By James Heinz
In the old days, some ship owners played “the derelict game.” As I recounted in a previous story https://wmhs.org/the-mysterious-disappearing-warship-of-the-kinnickinnic-river/ many ship owners would just abandon their old ships in a Milwaukee waterway and let the city bear the expense of removing them. This was particularly true of wooden ships, which could not be sold for scrap. The upper reaches of the Kinnikinnic River near the Becher Street bridge seems to have been a favorite place to abandon derelict ships.
One of these ships was the schooner CUBA, which was launched in 1856 in Milan Ohio. WMHS files show that she was a wooden two-masted schooner that displaced 190 tons and was 119 feet long and 24 feet wide.
The file also shows that on May 11, 1889, at 11 pm the CUBA ran aground on a sandbar at the entrance to Kenosha Harbor and began pounding heavily. The Kenosha lifesavers rowed out to and boarded the ship. They were able to set her sails so that she could work herself off the sandbar and into the harbor. The captain said that the lifesavers saved his ship.
The last entry in the WMHS files is a newspaper article from July 30, 1896 says “The hull of the schooner CUBA lies upon the bottom of the Kinnikinnic River, full of water, in such shape to partially obstruct navigation…no steps have been taken in the matter further than to make inquiries for an owner.”
CUBA in Milwaukee’s Kinnickinnic River with fire boat CATARACT – MPL/WMHS photo
The same CUBA site in October 2025 photo by James Heinz
We know that this was her ultimate fate because the accompanying black and white photograph from the file shows the ship abandoned and disintegrating and, in the distance, the distinctive twin spires of Milwaukee’s St. Stanislaus church. The color photo shows the same view today.
The other ship on the right side of the photo is the CATARACT, Milwaukee’s first fireboat, whose origin story I chronicled in a previous story: https://wmhs.org/boats-that-kept-milwaukee-safe-chapter-2/. CATARACT may have been there to survey the wreck, since it seems to be sideways across the river, blocking the channel.
Photo Credit: Great Lakes Marine Collection of the Milwaukee Public Library and Wisconsin Marine Historical Society and James Heinz
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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.
