Gull Island, located in St. James Township

St. James Township, Michigan

St. James Township is a civil township of Charlevoix County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the township population was 307.-History:...

, Charlevoix County, Michigan

Charlevoix County, Michigan

-Airports:*Beaver Island is served by two airlines:**Welke Airport**Beaver Island Airport-Ferry service:*Beaver Island Boat Company maintains a regular auto ferry from Charlevoix:*The Ironton Ferry at Ironton, Michigan crosses the south arm of Lake Charlevoix...

, is the largest of approximately one dozen islands bearing this name in Michigan. 230 acres (0.9 km²) in size, it is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as part of the Michigan Islands National Wildlife Refuge

Michigan Islands National Wildlife Refuge

The Michigan Islands National Wildlife Refuge is a designation for eight Michigan islands in the North American Great Lakes. Owned by the United States federal government, they were set aside for ecosystem protection purposes by President Franklin D. Roosevelt 1943.Charity, Little Charity,...

. The refuge was created in 1943.

Lonely Gull Island is located 7 miles (11 km) west of High Island (Michigan)

High Island (Michigan)

High Island is an island in Lake Michigan and is part of the Beaver Island archipelago. It is in size. The island is owned by the U.S. state of Michigan and is managed by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources as part of the Beaver Islands State Wildlife Management Area.High Island got its...

, which is itself uninhabited. It is the largest of the four Lake Michigan

Lake Michigan

Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America and the only one located entirely within the United States. It is the second largest of the Great Lakes by volume and the third largest by surface area, after Lake Superior and Lake Huron...

 islands in the Michigan Islands NWR, and the only one to have a substantial forest ecosystem. Balsam fir

Balsam Fir

The balsam fir is a North American fir, native to most of eastern and central Canada and the northeastern United States .-Growth:It is a small to medium-size evergreen tree typically tall, rarely to tall, with a narrow conic crown...

 and northern whitecedar grow in the island's humid, boreal climate. Gull Island also has beaches and sand dunes on its north and east sides.

Gull Island, like the other Lake Michigan islands within the Michigan Islands NWR, is managed as a satellite refuge of the Seney National Wildlife Refuge

Seney National Wildlife Refuge

The Seney National Wildlife Refuge is a managed wetland in Schoolcraft County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It has an area of 95,212 acres . It is bordered by M-28 and M-77. The nearest town of any size is Seney, Michigan...

.

On November 18, 1958, the SS Carl D. Bradley

SS Carl D. Bradley

The  was a self-unloading Great Lakes freighter that sank in a storm on November 18, 1958. Of the 35 crew members, 33 died in the sinking and 23 were from the port town of Rogers City, Michigan. Her sinking was likely caused by structural failure from the brittle steel used in her...

, a cargo vessel

Lake freighter

Lake freighters, or Lakers, are bulk carrier vessels that ply the Great Lakes. The best known was the , the most recent and largest major vessel to be wrecked on the Lakes. These vessels are traditionally called boats, although classified as ships. In the mid-20th century, 300 lakers worked the...

, foundered and sank 12 miles southwest of Gull Island, with a loss of 33 of the 35 men aboard.