By Suzette Lopez
On 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.
It was early evening and the Oranje Line freighter was less than four miles off Milwaukee’s light when she crossed between the tug SINCLAIR CHICAGO and her barge the SINCLAIR XII not noticing the 800 feet of tow line. When the WILLIE hit the tow line she pulled the fully loaded oil barge into her. This collision cause a large hole in the freighter and she sank in 80 feet of water. The officers and crew, 30 in all, were safely rescued by the Coast Guard Cutter HOLLYHOCK. The tug and barge made it to port on their own.
Of course legal actions followed. The Dutch Oranje line filed a two million dollar damage suit against the Sinclair Refining Co. claiming the tug and barge were not properly lighted. The Sinclair Refining Co. filed a $20,000 suit against the Oranje line claiming the tug and barge were properly lighted and even flashed the freighter with their searchlight and blew a series of short blasts on the tug’s whistle.
The coast guard board of investigation found blame for both captains in the collision. There was doubt that the barge had lights, if any, where the captain claimed they were. The towing lights on the tug were neither far enough apart nor in a vertical line as required. The tug did not sound a whistle signal as it should have. The WILLIE had not maintained a proper lookout on the bridge and had failed to make a proper whistle signal to indicate it was changing course to pass astern of the tug.
Several attempts were made to raise the PRINS WILLEM V. If you haven’t heard the stories, you should look into them. They are interesting, amusing and much too long to be mentioned here. Spoiler alert, she is still sitting in 80 feet of water but is a popular dive site partly due to the reasonably shallow depth. Now the water is typically clear as you can see by Cal Kothrade’s photos. This was not the case when she sunk as the bottom was basically muck and visibility was bad. This ship has claimed four divers, the last in 1997.
The PRINS WILLEM V was built in 1948 in the Netherlands for the Oranje Line. She measured 250.5 feet in length and 42.7 feet in beam. She was a St. Lawrence canal size vessel trading regularly between Northern European ports and the Great Lakes. At the time of her loss, she was on her third round trip voyage for the season. The year before she had made four round trip voyages.
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Suzette Lopez is the Executive Director of the Wisconsin Marine Historical Society.
Photo at top of page: Underwater view of the PRINS WILLEM V by Cal Kothrade.
Other photos:
