HARRISVILLE, MI – Two men survived an 1872 shipwreck by clinging to a piece of the ship’s deck for 36 hours, adrift on Lake Huron.

The wreck of the double-masted schooner Corsair took the other five crewmembers to the depths of the Great Lake along with the ship during a storm 153 years ago, according to records kept by the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary .

On Sept. 29, 1872, the Corsair encountered an intense storm off the coast of Harrisville, just south of Alpena, records say . Laden with heavy iron ore, the vessel sank.

Days later, the second mate gave his account to the Oswego Daily Palladium, records say.

“The sea increased until it ran mountains high, and at every wave boarded the vessel,” Second Mate Grady said.

The captain decided to make for shelter in Tawas Bay, h

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