Alvin Clark (schooner)

Last updated

Alvin Clark (schooner)
AlvinClark.jpg
USA Michigan location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location6th Ave.,
Menominee, Michigan
Coordinates 45°6′15″N87°37′13″W / 45.10417°N 87.62028°W / 45.10417; -87.62028 Coordinates: 45°6′15″N87°37′13″W / 45.10417°N 87.62028°W / 45.10417; -87.62028
Area1 acre (0.40 ha)
Built1846 or 1847
Architectural styleSquare stern schooner
Demolished1994
NRHP reference No. 74000996
Significant dates
Added to NRHP1974
Removed from NRHPJune 10, 2020 [1]

Alvin Clark was a schooner that sailed the Great Lakes for almost two decades. Constructed in 1846 or 1847, it sank during a storm in Green Bay in 1864. It was salvaged in 1969 and moored in Menominee, Michigan, at the Mystery Ship Seaport, located in the Menominee River at the foot of Sixth Avenue. The ship was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1972 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974; Alvin Clark was removed from the National Register of Historic Places on June 10, 2020. [1] Although the schooner was in pristine condition when raised, no plans were in place for its conservation, and the ship rapidly deteriorated. The remains of Alvin Clark were destroyed in 1994.

Contents

Description

Alvin Clark was a square stern lumber schooner measuring 105 feet (32 m) in length, with a beam of 25 feet (8 m) and a displacement of 218 tons. [2] It was constructed primarily of white oak, with 2+1⁄2-inch (63.5 mm) planking and 10-inch (254 mm)-wide ribs. [3] The ship had a single deck, [3] two masts including a 110 feet (34 m) mainmast, [3] and was rigged as a brigantine with a square foremast. [2]

Construction and operation

Alvin Clark was built at the Bates and Davis Shipyard in Trenton, Michigan, [4] in 1846 or 1847, [2] [5] likely by shipmaker John Clark, who had a son named Alvin. [3] Clark, the original owner, used the Alvin Clark for shipping salt until he sold it in 1852. [6] The second owner of the ship was Captain William M. Higgie of Racine, Wisconsin. The schooner spent the rest of its years shipping lumber to Chicago. [7] On June 19, 1864, the ship was heading through Lake Michigan to Oconto, Wisconsin, to pick up a load of lumber, running empty under full sail. [2] As it entered Green Bay, Captain Dunnin ordered the holds cleaned, and the hatches were removed. [4] A sudden storm capsized the ship just off the shore of Chambers Island in Green Bay. [2] Captain Dunnin, the mate, and another sailor were drowned; two other sailors were rescued. [4] An attempt to salvage the ship was made a few months after the wreck, but it was unsuccessful and the Alvin Clark was left on the lakebed. [5]

Salvage

In 1967, sport diver Frank Hoffman was hired by a commercial fisherman to free nets that had snagged on an "unknown obstruction" under the surface of Green Bay. [2] Hoffman dove in and discovered the nets tangled in what appeared to be a ship's mast. [2] Hoffman initially referred to the wreck as "the Mystery Ship at 19 Fathoms", [8] but the ship proved to be the Alvin Clark, [9] and was positively identified through a stencil made belowdecks by one of the sailors. [10] The ship was completely intact and in excellent condition, and Hoffman secured the salvage rights the next year. [2] He assembled a team that salvaged the ship, recovering artifacts and removing the silt from the wreck. [2] [11] Work began in the spring of 1968, [11] and the team eventually brought the ship intact to the surface in July 1969. Alvin Clark was, at the time, the "finest preserved historic vessel in the United States", according to historian Theodore Karamanski. [12] It was completely intact, some of the mechanical systems still worked, and it contained a variety of preserved artifacts. [12] Once the water was pumped out of the holds, the ship still floated. Hoffman berthed the ship in Menominee, cleaned and re-rigged it, and eased it into an earthen slip. [11] Hoffman built a museum nearby and exhibited the ship as a tourist attraction at the "Mystery Ship Seaport" on Sixth Street in Menominee. [12] The ship was listed as a Michigan State Historic Site in 1972 and was designated a member of the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. [13]

Deterioration and demolition

Freed from the cold and low-oxygen waters at the bottom of the bay, Alvin Clark immediately started to deteriorate. Hoffman's group had not included museum or historic society representatives, and his demand to be compensated for expenses involved in raising the ship frustrated efforts to find a permanent home for the ship or start any sort of conservation. Proceeds from the museum did not pay off Hoffman's incurred debt of $300,000, much less provide restoration funds. [11] The ship eventually deteriorated beyond restoration. In 1985, an intoxicated Hoffman attempted to burn with gasoline what was left of the ship, but he was arrested and sentenced to a week in prison and a year of probation. [14] [15] In 1987, he sold the ship, now a hulk, to a group of local investors for $117,000. [11] The investors moved and stabilized the ship, [11] but they were not able to adequately preserve it. [2] The ship was eventually found to be beyond saving and was declared a public hazard. [16] In 1994, the Mystery Ship Seaport and the remains of the Alvin Clark were demolished to make way for a parking lot. [14]

Citations

  1. 1 2 "Weekly List 20200612". National Park Service . Retrieved June 12, 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Rhude, Andreas Jordahl. "The Mystery Ship – Tale of the Alvin Clark Tragedy". Land-o-Lakes Classic Boat Service. Bob Speltz Land-O-Lakes. Retrieved April 23, 2020.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Diane B. Abbott; Charles K. Hyde (1978), The Upper peninsula of Michigan : an inventory of historic engineering and industrial sites, Historic American Engineering Record, Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation, Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service, U.S. Dept. of the Interior, pp. 122–123
  4. 1 2 3 Van Harpen 2006, p. 85.
  5. 1 2 "Alvin Clark (1864)". Wisconsin Shipwrecks. Retrieved April 23, 2020.
  6. ↑ Boyd, Dr. Richard (Fall 2018). "Salvaging the Alvin Clark: A Project Before Its Time" (PDF). The Anchor  – Wisconsin Maritime Museum.
  7. ↑ Mierzejewski 2012, p. 54.
  8. ↑ Bob O'Donnell (July–September 1994). "Remains of Schooner Alvin Clark Demolished This Summer" (PDF). Wisconsin Underwater Heritage. 4 (4).
  9. ↑ Karamanski 2000, p. 218.
  10. ↑ Van Harpen 2006, p. 88.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 A.A. Dornfeld (November 15, 1987). "A Risen Ship Scuttles Its Savior". Chicago Tribune .
  12. 1 2 3 Karamanski 2000, p. 219.
  13. ↑ Gardner, Don (May 11, 2013). "Shipwrecks and history preserved through legislation". Royal Oak Tribune. Retrieved April 23, 2020.
  14. 1 2 Karamanski 2000, p. 221.
  15. ↑ Davis, Robert (July 8, 1985). "Off The Deep End His 'Dream' Ship Turns Into a Nightmare". Sun Sentinel . Retrieved April 23, 2020.
  16. ↑ Van Harpen 2006, p. 89.

Related Research Articles

National Register of Historic Places listings in Menominee County, Michigan

This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Menominee County, Michigan.

<i>Rouse Simmons</i>

The Rouse Simmons was a three-masted schooner famous for having sunk in a violent storm on Lake Michigan in 1912. The ship was bound for Chicago with a cargo of Christmas trees when it foundered off Two Rivers, Wisconsin, killing all on board.

SS <i>Appomattox</i> Largest wooden steamship on the Great Lakes wrecked in 1905

The SS Appomattox was a wooden-hulled, American Great Lakes freighter that ran aground on Lake Michigan, off Atwater Beach off the coast of Shorewood, Wisconsin in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, United States in 1905. On the day of January 20, 2005 the remnants of the Appomattox were listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

SS <i>John M. Osborn</i>

The John M. Osborn was a wooden steam barge that sank in Lake Superior in 1884 with the loss of five lives. The Osborn was just 2 years old when the larger, steel-hulled Alberta, which was called a "steel monster" and "terror of the lakes", rammed her. The wreck of the Osborn was discovered 100 years after her sinking. The wreck was illegally salvaged in the 1980s. Many of Osborn's artifacts became the property of the State of Michigan after they were seized from Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum. The State allows the museum to display the artifacts as a loan. The wreck of the Osborn is now protected by the Whitefish Point Underwater Preserve as part of an underwater museum.

SS <i>Myron</i>

SS Myron was a wooden steamship built in 1888. She spent her 31-year career as lumber hooker, towing schooner barges on the Great Lakes. She sank in 1919, in a Lake Superior November gale. All of her 17 crew members were killed but her captain survived. He was found drifting on wreckage near Ile Parisienne. Her tow, the Miztec, survived. Myron defied the adage that Lake Superior "seldom gives up her dead" when all 17 crewmembers were found frozen to death wearing their life jackets. Local residents chopped eight of Myron's sailors from the ice on the shore of Whitefish Bay and buried them at the Mission Hill Cemetery in Bay Mills Township, Michigan.

<i>Miztec</i> (schooner barge)

The Miztec was built as a 3-masted schooner in 1890. She was later converted to a schooner barge and served as a consort for lumber hookers on the Great Lakes. She escaped destruction in a severe 1919 storm that sank her longtime companion, the SS Myron, only to sink on the traditional day of bad luck, Friday the 13th, 1921, with the loss of all hands. She came to rest on Lake Superior's bottom off Whitefish Point near the Myron.

SS <i>America</i> (1898) Steam packet wrecked off Isle Royale in Lake Superior

America was a packet boat transporting passengers, mail, and packages between settlements along the North Shore of Lake Superior, an inland sea in central North America. Built in 1898, America sank in Washington Harbor off the shore of Isle Royale in 1928, where the hull still remains. The wreck was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.

<i>Northerner</i> (schooner)

Northerner was an 81-foot-long (24.7-meter-long), two-masted schooner. She sank in Lake Michigan on November 29, 1868, five miles southeast of Port Washington, Wisconsin, United States. The bottom of the ship lies under 130 feet of water.

<i>Noquebay</i>

Noquebay was a wooden schooner barge that sank in Lake Superior′s in Chequamegon Bay off Stockton Island. The wreck site was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.

<i>Fleetwing</i> (shipwreck) United States historic place

Fleetwing was a schooner that sank in Lake Michigan off Liberty Grove, Wisconsin, United States. In 2001 the shipwreck site was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

<i>Gallinipper</i> United States historic place

Gallinipper was a schooner that sank in Lake Michigan off the coast of Centerville, Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, United States. In 2010, the shipwreck site was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

<i>Home</i> (schooner) United States historic place

Home was a two-masted schooner which sank in Lake Michigan off Centerville in Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, United States, in 1858. In 2010 the shipwreck site was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

SS <i>R.J. Hackett</i>

R. J. Hackett was a steamer built in 1869. When first launched, the ship's wide cross-section and long midships hold were unconventional, but the design's advantages in moving cargo through the inland lakes spawned many imitators. The Hackett is recognized as the first Great Lakes freighter, a vessel type that has dominated Great Lakes shipping for over 100 years. In 1905, the Hackett caught fire and sank on Whaleback Shoal in Green Bay, 9.5 miles (15.3 km) southeast of the Cedar River in Menominee County, Michigan. The wreck site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.

Lumberman (shipwreck) United States historic place

The Lumberman was a 3-masted schooner that sank in 1893 in Lake Michigan off the coast of Oak Creek, Wisconsin, United States. In 2009 the shipwreck site was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

<i>Kyle Spangler</i> (schooner)

The Kyle Spangler was a wooden schooner; its 1860 wreck site in Lake Huron was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016.

SS <i>Australasia</i>

The Australasia was a wooden hulled American Great Lakes freighter that served on the Great Lakes of North America between her construction in 1884 to her burning and sinking in 1896. On October 18, 1896 while loaded with coal, the Australasia sank in Lake Michigan near the town of Sevastopol, Door County, Wisconsin, United States, after burning off Cana Island. On July 3, 2013 the wreck of the Australasia was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

SS <i>Ohio</i> (1875) Wooden steamship wrecked in Lake Huron in 1894

SS Ohio was a wooden hulled Great Lakes freighter that served on the Great Lakes of North America from her construction in 1875, to her sinking in September 1894 when she collided with the schooner barge Ironton which also sank in the collision. Ironton was being towed by the steamer Charles J. Kershaw, which was also towing the schooner Moonlight. Ohio was found upright in 2017, over 122 years after her sinking in over 200 feet of water off Presque Isle, Michigan. Ironton is still missing. The researchers who discovered Ohio plan to nominate her for a listing in the National Register of Historic Places.

The Success is a shipwreck located off the coast of Whitefish Dunes State Park in Sevastopol, Wisconsin.

The America was a wooden schooner. Its shipwreck site is located off the coast of Carlton, Wisconsin in Lake Michigan.

SS <i>S.C. Baldwin</i>

SS S.C. Baldwin was a wooden-hulled steam barge built in 1871, that capsized in a storm on August 26, 1908, on Lake Michigan, off Two Rivers, Wisconsin, United States, with the loss of one life. On August 22, 2016 the remnants of S.C. Baldwin were listed in the National Register of Historic Places as reference number 16000565.

References

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.