By Carl Eisenberg
The CHRISTINA NILSSON Shipwreck Marker is in Baileys Harbor on the eastern shore of Door County, Wisconsin, about an easy three hour drive from downtown Milwaukee and a great place to visit.
Two well preserved fragments of the wreck of the schooner CHRISTINA NILSSON are located under 12-15 feet of water less than a mile southeast of the Baileys Harbor Lighthouse and are popular dive sites. In 2003, the CHRISTINA NILSSON was nominated to the National Register of Historic Places because of its archaeological and historic significance.
The CHRISTINA NILSSON Marker is elevated such that there is a nice view of Baileys Harbor. Nearby are the office of the Peninsula Pulse, boat launches, and a fish cleaning station which on a warm day is easy to locate.
Nearby is the former Nelson’s Hardware building. On the side of this building is Ram Rojas’ mural which was painted on aluminum panels that are currently screwed into the building. This makes the mural portable should the building be demolished in which case the mural will be preserved. It contains images of various Door County scenes and Nelson’s family.
For more information about the Nelson property, please see this May 5, 2021, article in the Door County Pulse: The hidden history of the Nelson’s hardware property by Craig Sterrett, Peninsula Pulse (https://doorcountypulse.com/northern-door-ingenuity/).
The CHRISTINA NILSSON was a three-masted schooner, built in Manitowoc, Wis., for Charles M. Lingren of Chicago at the Hanson & Scove shipyard at a cost of $23.000. She was launched on August 3, 1871. She was first enrolled in Chicago on August 16, 1971, with John Hanson as master. Her title was changed to Johanna Lingren, Charles’s wife on August 7, 1880. At that time the NILSSON had a new master, N. A. Hammer.
On October 23, 1884, the NILSSON left Escanaba, Mich., headed for Chicago with a cargo of 575 tons of pig iron. Once she got into Lake Michigan, she headed along the eastern shore of Door County. As she passed the Sturgeon Bay ship canal a snowstorm with high seas and gale force winds made it impossible for her to enter the canal for shelter. Captain Hammer instead turned intending to reach Baileys Harbor 20 miles to the north. The effort failed and at 8:30 AM on October 24, 1884, the NILSSON struck the Outer Reef and began to flounder. The ship struck the reef a second time and sunk in about 15 feet of water. All of the crew survived by taking the NILSSON’s yawl-boat. In January through March of 1885 the wrecked schooner, pounded by storms and accumulating ice, lost all of her masts.
In 1998 the Wisconsin Historical Society and the Wisconsin Underwater Archaeology Association examined the way zebra mussels colonized the CHRISTINA NILSSON wreck.
A dive guide for this shipwreck is available for purchase (https://publications.aqua.wisc.edu/product-category/shipwrecks/)
To view the series of interesting stories about the Wisconsin’s Historical Markers, check out our Blog Index.
Photo at top of page: The CHRISTINA NILSSON Shipwreck Marker in Baileys Harbor
Other photos:
Photo credit for current photos: Carl Eisenberg
Sources:
Wisconsin Shipwrecks:
Christina Nilsson: https://wisconsinshipwrecks.org/vessel/Details/99
Door County Pulse: The hidden history of the Nelson’s hardware property by Craig Sterrett, Peninsula Pulse (https://doorcountypulse.com/northern-door-ingenuity/)
Dive Guide: A dive guide for this shipwreck is available for purchase (https://publications.aqua.wisc.edu/product-category/shipwrecks/)
———————————————————
Carl Eisenberg is a sailor and birdwatcher, and has been president of the Wisconsin Marine Historical Society since 2016. A retired pediatrician, he is a graduate of Duke University School of Medicine. He lives in Mequon, Wis.
