On this day August 17, 1872, the three-masted schooner ALICE B. NORRIS was launched in Milwaukee by the Wolf & Davidson Shipyard. Built for John & Andrew M. Joys, Jack Saveland, and Alice B. & Charles W. Norris all of Milwaukee, she measured 189.8 feet in length, 33 feet in beam and 13.2 feet in draft. Her carrying capacity was about 40,000 bushels of wheat and her cost was around $45,000. Capt. John Joys was named her master.
The launch took place on a Saturday afternoon around 4 o’clock with a gathered crowd of several hundred people. There were some fifty special guests on board for the event. The signal was given, the ropes were cut, and the beautiful new schooner gracefully glided into the water. Once she hit the water, a flag blew out in the breeze bearing the name ALICE B. NORRIS. A loud cheer was heard from the crowd. Then immediately after, a second flag unfurled bearing the names of Grant and Wilson which brought a vigorous cheer from the crowd.
In 1872, the presidential election was held on November 5th. The incumbent president Ulysses S. Grant and running mate Henry Wilson ran against Horace Greeley and won. Grant carried Wisconsin. Horace Greeley died shortly after the election and his electoral votes were divided between five other candidates. Some of you may remember the On This Day article about the schooner JAMES MOWATT built in 1884, also by Wolf & Davidson, had carried a Blaine and Logan flag on its launching. It would seem, ship flags were the precursor to lawn signs.
The Great Lakes News of June 1933 made mention that in the office of John Joys, of Milwaukee ship chandlers Joys Brothers, hung a painting of the “famous schooner ALICE B. NORRIS” which had been bought and commanded by his father when she was new. I believe that is the painting of which we have these photographs.
According to Herman Runge, in the early days the NORRIS sailed in the grain, ore and coal trade. Around 1897 she became a barge and was rebuilt in 1900 to a two masted tow barge for the Edward Hines Lumber Company of Chicago and later was owned by Capt. J. L. Larsen of Green Bay, Wis., around 1925. The NORRIS was reported abandoned in the Merchant Vessels of US in 1927. Herman saw her in the bone yard at Sturgeon Bay in May of 1932 and soon afterwards she was taken to Big Summer Island with the str. GEORGIA and schooner barge R. L. FRYER. All three were used as docks there, being filled with stone.
Suzette Lopez
Photo Credit: Great Lakes Marine Collection of the Milwaukee Public Library and Wisconsin Marine Historical Society.
