The shipping channel between the Manitou Islands and Sleeping Bear Dunes on the Michigan mainland presents an opportune shortcut for Great Lakes freighters, but the passage can be perilous in rough weather and has become the final resting place for innumerable Great Lakes ships and sailors.

 

This print illustrates the South Manitou Island lighthouse and the wreck of the SS Francisco Morazan, a Liberian cargo ship that was grounded just off the South Manitou shore during a storm in 1960. In the background, the Manitou Shoals Light - "The Crib" - can be seen marking the dangerous shallows between the islands and the mainland.

 

Original art by Brian Walline.