Our Blog
Wisconsin Marine Historical Society is a self-supported nonprofit organization committed to collecting, preserving, archiving, and sharing materials that illuminate the rich heritage of the Great Lakes maritime industry. Check out our blog to dive deep into the fascinating narratives and events that have shaped the Great Lakes maritime legacy. Search our blog index to find your favorite stories.
Rawley Point from the Air – Wreck Two
August 24, 2025By James Heinz Here is the second in a series of photos of shipwrecks and other underwater objects in the vicinity of Rawley Point. There are 12 identified and 10 unidentified shipwrecks in the vicinity of the Point. This one is south of the lighthouse. If anyone knows which one…Read more
Rawley Point from the Air – Wreck One
August 23, 2025By James Heinz As my bio below states, I fly a Cessna 172 airplane. One of my favorite trips is to fly along the shore of Lake Michigan. If the water conditions are right, I can see the remains of shipwrecks in shallow waters along the coast. This year the…Read more
STATE OF MICHIGAN arrives at Fincantieri
August 22, 2025Tom Wenstadt, our Door County correspondent, reports that the T/S STATE OF MICHIGAN arrived via the Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal, Monday, August 18th, at the Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding yard here in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. The STATE OF MICHIGAN was built by Tacoma Boat Co. in Tacoma, Wash., in 1986 as…Read more
Wolf & Davidson launch the ALICE B. NORRIS
August 17, 2025On this day August 17, 1872, the three-masted schooner ALICE B. NORRIS was launched in Milwaukee by the Wolf & Davidson Shipyard. Built for John & Andrew M. Joys, Jack Saveland, and Alice B. & Charles W. Norris all of Milwaukee, she measured 189.8 feet in length, 33 feet…Read more
A Busy Day in Milwaukee
August 15, 2025Our Milwaukee area correspondent, Bruce Nason, captured these photos Thursday August 14th, a busy day in Milwaukee. The JOHANNA G, flagged from Madeira, a Portuguese Island off the coast of Morocco, was at the Agricultural Facility. The FEDERAL BALTIC, flagged at the Marshall Island of Majuro was at General Cargo Pier…Read more
Milwaukee Launches the ROUSE SIMMONS
August 15, 2025On this day August 15, 1868, the three masted schooner ROUSE SIMMONS was launched at Milwaukee, Wis., by Allen, McClelland & Co. She was built for Kenosha lumberman Royal B. Towslee and named in honor of the man who helped arrange for her financing. Rouse’s older brother Zalmon G.…Read more
THE CAR FERRY BADGER AT MANITOWOC FROM THE AIR
August 11, 2025By James Heinz As my bio states, I fly a Cessna 172. Recently, while flying my plane over Manitowoc, Wis., I saw the legendary car ferry BADGER as she was arriving at Manitowoc and docking. You can see the mud stirred up by the ship as she maneuvered herself into…Read more
THE SHIPWRECK THAT CARRIED GOLD PLATED AUTOMOBILES OWNED BY THE SHAH OF IRAN
August 6, 2025By James Heinz Imagine yourself 205 feet below the surface of Lake Michigan deep in the absolute darkness of the hold of a sunken freighter. It is utterly silent as you drift through a dark cavern full of silt, rust flaking off the sides, and the ghosts of rusted automobiles…Read more
THE SEARCH FOR FLIGHT 2501 HAS ENDED
August 4, 2025By James Heinz A previous article on this blog told the story of Northwest Airlines flight 2501. It disappeared over Lake Michigan on June 24, 1950, while on a flight from Benton Harbor, Mich., to Milwaukee. https://wmhs.org/search-for-missing-airliner-finds-lost-shipwrecks-after-author-clive-cussler-and-tv-producer-josh-gates-show-interest/ And on June 24, 2025, the search for America’s only missing airliner was…Read more
On this day fire took the GEORGE PRESLEY
July 26, 2025On this day July 26, 1905, 120 years ago, a fire started in the paint locker of the wooden steamer GEORGE PRESLEY. She was bound up from Milwaukee, light, to Escanaba for a cargo of ore. When a short distance from the west shore of Washington Island, the fire…Read more
WMHS MAKES THE NATIONAL NEWS
July 20, 2025By James Heinz I wrote a series of articles about Great Lakes ships owned by George Steinbrenner, legendary New York Yankees owner, and the man most famous for appearing on the sitcom “Seinfeld” without actually appearing on the show, and his family. One of the ships I profiled was the…Read more
If the beer was still there, would the trip have continued?
July 17, 2025“I will construct the hull with my own hands” and start about July 4th to sail around the world alone taking some Schlitz beer samples with me. This was the announcements made in March of 1896 by Capt. Adolph Frietsch. In 1894, Capt. Frietsch had successfully sailed across the Atlantic…Read more
