“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 Ocean to Norway in the 47 foot NINA and now intended to sail around the world in the two masted 28 foot SCHLITZ GLOBE.
Capt. Frietsch had many adventures. When starting this world trip, Frietsch was about 37 years old and lived in Milwaukee with his wife and four children. He was born in Abo, Finland, and was described as “a thoroughly seasoned man of robust physique, in fact, a modern Viking brought up on salt water, and an excellent navigator, so that if Norwegian grit counts for anything paddling to the eastward across the pond, he will get there or be picked up paralyzed in the attempt.”
The photo shows the SCHLITZ GLOBE next to the 109 foot BLOOMER GIRL here in Milwaukee on September 1, 1896. Not exactly July 4th. The BLOOMER GIRL towed the GLOBE into the harbor so she could start her world trip – first stop Racine.
This is an interesting story of a man and his dream to sail around the world. It is so well told through updates in the Marine Record that I will let the Record tell the story.
March 19, 1896
“CAPT. FRIETSCH’S NEW BOAT
“Capt. Adolph Frietsch will sail around the world in a 28 foot boat which he will call the SCHLITZ GLOBE, after a well know advertising device by that Brewery. In consideration of the advertisement the Schlitz company will defray the expense of fitting out the expedition. Capt. Frietsch will build his boat on a piece of land on the lake front, near the water works, owned by A. A. Hathaway, and will charge a small admission fee. He will make the trip alone and will take some samples of beer with him. He will make the start about July 4, and after crossing the Isthmus of Panama will strike out for Japan via the Sandwich islands. “
April 9, 1896
“Capt. Adolph Frietsch of Milwaukee, is making fair progress with his boat, the SCHLITZ GLOBE with which he expects to sail around the world. The bottom, which is already completed, is constructed of white oak plank two and a half inches in thickness and fastened with 300 carriage bolts half an inch in diameter. “I have agreed,” says Capt. Frietsch, “to construct the hull with my own hands, all but the painting and finishing, and the report that the Schlitz Brewing company has engaged carpenters to help me is entirely wrong. The SCHLITZ GLOBE will undoubtedly be the strongest boat of her size ever constructed. I will have her ready for the painters by the latter part of May.”
July 2, 1896
“Capt. Adolph Freitsch announces that he will start from Milwaukee this month on his tour around the world in his new yacht, the SCHLITZ GLOBE, which is only 34 feet long over all. The boat was built by Captain Frietsch himself, at a cost of about $1,000. He will go alone in her. “
September 3, 1896
“SCHLITZ GLOBE – Capt. Adolph Frietsch, who sailed across the ocean in the little 47-foot NINA, has built at Milwaukee a little schooner rigged boat, 28 feet long, named the SCHLITZ GLOBE, in which he expects to sail around the world, covering in the space of four years, some 40,000 miles on Lake Michigan, the Mississippi River, Gulf of Mexico, Pacific, Indian and Atlantic Oceans and the Mediterranean Sea.
“The GLOBE was launched last week at Milwaukee, and is substantially built of white oak and cypress. She is flat-bottomed and sharp at both ends, with a 6 x 6 foot center board. She has two masts, 26 and 30 feet high, and a jib-boom 8 feet long. The cabin is finished in oak and measures 6 x 12 feet. The boat cost about $1,200 and is put together to stay through all kinds of weather and to stand the strain of being taken inland for exhibition purposes. An admission fee of ten cents was charged to witness the launch. Capt. Frietsch was in her when she slid down the ways. He will make the voyage unaccompanied. “
September 10, 1896
“Capt. Adolph Frietsch has started on his trip around the world in the SCHLITZ GLOBE. His voyage from Milwaukee to Racine was a very stormy one, and a few guests whom he carried with him were very badly frightened. “
December 17, 1896
“ABANDONED THE CRUISE
“Capt. Adolph Frietsch has given up the voyage around the world which he was to undertake in the small sailboat named the SCHLITZ GLOBE. Instead, he will start by rail for San Francis about Dec. 28, with the intention of building a new vessel for a voyage to Honolulu.
“With the SCHLITZ GLOBE which he built in Milwaukee last summer and which afterwards was rebuilt at Racine, he went as far as La Salle, Ill., where the boat is now wintering. Capt. Frietsch had towed the vessel through the canal and reached Peru about the time cold weather set in. He asked the company to defray the expenses of towing the boat to Peoria, whence the Mississippi river could be easily reached. The price of towing the SCHLITZ GLOBE that distance was fixed at $25, which the Schlitz Brewing Company refused to pay, on the ground that, according to contract, it was not liable for such expenses. At LaSalle the vessel is icebound and it will have to remain there all winter, during which time the Schlitz Brewing Company, had the contract remained in force, would have to pay $50 a month to the family of Capt. Frietsch.
“Capt. Frietsch said that he would refuse to resume the trip. So far he had not been able to make expenses. The people in the towns which he had passed took no interest in his plans. He sold copies of a narrative of his voyage in the NINA, furnished by the Schlitz Brewing Company, at a rate of 10 cents a copy, but did not sell enough to satisfy him. “
July 22, 1897
“The little schooner SCHLITZ GLOBE, in which Adolph Fritsche was to sail around the world, cleared from Chicago for Racine this week. The GLOBE has been at the entrance to the canal ever since last November. Her cargo of beer, on which the natives of strange climes were to be regaled, has disappeared among the denizens of Bridgeport, and now the whole trip is abandoned. Fritsche sailed the little NINA across the Atlantic, but for some cause weakened when it came to taking the GLOBE around the world.”
One has to wonder, if the beer was still there, would the trip have continued?
Suzette Lopez Photo credit: Great Lakes Marine Collection of the Milwaukee Public Library and Wisconsin Marine Historical Society
