On this day August 6, 1887, the wooden steamer WILLIAM H. WOLF was launched at Milwaukee’s Wolf & Davidson Shipyard. She was built for the Wolf & Davidson Steamship Company which was incorporated 3 weeks after she hit the water. The WOLF measured 285 feet in length, 42.3 feet in beam and 19.2 feet in depth. Her ceiling, deck beams and deck were composed mainly of Georgia pine which was usually used only on coast vessels. Her oak timbers were brought in from Indiana and Kentucky.
The WILLIAM H. WOLF was a beautifully crafted vessel and drew a very large crowd for the launch. People gathered across the river from the shipyard on the Northwestern Fuel Company’s dock to watch. Unfortunately for them, as she glided into the river, she caused an immense wave that swept up in the dock ten or twelve feet, causing damage to the coal sheds and a partial collapse of the dock. Below is a description of the scene from the Milwaukee Sentinel of August 7, 1887.
“A suppressed cry of horror rose to the lips of the 3,000 or more people who witnessed the launch of the mammoth new steamer WILLIAM H. WOLF, yesterday afternoon at Wolf & Davidson’s shipyard, as simultaneously with that occurrence a staging on the Northwestern Fuel company’s dock gave way and the seventy-five persons upon it were precipitated either upon the dock below or into the river. The spectators saw the huge vessel make her plunge as the last block was knocked away, a great wave was caused by the displacement of water, and through the wall of spray the platform was seen to lift and then crash down upon the docks below, burying many of the people beneath the fall timbers, maiming, mangling and wounding a score of the unfortunates. The cries of the unfortunates, the hoarse shouts of men rushing to the rescue, the shrieks of women and children, the splashing of the waves mingled in a sound that was painful discord to the ears of the horror-stricken spectators. The accident caused two fatalities, several person are so badly injured that death will probably ensue and twenty or more others are badly injured. Ten or twenty persons were thrown into the river, but it is not known whether all were rescued. The lifesaving crew and police dragged the river in the vicinity for two hours after the accident without bringing any bodies to the surface. Still many people believe a number were drowned and thought that the suction of the boat dragged the bodies out of reach of the searchers.”
The WILLIAM H. WOLF in 1917
The WOLF went on to be a popular steamer and had a productive career until October 20, 1921 when she caught fire while down bound in the St. Clair River. She burned to the water line and sank on the Canadian side of the channel, opposite from Marine City. She had just unloaded her cargo of pulpwood at Port Huron and was on her way down to dry dock when the fire was discovered. Two of the 22 on board were lost. In 1925, she was floated and taken just south of Fawn Island and sunk. Today she is a popular dive site resting in about 50 feet water.
Suzette Lopez
PHOTO CREDIT: Great Lakes Marine Collection of the Milwaukee Public Library and Wisconsin Marine Historical Society.
