Great Lakes History Lecture

There is a Great Lakes History Lecture to be given on Wed. June 21 from 7 pm to 8:30 pm at the North Point Lighthouse in Milwaukee's Lake Park on Dan Seavey, Great Lakes Pirate.

Dr. Richard Boyd – Dan Seavey. Great Lakes Pirate.

Dr. Richard J. Boyd, Ph.D. in microbiology and oceanography, has 60 years of applied experience in underwater disciplines, including commercial diving and salvage, shipwreck research, nautical archeology, and life support system design. As a founding member of the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI #13), he has certified hundreds of scuba divers, consulted on several History Channel productions, and published dozens of articles on diving technology and maritime history. Among his clientele are various universities and governmental agencies, including NASA, Sea Grant, the Secret Service, National Park Service, FBI, Air Force Rescue, and U.S. Navy and its Seal Teams. He recently retired from Global Mfg. Corp., a major producer of specialized underwater equipment.

In the maritime history of the Great Lakes, only one lake captain was ever arrested by federal authorities for ”piracy on the high seas.” That mariner was Captain Daniel W. Seavey, who wandered far and wide across Green Bay and Lake Michigan, where his raucous exploits and pugnacious nature became legendary. A heavy drinker with a short temper, he was feared and avoided in most saloons and ports around the Lakes. Seavey was a man of many lawful talents including sailor, fisherman, stunt man, lumberjack and even federal marshal, but his dark side embraced that of a prizefighter, ruffian, sneak thief, polygamist, and con man. In 1908, he stole the small schooner Nellie Johnson at Grand Haven, Michigan, and was soon pursued by the federal gunboat Tuscarora, which eventually captured him off Frankfort. Arrested for piracy and taken to Chicago, Captain Dan faced a federal grand jury that failed to indict him and all charges were dropped. Clearly guilty of this theft, how he avoided conviction remains a legal mystery to this very day. Nonetheless, after that event, Seavey was branded as the infamous, “Dan the Pirate.”