By James Heinz
Just a few feet from the desk of WMHS Executive Director Suzette Lopez hangs a bell from a ship called the CHARLES S. NEFF. This is the story of the ship behind the bell.
If NEFF sounds familiar, it is because Charles S. Neff was mentioned in a previous story I wrote about the Spanish gunboat from the Spanish-American War that lies at the bottom of Lake Michigan. https://wmhs.org/the-mysterious-disappearing-warship-of-the-kinnickinnic-river/
Charles S. Neff ran a small mom and pop shipping company similar to the one owned by George Steinbrenner’s father https://wmhs.org/kinsman-transit-is-in-trouble-chapter-ten/ And, like the Steinbrenner family, he built and named one of his ships after himself.
WMHS files show that in 1901 Neff built the NEFF at the Jenks Shipbuilding Company of Port Huron, Mich. She was a steel steam screw bulk carrier that displaced 1,609 tons and was 200 feet long and 38 feet wide. Her WMHS data sheet says that “She was built to carry lumber, pig iron, and other coarse freight.” It was the beginning of a long and active life filled with foreign travel.
In 1917 she was sold to two separate owners in succession and renamed SERPENTINE. She then was sold to the French and after World War I to the Cubans. In 1921 she was sold to Spanish owners who renamed her GABINO.
In 1925 she was sold back onto the Lakes, renamed WESTON M. CARROLL and converted to a sandsucker, having her engines removed. She was later renamed SAN PEDRO. In 1942 she was towed to the East Coast and in 1944 new engines were installed. In 1951 she was sold to the Brazilians and was allegedly still operating in 1971.
The Winter 1966-1967 issue of Soundings states that Charles Neff amassed a collection of marine artifacts and documents which he passed to his daughter Marcelia Neff Fisher. Marcelia donated part of the collection to WMHS.
A photograph from the time shows artifacts from the collection in the display cases in the hallway outside the Humanities Room. “Dominating the display was the ship’s bell from the CHARLES S. NEFF …” The bell continues to dominate the WMHS work space to this day.
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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: Great Lakes Marine Collection of the Milwaukee Public Library and Wisconsin Marine Historical Society.
