Dan Seavey, also known as "Roaring" Dan Seavey, was a sailor, fisherman, farmer, saloon keeper, prospector, U.S. marshal, thief, poacher, smuggler, hijacker, human trafficker, and timber pirate in Wisconsin and Michigan and on the Great Lakes in the late-19th to early-20th century.
Early life
Seavey was born in Portland, Maine, on March 23, 1865. He left home at age 13 and became a sailor, serving for a short time in the United States Navy. He moved near Marinette, Wisconsin in the late 1880s, where he married Mary Plumley and had two daughters. The family later moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where Seavey fished, farmed and owned a local saloon. In 1898, Seavey left his family in Milwaukee to participate in the Klondike Gold Rush. He was unsuccessful, and returned to the Great Lakes region around 1900.
Pirate
In poverty, Seavey moved to Escanaba, Michigan and acquired a schooner, which he named the Wanderer, and began a career as a pirate. Seavey sailed the Wanderer as a legitimate shipping operation, but also sailed into ports at night to steal cargo from other vessels and warehouses. Seavey also kidnapped or transported women in the illegal prostitution trade, an early form of human trafficking and sex trafficking. Seavey was notorious for altering sea lights, either by extinguishing existing lights or placing false lights. The trick, known as "moon cussing", would cause ships to sail into rocks, where Seavey's crew could easily capture the cargo from the wounded vessel. A significant amount of Seavey's profit was made from venisonpoaching. When a company called Booth Fisheries attempted to compete with Seavey's illegal venison trade, Seavey attacked one of its ships with a cannon, killing everyone on board. Seavey's most infamous exploit was the hijacking of the schooner Nellie Johnson. On 11 June 1908, Seavey came aboard in Grand Haven, Michigan with a large amount of alcohol, which he offered to share with the crew. Once they became intoxicated, Seavey tossed them overboard and sailed the Nellie Johnson to Chicago, where he sold the cargo. The United States Revenue Cutter Service soon gave chase in the Tuscarora. Seavey, meanwhile, had moored the Nellie Johnson and was again sailing in the Wanderer. After several days, he was captured on June 29, 1908. and taken to Chicago in irons.
Arrest
Seavey was arrested on the charge of piracy, but was officially charged with "unauthorized removal of a vessel on which he had once been a seaman". He was released on bond and the charges were later dropped when the owner of the Nellie Johnson failed to appear. For the rest of his life, Seavey maintained that he won the Nellie Johnson in a poker game.
The Great Lakes Distillery, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, distills a rum, called "Roaring Dan's Rum", paying homage to the pirate. Dan Seavey appears as a character in a Season 12 episode of Murdoch Mysteries. His history and treasure are the focus of Warehouse 13in season 4 episode "Lost & Found".
