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Three Brothers was a small wooden Great Lakes lumber freighter built in 1888 by the Milwaukee Shipyard Company of Milwaukee, Wisconsin for the Chicago-based John Spry Lumber Company. Originally she was christened as the May Durr and bearing the official number 91998. The vessel was rated at 582 gross tons, 444 net tons, and measured 162 feet (49 m) in length, had a 31.4-foot (9.6 m) beam and a draught of 11.8 feet (3.6 m). She could carry 530,000 board feet (1,300 m3) of lumber.
The machinery was Steeple Compound steam engine built by the Frontier Engine Works of Buffalo, New York in 1888. The engine was rated at 280 horsepower (210 kW) at 96 revolutions per minute. The fire box boiler was manufactured by R. Davis of Milwaukee and rated at 100 pounds per square inch (690 kPa).
In 1892 May Durr was renamed to John Spry. Between 1905 and 1910 the vessel was sold to the William H. White & Co. of Boyne City, Michigan, where she was renamed as Three Brothers after the White brothers William, James and Thomas of Charlevoix, Michigan. The vessel was then pressed in coarse lumber service between Lake Charlevoix and Tonawanda, New York.
On 27 September 1911, Three Brothers was carrying a load of hardwood worth of $4,200 from Boyne City to Chicago. After leaving Boyne City the vessel was sailing in heavy weather, and the hull began to leak more than usual. Water soon overwhelmed the pumps, quickly rising more than 8 feet (2.4 m) above the keel. The water also flooded the hold and coal bunkers, forcing the firemen to use kerosene instead of coal to maintain the steam pressure.
In order to save the vessel, captain Sam Christopher elected to drive the vessel ashore on South Manitou Island, where she landed just 200 yards (180 m) east of the lifesaving station. When the vessel hit the shore the bow split open and her pilot house was knocked loose. The bow was in approximately 15 feet (4.6 m) of water, with her stern in 50 feet (15 m) of water. The captain and all 13 members of crew were rescued by the life saving station staff.
After the weather subsided, the tender Favourite made an unsuccessful attempt to loosen Three Brothers, and the vessel was declared to be beyond salvage value. By 1912 the vessel had completely submerged under water.
