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.
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
Festival of Sail in Duluth
July 15, 2025Elmer Engman, our Duluth correspondent, reports on the Festival of Sail. Duluth hosted the Festival from July 10th through the 13th. Normally it is every three years but because of the sea wall rebuild it has been six years since Duluth had the last Festival. Photo at top of page…Read more
A MEMORIAL TO MAX NOHL IN THE MILWAUKEE PUBLIC LIBRARY
July 13, 2025By James Heinz In May 2025 the long awaited memoir of Milwaukee diving legend Max Gene Nohl was published by the Wisconsin Historical Society. The original 800 page memoir was provided to WHS by the Milwaukee Public Library, to whom Max’s estate had donated it. Editor Elizabeth Wycoff reduced the…Read more
THE SHIP I WAS BOTH ON AND UNDER
July 12, 2025By James Heinz A few years ago I took a tour of a Great Lakes freighter docked in Sturgeon Bay, Wis. The docent conducting the tour was a retired member of the engineering department aboard that ship. The docent asked the tour group if anyone had ever been on board…Read more
On this day the JOHN MITCHELL went down in seven minutes
July 9, 2025On this day July 9, 1911, the steel steamer JOHN MITCHELL was sunk in Lake Superior off Vermilion Point, Michigan, by the steamer WILLIAM HENRY MACK. There was twenty- eight on board at the time and three of those were lost. The MITCHELL was launched on November 29,…Read more
