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.
AN ABANDONED SCHOONER, THEN AND NOW
October 27, 2025By 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…Read more
On this day the DOTY and JEANETTE sailed into a fierce gale
October 25, 2025On this day October 25, 1898, the wooden steamer L. R. DOTY and her consort the four masted schooner OLIVE JEANETTE sailed into a fierce gale which parted their tow line and sent one to the bottom. L. R. DOTY and schooner OLIVE JEANETTE in new Weitzel Lock, 1896…Read more
THE HAUNTED TUGBOAT OF MILWAUKEE HARBOR
October 23, 2025By James Heinz It’s October, time for haunted history stories, like haunted lighthouses https://wmhs.org/the-haunted-lighthouse-that-inspired-one-of-hollywoods-greatest-movies/ Haunted ships usually involve “Ghost Ships” that “sailed into a crack in the Lake”, as the old sailors used to say, never to be seen again except as ghostly apparitions. But one ship still afloat is…Read more
On this day the MILWAUKEE left Milwaukee’s harbor
October 22, 2025On this day October 22, 1929, the car ferry MILWAUKEE left Milwaukee’s harbor about 12:30 pm in a heavy gale with 25 freight cars and a crew of 46. It is believed that the raging storm and “mountainous waves” caused at least one of the freight cars to break…Read more
The night was as dark as a stack of black cats
October 21, 2025On this day October 21, 1897, a supernatural voice summoned the Captain from a deep sleep to come to the deck and it saved the crew. “The night was as dark as a stack of black cats.” The FRANK W. GIFFORD was a three-masted schooner built in 1868 at…Read more
COBIA heads home
October 16, 2025Tom Wenstadt, our Door County correspondent, reports that the U.S.S COBIA (SS 245) departed from the Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding yard, the morning of Wednesday, October 15th. The lake tugs NICKELENA and ERIKA KOBASIC towed the submarine through Sturgeon Bay’s three bridges, then through the Sturgeon Bay ship canal then out…Read more
PRINS WILLEM V was the only loss of 1954 and she did it off Milwaukee’s harbor
October 15, 2025On this day October 14, 1954, the PRINS WILLEM V, affectionately known to divers as the WILLIE, became the only total loss of the year on the Great Lakes. And, she did it off Milwaukee’s harbor. Photo at top of page: PRINS WILLEM V in Milwaukee It was…Read more
Busy Day in the Twin Ports
October 11, 2025Elmer Engman, our Duluth correspondent, reports that on October 1st in the Twin Ports, it still felt like summer. The Netherlands cargo ship, the HUDSONGRACHT, entered the port with a cargo of quartz to be used in countertops. The HUDSONGRACHT was built in 2008 and is 452 feet long. She…Read more
BUTCHER BOY partially burned in Chicago
October 8, 2025On this day October 8, 1871, the barkentine BUTCHER BOY was partially burned in the great Chicago fire. The fire, which spanned October 8th through the 10th, reportedly killed 300 people and destroyed 3.3 square miles of the city. I am sure the most famous cow is not…Read more
The PEWABIC takes her first cargo
October 5, 2025On this day October 5, 1863, the PEWABIC took on her first cargo at Cleveland. She was nearly completed but only able to carry freight. Her owners, Messrs. J. T. Whiting & Co., of Detroit, planned to get in three trips of cargo that fall and then finish her…Read more
Vessel Bristling With Rum
September 30, 2025On this day September 30, 1929, there was great excitement at a Milwaukee dock. The Great Lakes Transit steamer UTICA was greeted by prohibition and Coast Guard forces when she arrived. Prohibition Federal Agents had received a tip from Windsor, Ontario, that the UTICA had sailed from there with…Read more
Stranded due to dense smoke
September 28, 2025On this day September 28, 1908, the wooden steamer NESHOTO stranded in dense smoke 2 ½ miles off Crisp Point in Lake Superior. Yes, dense smoke due to forest fires in the Upper Peninsula and plains west of Crisp Point and Vermilion. Luckily her crew of 16 were rescued…Read more
