By Suzette Lopez
On May 3, 1936, three adventurous men sailed out of Milwaukee to salvage a cargo of anywhere from 220 – 350 barrels of whiskey and wine that went down on the WESTMORELAND in 1854 off the Manitou Islands. The WESTMORELAND was also rumored to have had anywhere from $40,000 to $100,000 in gold on board but little mention of that was covered in the newspaper accounts. The reports of whiskey may have had more enthusiasm since prohibition had just ended a couple years earlier.
Jack Browne, Harry Gilken and William Schoknecht packed several months of provisions on the former lighthouse tender PATRICIA and sailed at dawn. The PATRICIA had been equipped with a seven-ton hoisting boom, an air compressor and an underwater torch apparatus.
Browne, a 19 year old recent graduate of Whitefish Bay High School and an amateur diver with some experience, was the organizer. He had spoken with wholesale liquor dealers who indicated the liquor could go for $50 to $150 per gallon.
Some experts thought the whiskey would be fine. Evidently a lake captain had rescued a cargo of liquor which had been on the bottom since 1812. In that rescue, new hoops were added to the casks before being brought up to the surface. The whiskey was noted to be syrupy and highly palatable. Other experts said the rolling from storms in the area most likely had caused leakage and there would be nothing but lake water in the barrels.
The adventure had begun even if the exact location of the WESTMORELAND was unknown. She had sought the shelter of South Manitou during a blizzard, how hard could it be to find.
By the start of July, an empty 2,000 pound safe from the ROBERT L. FROST was the only treasure for two months of searching. Within a few days, excitement was felt when Browne found an 1851 copper coin in a crack of a 16 inch timber. He put the coin in his glove and surfaced. At this wreck site parts of the ship were strewn over the bottom of the bay and buried in the sand. His partners thought it to be the WESTMORELAND but Browne did not think it so. Browne reported the water was so cold at that depth that searchers could only remain a few minutes and little could be seen “because of fog on the diving helmet view plates.”
A summer adventure was had.
The WESTMORELAND was discovered in July, of 2010, by Ross Richardson at the bottom of Platte Bay, near Traverse City. It did not contain any gold nor whiskey.
Photo at top of page: Crew of the PATRICIA gearing up for their adventure. Left to right – Carl Moore, 503 W. Michigan street, cook; Harry Gilken, 130 E Reservoir Avenue, pilot; Jack Brown 1112 E. Fox Lane, organizer and diver; Bill Schoknecht, radio operator; Capt. Ervin Bork, owner and diver; George W. Browne, business agent, and Pal, mascot, which also dives in a specially built suit.
Photo Credit: Great Lakes Marine Collection of the Milwaukee Public Library and Wisconsin Marine Historical Society.
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Suzette Lopez is the Executive Director of the Wisconsin Marine Historical Society
