On this day April 10, 1866, the square rigged bark NELSON, well actually the square rigged bark WISCONSIN, was launched in Milwaukee at the Ellsworth & Davidson shipyard on River Street just above the Oneida Street Bridge. She was built as the WISCONSIN for Captains N. A. and Isaac Nelson of Milwaukee but before she was enrolled, they changed her name to NELSON.
Her construction progress was posted regularly in the newspapers. She was the largest vessel built in Milwaukee at that time. A work force of 75 was involved in her building. She measured 175 feet in length, 33 in beam and 13 in depth. She was built for the grain trade and had a carrying capacity of 30,000 bushels of wheat. Her build cost was estimated between $42,000 and $50,000.
The day of her launch drew an “assembled multitude” of spectators as noted in the Milwaukee Sentinel:
“A crowd of from 5,000 to 6,000 persons of both sexes had gathered upon the bridge, docks and buildings in the vicinity to witness the sight. Although it was intended to launch her at eleven o’clock a.m., the arrangement could not be completed until about four in the afternoon. At that hour the last prop was knocked away and she glided gracefully, stern foremost, into the river, amid the cheers of the assembled multitude. Not a jar was felt by those on board. She rode in her element like a thing of life – the handsomest model of a bark ever built in Milwaukee.”
On May 7th the Milwaukee Sentinel announced the name had been changed from WISCONSIN to NELSON after her owners. She started her career with cargo of oats from the Angus Smith’s elevator.
In November of 1871, the NELSON was downward bound off Rondeau when one of her crew John Boyle of Milwaukee was nailing a board on the side of the vessel. He fell overboard and drowned.
In March 1879, the NELSON was sold to O. R. Johnson of Racine, president of the Menominee Barge Line Co., of Marinette, Wis., and converted from a bark to a tow barge in Milwaukee. She went from being in the grain trade to hauling coarse freight and later lumber while being towed by the steamer A. FOLSOM with the schooner MARY B. MITCHELL.
NELSON with MARY B. MITCHELL and INDIA, August 1890.
The NELSON had a career that spanned 33 years. While in the tow of the FOLSUM off Grand Marais, on Saturday afternoon May 13, 1899, the NELSON foundered thanks to freezing weather and a 50 mph gale. Before help could be rendered, the NELSON parted the towline and dove for the bottom. All eight of the crew was thought to have drowned but later that day Capt. Hagney was found at Deer Park floating on the top of the NELSON’S cabin.
Suzette Lopez
PHOTO CREDIT: Great Lakes Marine Collection of the Milwaukee Public Library and Wisconsin Marine Historical Society.
