SS Wisconsin

Last updated
WISCONSIN shipwreck (iron steamer)
SS Wisconsin.jpg
The Wisconsin when she was owned by the Grand Haven & Milwaukee Transportation Company
USA Wisconsin location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location Lake Michigan off the coast of Kenosha, Wisconsin
Coordinates 42°31′57.66″N87°42′31.44″W / 42.5326833°N 87.7087333°W / 42.5326833; -87.7087333 Coordinates: 42°31′57.66″N87°42′31.44″W / 42.5326833°N 87.7087333°W / 42.5326833; -87.7087333
NRHP reference No. 09000820
Added to NRHPOctober 7, 2009

The Wisconsin was an iron-hulled package steamer built in 1881 that sank in 1929 in Lake Michigan off the coast of Kenosha, Wisconsin, United States. In 2009 the shipwreck site was added to the National Register of Historic Places. [1] [2]

Contents

Career

The Wisconsin was built for the Goodrich Line at the Detroit Dry Dock Complex in 1881, [2] a steamer 204 feet (62 m) long with a beam of 35 feet (11 m) and a depth of 12 feet (3.7 m). [3] [4] Her design was progressive in several ways. She had an iron hull in an era when most ships were still built of wood. That hull was a double hull, with a max 3.8-foot space between the iron outer hull and the iron floor of the hold. This 3.8-foot space between the hulls was divided into five watertight compartments, which could be independently filled or emptied with ballast water, to adjust for light loads or top-heavy loads. Her front was clad with a rounded iron forefoot which could be pushed up onto ice floes so the ship's weight could break through. The Wisconsin and her sister ship Michigan were the first double-hulled iron steamers on the Great Lakes. [3]

In 1885, the Wisconsin caught fire off Grand Haven, Michigan and was nearly destroyed. The Wisconsin was renamed the Naomi in 1899. On May 27, 1907, the ship caught fire again; the steamers Kansas, E. G. Kerr, and Saxona rescued most of the people on board, but four crew members and one passenger perished. By 1910 the ship was known as the E. G. Crosby. [4]

During World War I, the Crosby was commandeered by the United States Navy and served in New York harbor as a convalescent hospital ship named the General Robert M. O'Reilly after Robert Maitland O'Reilly, a former Surgeon General of the United States Army. [5] [6] The General Robert M. O'Reilly was renamed the Pilgrim in 1920 before returning to her original owners and name in 1924. [4]

Sinking and legacy

On 29 October 1929, the Wisconsin left Chicago bound for Milwaukee. Under the command of Captain Dougal Morrison, the freighter was carrying passengers, automobiles, and machine tools. The ship ran into a storm and began taking on water, sinking around 7:10 pm. Rescue craft arrived 20 minutes later. [4] Estimates of the number saved and lost vary widely, from 18 lost out of 26 aboard to 18 lost of 76 aboard. [4] Estimates given around the time of the sinking give numbers of around 63-66 saved, 8-10 dead or missing. Sources agree the captain went down with the ship. [7] [8] [9]

Lake Michigan Wreck Dive - SS Wisconsin, Waukegan, IL (north of Chicago), summer 2012

The wreck site is a popular location for historians, archaeologists and divers. It lies in 90 to 130 feet (27 to 40 m) of water, 6.5 miles (10.5 km) south-southeast of Kenosha. [10]

Related Research Articles

SS <i>Milwaukee</i> (1902) Great lakes train ferry that foundered in a storm

SS Milwaukee was a train ferry that served on Lake Michigan. It was launched in 1902 and sank with all hands off Milwaukee on October 22, 1929. Fifty-two men were lost with the vessel.

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 January 20, 2005 the remnants of the Appomattox were listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

SS <i>Marquette</i> (1881) Wooden-hulled, American Great Lakes freighter

The SS Marquette was a wooden-hulled, American Great Lakes freighter built in 1881, that sank on Lake Superior, five miles east of Michigan Island, Ashland County, Wisconsin, Apostle Islands, United States on October 15, 1903. On the day of February 13, 2008 the remains of the Marquette were listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

SS <i>Comet</i> (1857) 1857 steamship, only treasure ship of Lake Superior

SS Comet was a steamship that operated on the Great Lakes. Comet was built in 1857 as a wooden-hulled propeller-driven cargo vessel that was soon adapted to carry passengers. She suffered a series of maritime accidents prior to her final sinking in 1875 causing the loss of ten lives. She became known as the only treasure ship of Lake Superior because she carried 70 tons of Montana silver ore when she sank. The first attempts to salvage her cargo in 1876 and 1938 were unsuccessful. Comet was finally salvaged in the 1980s when the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society illegally removed artifacts from the wreck. The artifacts are now the property of the State of Michigan and are on display as a loan to the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum. The fate of her silver ore cargo is unknown. Comet's wreck is now protected by the Whitefish Point Underwater Preserve as part of an underwater museum.

SS <i>Erie L. Hackley</i> Passenger and cargo ship that operated in Lake Michigan

The SS Erie L. Hackley was a passenger and cargo ship that operated in Lake Michigan from 1882 to 1903. The ship sank in a storm near Green Island on 3 October 1903.

Josephine was an American iron-hull, sidewheel steamer that transported mail, freight, and passengers, in the Gulf of Mexico, mainly between New Orleans, Louisiana and Galveston, Texas, beginning in 1868. In 1881, the Josephine was transferred to the New Orleans – Havana route. Returning from Havana in February 1881, the Josephine encountered a winter storm in the Gulf of Mexico, south of Biloxi, Mississippi, took on water and sank, but all passengers and crew survived. In 2000, the Josephine shipwreck was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

SS <i>Choctaw</i> Unique steamship ship wrecked in Lake Huron in 1915

SS Choctaw was a steel-hulled American freighter in service between 1892 and 1915, on the Great Lakes of North America. She was a so-called monitor vessel, containing elements of traditional lake freighters and the whaleback ships designed by Alexander McDougall. Choctaw was built in 1892 by the Cleveland Shipbuilding Company in Cleveland, Ohio, and was originally owned by the Lake Superior Iron Company. She was sold to the Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Company in 1894 and spent the rest of her working life with it. On her regular route between Detroit, Escanaba, Marquette, and Cleveland, she carried iron ore downbound, and coal upbound.

SS <i>Australasia</i> Defunct wooden hulled American Great Lakes freighter

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>Lakeland</i> Steel ship wrecked in Lake Michigan

The SS Lakeland was an early steel-hulled Great Lakes freighter that sank on December 3, 1924, into 205 feet (62 m) of water on Lake Michigan near Sturgeon Bay, Door County, Wisconsin, United States, after she sprang a leak. On July 7, 2015, the wreck of the Lakeland was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

SS <i>Senator</i> Steel-hulled Great Lakes freighter that sank on Lake Michigan

SS Senator was a steel-hulled Great Lakes freighter that sank on Lake Michigan with the loss of nine lives and 268 Nash automobiles, on Halloween of 1929 after she was rammed in heavy fog by the bulk carrier Marquette. She lies in 450 feet (140 m) of water 16 miles northeast of Port Washington, Wisconsin. On April 12, 2016 her wreck was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

SS <i>Atlanta</i> Wooden hulled Great Lakes steamer

The SS Atlanta was a wooden hulled Great Lakes steamer that sank in Lake Michigan off the coast of Cedar Grove, Wisconsin, United States, after burning down. Her wreckage still remains at the bottom of the lake, and on November 6, 2017, the wreck of the Atlanta was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

SS <i>Francis Hinton</i> Wooden-hulled steam barge sunk in Lake Michigan

The SS Francis Hinton was a wooden-hulled steam barge that sank in a gale off the coast of Manitowoc, Wisconsin, on Lake Michigan in 1909 while heavily laden with a cargo of lumber. On December 16, 1996, the wreck of the Francis Hinton was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

SS <i>S.C. Baldwin</i> Wooden-hulled steam barge sunk in Lake Michigan

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.

The City of Muskegon was a steel-hulled sidewheel package and passenger steamer, built in 1881 for service on the Great Lakes, which was wrecked early on Tuesday 28 October 1919 when it struck a pier at Muskegon, Michigan, at 0430 hrs., in a 60 mph gale, sinking in a period estimated between four and ten minutes. Nine crew and six passengers were killed. There are conflicting sources on the number on board, however. One account listed 37 passengers and a crew of 35.

SS <i>Pere Marquette 18</i> 1902 Great Lakes train ferry

SS Pere Marquette 18 was a steel-hulled Great Lakes train ferry that served on Lake Michigan from her construction in 1902 to her sinking in 1910.

SS <i>S.R. Kirby</i> Great Lakes freighter sunk in a 1916 storm on Lake Superior

SS S.R. Kirby was a composite-hulled bulk carrier that served on the Great Lakes of North America from her construction in 1890 to her sinking in 1916. On May 8, 1916, while heading across Lake Superior with a cargo of iron ore and the steel barge George E. Hartnell in tow, she ran into a storm and sank with the loss of all but two of her 22-man crew off Eagle Harbor, Michigan. For over 102 years the location of S.R. Kirby's wreck remained unknown, until June 2018, when her wreck was discovered by the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society (GLSHS) in 825 feet (251 m) of water, completely broken up.

SS <i>Russia</i> American Great Lakes package freighter

SS Russia was an iron-hulled American Great Lakes package freighter that sank in a Lake Huron gale on April 30, 1909, near DeTour Village, Michigan, with all 22 of her crew and one passenger surviving.

SS <i>Vernon</i> American passenger and package freighter ship sunk in Lake Michigan

SS Vernon was a wooden-hulled American passenger and package freighter that sank in a Lake Michigan storm on October 29, 1887, near Two Rivers, Wisconsin, with the loss of between 36 and 50 lives, making her one of the deadliest shipwrecks ever to have occurred in Wisconsin. Only one of the people on board survived.

<i>115</i> (barge) American whaleback barge

115 was an American whaleback barge in service between 1891 and 1899. She was built between May and August 1891, in Superior, Wisconsin by Alexander McDougall's American Steel Barge Company, for the "McDougall fleet", based in Buffalo, New York. She was one of a class of distinctive, experimental ship designed and built by McDougall. The whalebacks were designed to be more stable in high seas. They had rounded decks, and lacked the normal straight sides seen on traditional lake freighters. 115 entered service on August 25, hauling iron ore from Superior.

SS <i>Merchant</i> America passenger and package freighter ship

SS Merchant was an American iron–hulled passenger and package freighter in service between 1862 and 1875. The first iron–hulled merchant ship built on the Great Lakes, she was built in 1862 in Buffalo, New York, by the David Bell shipyard, out of components manufactured in Black Rock, New York, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was built for James C. and Edwin T. Evans of Buffalo, under whom she carried passengers and freight. Merchant made her maiden voyage in August 1862, sailing from Buffalo to Chicago. Between late 1872 and early 1873, she was lengthened by 30 feet (9.1 m), and had her passenger cabins removed. Also in 1873, Merchant was sold to the Erie & Western Transportation Company of Erie, Pennsylvania.

References

  1. "Weekly List of Actions Taken On Properties". National Park Service. Retrieved 2012-02-26.
  2. 1 2 "Wisconsin Shipwreck". National or State Register. Wisconsin Historic Society. Retrieved 2018-07-06.
  3. 1 2 Tamara Thomsen; Keith Meverden (2009-02-01). "National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Wisconsin Shipwreck". National Park Service . Retrieved 2018-07-06. With one photo.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Shelak, Benjamin J. (2003). Shipwrecks of Lake Michigan. Big Earth Publishing. pp. 71–73. ISBN   9781931599214 . Retrieved 3 January 2016.
  5. Hilton, George Woodman (2002). Lake Michigan Passenger Steamers. Stanford University Press. ISBN   9780804742405 . Retrieved 3 January 2016.
  6. "Wisconsin (1880-1881)". Wisconsin Shipwrecks. Wisconsin Sea Grant, Wisconsin Historical Society. Retrieved 2018-07-07.
  7. "Three Score Near Death When Saved". The Appleton Post-Crescent. 29 October 1929. p. 1. Retrieved 3 January 2016 via Newspapers.com.
  8. "Lake Michigan Steamer Sinks, 9 dead". Olean Times-Herald. 29 October 1929. p. 1. Retrieved 3 January 2016 via Newspapers.com.
  9. "Seek Causes of Wisconsin loss; 9 dead". News-Palladium . 30 October 1929. p. 6. Retrieved 3 January 2016 via Newspapers.com.
  10. Kohl, Cris (2001). The Great Lakes Diving Guide. West Chicago, Ill.: Seawolf Communications, Inc.