By James Heinz
I have posted several photos of unidentified shipwrecks on the bottom of Lake Michigan that I photographed from the air. This is a post about another such shipwreck whose identity I have always known.
The wooden propeller steamer ATLANTA was launched in 1891 at Cleveland OH. She was 200 feet long, 32 feet wide, and displaced 1,129 tons. She had a fore and aft compound engine and two Scotch boilers. She was owned by the Goodrich Transportation Company and she carried passengers and package freight between Lake Michigan port cities.
On March 18, 1906, at noon the crew discovered a fire in the ship’s hold as the ship was steaming from Sheboygan to Milwaukee with 65 passengers and a general cargo. ATLANTA’s fire sprinkler system failed to contain the blaze and the ship stopped and started to deploy the lifeboats.
At that time, the Smith Brothers fish tug A. C. C. TESSLER arrived and all but one of the passengers and crew were transferred to the tug, except one crewman who fell between the tug and the ship and was killed. In addition to saving everyone, TESSLER fisherman Charles Klein saved the ship’s cook, who was trapped in the pantry, by climbing back onto the burning ship and widening a porthole so the cook could escape.
TESSLER towed the ATLANTA towards shore until she grounded. Milwaukee fireboat No. 15 picked up the Milwaukee lifesavers and sailed to the scene but by the time they arrived at 3:30 pm ATLANTA had burned to the water line. https://wmhs.org/boats-that-kept-milwaukee-safe-chapter-3/
She was not to rest in peace, since in 1920 the Leathem and Smith Wrecking Company salvaged her machinery. Her boiler was placed in the steamer STUART. During World War II the wreck was salvaged again to aid the war effort.
Today the wreck lies in 17 feet of water 800 feet off shore of Cedar Grove WI. The sand bottom moves aground a lot from year to year but I can usually spot it from the air most years when the sides stick out of the sand. The propeller shaft is still there as well as lots of the cargo. I dove the wreck once and I remember it as warm and clear, with piles of enamelware pots rusted together.
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James Heinz is the Wisconsin Marine Historical Society’s acquisitions director. He became interested in maritime history as a kid watching Jacques Cousteau’s adventures on TV. He was a Great Lakes wreck diver until three episodes of the bends forced him to retire from diving. He was a University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee police officer for thirty years. He regularly flies either a Cessna 152 or 172.
Photo Credit: ATLANTA wreck from the air, James Heinz
ATLANTA above water and A. C. C. TESSLER, Great Lakes Marine Collection of the Milwaukee Public Library and Wisconsin Marine Historical Society.
ATLANTA underwater photos, courtesy of wisconsinshipwrecks.com
