from the southwest. We had passed the point of no turning around and heading back to Beaver Island and St. James Bay to ride out this now-updated Gale Warning. 

What normally was a two-hour boat ride home actually took over five hours. Fortunately, the partners of this jointly held boat were always safe and never left port without full tanks of fuel or any hint of engine trouble. As we finally approached the lighthouse at Charlevoix and cleared the lee of South Point next to Medusa Cement Plant, the waves slowly began to subside. Nobody ever really spoke much of this day ever again. For those of you who knew Big George, he was always steady under pressure. He always had a smile on his face and was positive. No doubt his “steadiness in the saddle” that July day likely kept that boat together and helped us all get home safely to port. 

The Great Lakes are inherently dangerous. There are thousands of wrecks lining the shores. This is not just from the many shallow rocky points and such. The other factor that makes boating the Great Lakes extremely dangerous at times is the very short wave peak-to-trough distance. More specifically it is basically impossible to bring the boat about to reverse course without being swamped by the waves. What started out as the usual Summer marine forecast quickly turned into a gale warning with seas of 10-12 feet that day. The waves were huge! When I say huge, I mean Dad had to drive the boat up each wave, pull back on the throttles as the engines cavitated, then hold the boat steady as we surfed down the next wave only to crash into the next wave. The force was incredible as the boat landed in each trough. The horizon literally disappeared as we surfed down those waves. The magnitude of the breaking waves was incredible along with the foam and spray of the whitecaps! How this old wooden-hulled Chris Craft boat didn’t tear apart or we didn’t lose an engine is beyond me. The entire crew except Big George and myself were heaving their lunch and the Chips Ahoy cookies that someone brought aboard that day. Everything down below deck was a mess owing to the incredible force of the boat slamming into the waves. 

George A. Shwab IV aka “The Pelt”

Venice of the North-Venetian (now) Week-Charlevoix and the Belvedere have always involved the water and the boats (mostly) floating on it.

In my lifetime, my family has had several boats on the water and had our share of adventures on it.  The George Kuhn Sr’s owned the black-hulled “Magda (of Douglas)”, the twin of the Mudd’s “Dolphin”.  Nearly every day the Magda could be found in Horton Bay where lunch and a swim were enjoyed.

The George Kuhn Jr’s had the Bug (I and II).  The legend spread by my dad was that the Bug I was formerly a dingy to the yacht “Sylvia” which at one time had been used as a troop ship in WWII.  When the “Bug” was put up for sale, Bill Clapp (lifeguard) took it on an extended “test drive” (for a year).  When finally it was returned, the “Bug I” was traded in at Walker Marina for the “Bug II”, still running today. Many a gangster, kid, and resorter learned to water ski behind the two Bugs.  Many picnics to Loeb’s Bay and Bell’s Bay, along with afternoons spent sailing with the Ware’s “Frolic” have been enjoyed through the years. A recent adventure involved Donna and me on a quiet evening when I suggested a float on the big lake to watch the sunset.  After cruising out to the chosen spot, I turned the motor off to drift.  Donna said, “Why did you do that?”  “Well, that’s what you do…”.  Yes, the sunset was beautiful, but then the motor wouldn’t start.   The north wind, which would have taken us into the cement plant, switched to an EAST wind.  I had visions of eating cheese curds for breakfast in Wisconsin.  At least we still had cell service, and after several hours we were towed in to the boathouse.  The sky was beautiful and had cleared completely, revealing so many stars that the constellations couldn’t be discerned.  

Sailing has been an important part of the Belvedere experience.  I learned on the wooden Rockets supplanted by the “modern” Hawks.  Out sailing in a Hawk one day, I tipped, and the boat then turtled.  The sailing instructor at the time, Mike Meyer, guided me through the procedure to right the boat which was, first, take the sails down which meant I had to dive under the boat and undo the halyards and pull the sails up from underwater.  Next, I had to get the boat upright leaning on the centerboard (success!).  Finally, Mike yelled, “Take your shirt off and stuff it in the centerboard well!”Then he threw me a bucket and the final instruction was “Now, bail like hell!”

Popular for a time were Sailfish and Sunfish, then jet skis, kayaks, canoes, and paddleboards in use today.  There were even a couple of sailboards (we brought them from Vermont).  “Punting” in any boat was, and still is, a great activity in any floating apparatus, particularly on Charlevoix.

When I was in little gang, my mother, Rosemary Mueller (129), bought a sailfish to keep on Lake Charlevoix, and called it “Teaser.” It would have been in the early 1960s. The boat had a flat deck made of fiberglass and wood which was very heavy and was quite easy to fall off or tip over—which I guess was part of the fun. It was a popular beginner’s sailboat and there were a lot of them on Lake Charlevoix at
the time. It came with a plain white sail with a black sailfish logo on the top.

To make it stand out, Rosemary decided to sew blue polka dots on the sail. I helped her by taking plates out of the kitchen cupboard and we placed them on the sail. Then, she cut out fabric circles and sewed them on with her sewing machine. The sail was very distinctive. You could always tell where “Teaser” was when it was out on the lake. Mom would take the younger children out for fun and sailing lessons.

One time mom took me out then the weather got very rough, and we flipped over. The water, of course, was freezing. Even with a life jacket, it scared me badly. I can’t even remember how we got back to shore. After that experience, I preferred power boats and water skiing.

In the 1970’s Joseph Morris, Bobby Roe, Doug Kuhn and Moss Alexander all had power boats. I preferred those boats over sailboats, and still do today. Richard, my brother believes it was called “Teaser II” named after a small boat
owned by Rosemary’s father, Glenn Allen, when he was young.

Venetian Boat Parade, 2001

The Mueller family has always enjoyed Venetian and the boat parade. In 2001 we were in the lighted boat parade for the first time. I didn’t have a big power boat at the time, so I rented one.

I invited my Uncle Glenn Allen, who was visiting the Belvedere Club to join us on our decorated boat. Uncle Glenn was named for his father, Glenn Seven Allen who had owned the Blue Belle 506, and was my mother’s oldest brother. I was named after him, Glenn Allen Mueller, and named my oldest son Glenn Allen Mueller Jr.

Now, Uncle Glenn was a WWII veteran. In fact, he had been a legal advisor to General George S. Patton. During the war, he received four battle stars and a Bronze Star so he must have survived plenty of action. Uncle Glenn was age 87 but was still keen to go out on the boat and be in the parade with fireworks in Round Lake as a finale. Everything was going fine. He was standing by the table looking out.  

Then the fireworks started off with a tremendous whoosh and a bang! It surprised everybody and Uncle Glenn dove under the table. He explained later it looked and sounded like incoming fire and he responded as he had many years before. I guess that automatic response never leaves a soldier. Uncle Glenn had hundreds of fascinating stories about WWII and I always am grateful for his and so many others’ service to our country.

Three Glenns photo: Glenn Allen Mueller, Judge Glenn S Allen, Glenn Allen Mueller Jr.

Dan Hales bought the “John Henry” from someone in Sutton’s Bay (about 1975?) I first saw the boat in Sutton’s Bay about 1970 when our family was cruising in Grand Traverse Bay and was intrigued by its unusual character. 

Dan engaged Bob Schleman to help him bring the boat from Sutton’s Bay to Charlevoix, but when they were about up to the mouth of Grand Traverse Bay, the John Henry’s rudder somehow got dislodged and then froze in place at a sharp angle to the center line of the boat, so that the boat could only travel in a tight circle. 

About this time a strong norther’ developed that put the “John Henry” and crew into a terrible predicament.  Dan called the Charlevoix Coast Guard who came to the rescue with their 44’  boat.  It was not possible to tow the John Henry in those conditions, so the Coast Guard lashed the John Henry to the side of the Coast Guard boat, and then proceeded slowly back to Charlevoix, with the John Henry slamming into the Coast Guard boat with every wave. 

The “John Henry” had a good portion of its starboard bow smashed apart by the repeated blows. The Coast Guard boat, being steel, fared a little better.  Dan had the damage repaired by Ted McCutcheon.  The “John Henry” has only occasionally been in the water in the last thirty years.  The last time it required pumps running continuously to keep it afloat. But Dan keeps this ancient boat with deep affection.

The “Elizabeth H” was a very old cabin cruiser that was moored at the old Hamilton’s boatyard for many years.  I never saw it leave the dock; it just sat there.  Jim Bock ( a Mueller cousin) told me years ago that it was owned by one of his relatives. 

Finally, when Hamilton’s Boatyard went out of business (about 1974) someone bought this ancient hulk intending to tow it to somewhere in the  South Arm.  But under tow, it had no sooner left the dock than it began to sink. 

Seeing it was a lost cause, the towing boat cast off the tow line and the Elizabeth H promptly settled to the bottom of Round Lake, just a bit east of the big Mudd boathouse and not more than 150’ from shore.  It is still there and can be identified by sonar/depth finder. 

All my life I had been told that my grandfather (Dick Leatherman) bought the rebels in 1947, the year I was born. At some point I was able to get the actual order he placed with Chris Craft and it turns out to be a 1948 model, but I think they’re a little bit like cars and it was actually bought in 1947.

Rebels was a 22-foot Chris-Craft utility boat, a model that was hugely popular in the years after World War II. It had plenty of room inside and was very sturdily built. That second attribute turned out to be very important as a lot of inexperienced boat drivers learned using the Rebels.

Rebels originally involved a three-way ownership. Dick Leatherman, his brother-in-law Bob Morrow and his cousin-in-law Walter McDonnell purchased the boat. Each of them had children (and one grandchild) in Charlevoix.  As far as I know, they never owned a boathouse but they rented a boathouse from the Taylors (formally cottage number 5) until a few years ago when the cottage and the boathouse were sold.

Being an inboard with a single propeller it is a challenge to learn how to get in and out of the boathouse without making dents somewhere. On the other hand, it’s 100 hp motor was enough to tow water skiers although not more than two at a time. The simplicity of the motor was a great advantage in the early years and a bit of a problem later. Early on it was a very standard engine and any mechanic could work on a car could work on it. Even better, with the engine cover off it was much easier to get to the parts that it would be inside the hood of the car.

Bellinger Marine and especially Jim Bellinger took care of it until Jim sold the business. Doug Bergman was his lead mechanic at the time and he took over working on the Rebels. In fact, Bill Bergman ended up being the only one who could work on it. His younger technicians were used to connecting the diagnostic computer to find out what the problem was. Very few of them had ever seen the mechanical, cam-driven distributor cap arrangement.

As well built as Rebels was, it eventually succumbed to age and hard use.  One of my cousins who shall remain nameless was taking a little tour in Lake Michigan out near North Point. Unfortunately for him, this is one of those years of very low water. He did not notice that lurking in 15 feet of water was a boulder the size of a cottage that reached within 2 feet of the surface. The rudder and propeller struck that rock and caved in the back end of the bottom and it promptly sank. Since it was only in 15 feet of water, someone came out to hold it up, Bellinger fixed the bottom and we were back in business.

Over the years some of the other wooden planks that made up the bottom would occasionally rot. Jim Bellinger could always fix these problems but it became impossible to make it completely waterproof. As long as it was used regularly, that was not a problem because, like most wooden boats of its age, it contained a self-bailer.  Cruising across Lake Charlevoix at a reasonable speed the excess water would be siphoned out of the bilge.  Rebels went into the water every year in late June and did not come out until after Labor Day. If there happened to be long stretches with no family member using the boat, though small leaks would fill it with water and it would sink held up only by the mooring lines.  Finally, the rebels and a large amount of money went off to visit Murtaugh’s boat works in Cedarville Michigan for a completely new bottom.

There came a time when the first generation of owners of the boat decided that someone else needed to take over. I’m virtually certain that no money changed hands but Jim Orr (my father), Bobby Leatherman (my uncle), and Jim McDonnell became the proud owners. Over a long time, Bobby Leatherman and later Jim McDonnell dropped out and Jim Orr became the sole proprietor.

In 1985 my father (Jim Orr) made a deal to sell the cottage to my brother Ted Orr, my sister Kate Orr Tomkinson and me. We had negotiated a price with which everyone seemed happy but at the last minute, my father added one more condition to the deal. He told us that he didn’t want any additional money but that he wouldn’t sell us the cottage unless we agreed to take the Rebels too.

Brother Ted Orr sold out his share of the cottage and the boat and Kate and I now have it all.  Rebels have not been in the water for some time because after we no longer had a boathouse available, we discovered that one summer in the northern Michigan sunshine was enough to completely destroy the varnish. We do hope to find a solution and get it back afloat.

The Argo

“The classic Mackinaw sailing boat was developed in the late 17th and early 18th centuries by European explorers and settlers who applied their small craft knowledge to the design of the double-ended Native American canoe. The Native Americans likewise tried out new ideas after they saw the European models. The final result was an amalgam of both cultures after much experimentation over many decades. One branch of the design was later put to use on Upper Missouri and its tributaries. The other was perfected in the Straits of Mackinaw to suit the conditions on the big lakes, hence the term “Mackinaw.” In the early 19th century, these 18 to 24-foot boats dominated the Great Lakes commodity shipment business.

The crafts were very well suited for fishing once the canoe was altered and fitted with two masts and sails that allowed it to go much faster and farther than a boat powered only by oars. Charlevoix’s master boat builder Roy Ranger, whose boatyards were located on the south shore of Round Lake, was considered to be one of the finest Mackinaw builders on the Great Lakes. He established his boatbuilding business here in 1892 and specialized in the Mackinaw between 1898 and 1910 before gasoline-powered boats became more popular. They were built mainly for pleasure, and he finished his last one just after World War I. They ranged from $350 to $450, and he could finish a Mackinaw in three to four weeks. Such was Roy’s renown that a builder’s model and blueprint of his Martha reside in the Smithsonian Institution, which sent men from Washington, D.C. to Charlevoix to secure them for permanent record.”

Petoskey News-Review Jan. 13, 2017

Roy Ranger’s boatyard was where the John Cross fish market is today. In 1912, my great-grandfather, Benjamin L. D’Ooge (rhymes with “bogey”) of cottage #25 bought a 26-foot Mackinaw sailboat (then made available with an engine!) from Roy Ranger. Since he was a classics professor at Michigan Normal College (now Eastern Michigan University), he named his boat the “Argo” after the boat built by Argos (with help from the goddess Athena) for Jason to sail away and find the Golden Fleece in Greek mythology (Jason and the Argonauts). According to my grandmother’s (Ida D’Ooge Boucher) account in the Brown Belvedere book, he sailed most afternoons that were suitable, and the Argo could accommodate 12 people.

Great-grandfather sold the Argo sometime in the 1920s, and the family lost track of it. But amazingly, on August 9, 1957, my mother, father, and I (I was five years old) happened to be in Harbor Springs (we rarely traveled to Harbor Springs back then). We heard some commotion over at Walstrom Marina and were told that an old sunken boat had been found and was being brought up at the marina. We arrived just as it was being pulled up from underwater and, there on the bow, was the name “Argo”. My mother exclaimed, “That’s my grandfather’s boat!”

According to an article from the Petoskey News-Review on August 10, 1957, the boat had been found in 40 feet of water, filled with silt, about 150 yards offshore by two SCUBA divers. They planned to restore the Argo and put it on display in Petoskey, then sell it. However, according to a follow-up article in the Emmet County Graphic on August 15, 1957, while they were attempting to tow it to Petoskey for repairs, the water-logged vessel slipped from the tow line and sank in water over 200 feet deep. Further research discovered that the Argo had been purchased from my great-grandfather by two brothers from Harbor Springs. They sailed it for several years in Little Traverse Bay, but in 1930 when they felt she was no longer seaworthy, they filled the Argo with sand and stones and sank her in the harbor, where she lay on the bottom in 40 feet of water for 27 years. Now that she rests in over 200 feet of water, she is likely to stay there for a very long time.

Another Mackinaw boat that Roy Ranger built, the Shoodle, is owned by Gordon Wilson at the Chicago Club, and while the masts have been removed and are stored in the boathouse, the Shoodle makes voyages out into Lake Charlevoix from time to time to this day. She is recognizable because she, like all Mackinaw boats, is pointed at both bow and stern, as an overgrown canoe.

In honor of the history of the Argo, when we renovated #45 in 2016, we had a custom replica weathervane made of her for the cupola on the cottage. It is there today for all to see. You can imagine my horror when I found out that the weathervane cost about ten times what the original boat cost! Ouch!