NOAA's Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary

This past week WSCNMS Research Coordinator, Caitlin Zant, has been hard at work attending the Society for Historical Archaeology (SHA) Annual Conference in New Orleans, LA!

The conference is one of the largest conferences for underwater archaeology in the country, and features presentations on recent archaeological projects and research, workshops, and the annual meeting of the Advisory Council for Underwater Archaeology!

This year, Caitlin presented on recent research conducted in the sanctuary and upcoming projects!

Check out the new 2025 Manitowoc / Two Rivers Visitor Guide!

So many things to see and do along Wisconsin’s Shipwreck Coast!

Explore Two Rivers Explore Two Rivers promotes tourism as one of the pillars of our local economy.

Happy New Year! Are you up for an evening of Great Lakes and Ocean films on April 4th? Then save the date for this free public event!

The first-ever Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast International Film Festival is being made possible with partners from the International Ocean Film Foundation, Friends of Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary, and National Marine Sanctuary Foundation.

More details to follow!

Hello everyone! Happy Holidays and Happy New Year on another !

It has been another full, shipwreck-filled year, and today we want to send out a huge thank you to everyone for supporting throughout the past TWO years! We hope you’ve enjoyed it and learned something new!

On January 18, will start back up in full force with new wreck histories and site information, including some additional newly located wrecks, historic ports and piers, and historic information on even more of our nearly 60 yet-to-be-located (potential) shipwrecks. So stay tuned with us for Year 3!

Thanks again to everyone for following along, and have a great year-end from everyone here at Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast NMS!

[image descriptions: an archaeologist investigates the schooner ADVANCE (Nick Zachar, NOAA), a diver swimming over the bow of the canal schooner AMERICA (NOAA / WSCNMS), a diver snorkeling on the engine of the steamer CONTINENTAL (NOAA / WSCNMS), a ROV screenshot of the schooner HOME (Hibbard, Inshore), a historic image of the steamer MUSKEGON (C. Patrick Labadie – Thunder Bay Research Collection)]

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year from Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary!
We look forward to another great year of sharing stories and helping protect our region's many historic shipwrecks!
Thanks to everyone for a great year!
____________

[image description: a holiday card featuring a diver in front of an underwater Crawler Crane - the words "Happy Holidays from Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary" are included in the left-hand corners of the card, in red and green text]

Winter is here...so that means getting in a couple pool dives and refreshing emergency oxygen, first aid, and CPR skills for us here at the sanctuary!

It’s Wednesday once again, which means we’re welcoming you back to another ! This week we are featuring the converted tug: ROBERT C. PRINGLE!

ROBERT C. PRINGLE was built as the packet steamer CHEQUAMEGON in 1903 at Manitowoc Shipbuilding in Manitowoc, WI to carry freight on Lake Superior, operating for the Chequamegon Bay Transportation Company between Ashland, WI and the Apostle Islands. Only a year after the vessel was built, Fredrick Pabst (yep, THAT Pabst) purchased the vessel and operated it out of Milwaukee. Until 1908, the vessel was used to transport passengers for day trips between Whitefish Bay Park and Milwaukee, as well as various other ports throughout the Great Lakes region.

In 1911, CHEQUAMEGON’s name was changed to PERE MARQUETTE 7, and the vessel was once again used to carry package freight throughout the region. During this eight-year period, the vessel traveled to many different ports in the upper Great Lakes. By 1918, the vessel was sold once again, this time to the Pringle Barge Line, based in Cleveland, OH, and its name was changed to ROBERT C. PRINGLE. Once owned by the Pringle Line, the vessel’s upper decks were removed, and the vessel was converted into a tug, with a tall forward pilothouse, and a large, open back deck equipped with a large steam winch, used for towing large vessels.

ROBERT C. PRINGE operated in this capacity until June 1922. On June 19, while steaming past Sheboygan with the steamer VENEZULA in tow, ROBERT C. PRINGLE struck an unknown object floating low in the water without warning. The damage to the tug was severe enough that the vessel sank incredibly quickly, however, there was enough time to cut the tow line and transfer all of ROBERT C. PRINGLE’s crew to the steamer VENEZULA.

Today, the vessel sits upright in just over 300 feet of water approximately 8 miles southeast of Sheboygan. The vessel was discovered by avid shipwreck hunter and maritime historian Steve Radovan in 2008. The vessel remains incredibly intact, with its pilot house, cabin structure and steam winch all in place, as well as numerous artifacts within the cabin structure and the vessel’s machinery. In 2019, the site was recorded by Wisconsin Historical Society maritime archaeologists in partnership with an ROV pilot from Crossmon Consulting, LLC. Due to this work, site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2020.

(Historical research and archaeological information compiled by our partners at the Wisconsin Historical Society, Maritime Archaeology and Preservation Program)



[image descriptions: a historic image of ROBERT C. PRINGLE as CHEQUAMEGON near Bayfield, WI (C. Patrick Labadie – Thunder Bay Research Collection), a historic image of ROBERT C. PRINGLE as CHEQUAMEGON while owned by Pabst, in the Milwaukee River (C. Patrick Labadie – Thunder Bay Research Collection), ROBERT C. PRINGLE as PERE MARQUETTE 7, following its conversion to a tug, but before the vessel’s rename (C. Patrick Labadie – Thunder Bay Research Collection), a ROV screenshot of ROBERT C. PRINGLE’s pilot house (Hibbard, Inshore), a ROV screenshot of ROBERT. C. PRINGLE’s fallen smokestack and starboard side hull (Hibbard, Inshore), a ROV screenshot of ROBERT C. PRINGLE's starboard side cabins (Hibbard, Inshore)]

Guess what?! The winners of the 2024 Get Into Your Sanctuary Photo Contest have been announced!! Many amazing scenes from across the National Marine Sanctuary system, and the world, were solidly represented!

The Photo Contest consists of 5 categories: "Sanctuary Life", "Sanctuary Recreation", "Sanctuary Views", "Sanctuaries at Home", and "Sanctuaries Around the World". The top three images submitted in each category are chosen and recognized on the
NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries webpage!

Check out this year’s winning images from each category below. To see other winners and honorable mentions, visit: https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/earthisblue/photo-contest-winners-2024.html

Be sure to keep an eye out for next year's contest announcement! You too could be a winner!

[image descriptions: 1st Place: "Sanctuary Views" - McWay Falls in Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary (Peter Reinold), 1st Place: 'Sanctuary Life" - This arrow crab was posing in front of a Caribbean long spine urchin in Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (Gabriel Jensen), 1st Place: "Sanctuary Recreation" - Camping under the stars in Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (Daniel Eidsmoe), 1st Place: "Sanctuaries at Home" - Front Gardens of Fakarava, French Polynesia (Justin Wallace), 1st Place: "Sanctuaries Around the World" - A freediver enjoys the afternoon rays in the shallows of Swallow's Cave, located in the exquisitely beautiful Vava'u Island group in the Kingdom of Tonga. It is a quiet corner of a pristine marine environment protected under the Vava'u Environmental Protection Association (Dan Shipp)]

Sanctuary staff spent time last night at the Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE) STEM Education Center. This "Collab Lab" workshop was sponsored by LearnDeep Milwaukee and brought middle school teachers and researchers together to discuss classroom programming centered on remotely operated vehicles (ROVs).

Area middle school students are engineering and building some truly remarkable ROVs. We're aiming to get some of the students and their machines into the sanctuary!

Learn more at: https://learndeep.org/connect/

Freshwater Collaborative of Wisconsin

It’s Wednesday and another ! This week we are featuring the converted steamer S.C. BALDWIN!

S.C. BALDWIN was built as a single decked wooden steamer with a rounded stern in 1871 by Campbell, Owen & Company in Detroit, Michigan to carry iron ore from Escanaba, Michigan to Chicago and Milwaukee. After two years in service, a second deck was added to increase the vessel’s carrying capacity. Like many other Great Lakes vessels of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, S.C. BALDWIN went through three separate iterations throughout its life being converted multiple times as a steamer, and finally, into a barge.

After nearly a decade operating as a two-decked steamer, in 1882, S.C. BALDWIN was converted back into a single decked steamer for use in the lumber trade. The vessel continued hauling lumber for another twenty years, until the vessel hit an ice pack in Green Bay and sank in 1903. The buoyant lumber in the vessel’s hold kept S.C. BADLWIN’s bow floating while it’s stern sat on the bottom of the bay. Salvage attempts began a short while later, but the vessel's upper deck structure was knocked off during the initial recovery attempts, and they were unable to refloat the vessel before weather set in. The vessel remained in this position over the winter, which damaged the vessel’s stern and rudder. In April of 1904, the vessel was finally raised and converted to a wooden stone barge with a square stern. The vessel spent the next four years hauling limestone from Sturgeon Bay to Milwaukee, and other ports along the western Lake Michigan shore.

In August 1908, while passing Kewaunee in tow of the tug TORRENT along with a second stone scow, S.C. BALDWIN began taking on water during a sudden storm. Around 3am, the vessel capsized, dumping its cargo of stone, but remained unnoticed by the crew aboard TORRENT until sunrise. As the vessel overturned, two of the three men aboard jumped clear of the vessel, but one crew member remained clinging to the overturned hull. Once the crew on TORRENT realized the situation, they cut the lines to the vessel, and S.C. BALDWIN righted, quickly sinking in 60 feet of water. A month after the sinking, the vessel’s boiler, bilge pump, anchors, and cables were salvaged.

Today S.C. BALDWIN sits upright and broken in 65 feet of water. The vessel’s stem post remains upright, standing 20 feet off the bottom of the lake. Despite being broken, the decking, stanchions, and cargo hatches remain on the site. Sections of the vessel's hull, including the vessel's entire stern, stern deck, and transom, remain intact, but broken from the vessel’s keel. S.C. BALDWIN’s cargo of stone was located by diver Randy Wallander, about 2.5 miles northwest of the main site. In 2015, maritime archaeologists and volunteers from the Wisconsin Historical Society documented the site, and the site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016.

In the summer of 2022, NOAA divers and maritime archaeologists returned to S.C. BALDWIN to conduct observations for monitoring, and in 2023, to collect imagery for a 3D model of the site. This summer, a WSCNMS mooring buoy system was placed at S.C. BALDWIN, helping protect the site from anchor/mooring damage, and providing divers with access to the site!

(Historical research and archaeological information compiled by the Wisconsin Historical Society, Maritime Archaeology and Preservation Program)



[Image descriptions: a historic photo of S.C. BALDWIN as a two-decked steamer (C. Patrick Labadie Collection), a historic image of S.C. BALDWIN as a stone barge (C. Patrick Labadie Collection), an underwater image of a diver swimming over S.C. BALDWIN's stern (WSCNMS / NOAA), a screen shot of S.C. BALDWIN’s 3D model (WSCNMS / NOAA), S.C. BALDWIN's mooring buoy being deployed (WSCNMS)]

Hello everyone and welcome back to ! This week we are featuring the sailing canaller: AMERICA!

AMERICA was launched in May 1873 in Port Huron, MI as a three-masted sailing canaller, designed to operate in the lumber, grain, coal, and iron ore trades throughout the Great Lakes. Like other sailing canallers of this era, AMERICA was built to fit within the confines of the second generation Welland Canal, transporting cargo around Niagara Falls. Measuring 137 feet long and 26 feet wide, with a plumb bow, flat bottom, and sharp turn of the bilge, AMERICA was referred to as an “extreme” canaller, opposed to the earlier constructed “moderate” canaller designs.

AMERICA spent most of its career carrying lumber, grain, iron ore, and coal between ports on lakes Superior and Michigan, and ports on the eastern Great Lakes. On September 28, 1880, while just north of Two Rivers Point (Rawley Point), AMERICA collided with the tow line between two tugs and their stone scows. The tugs M.A. GAGNON and A.W. LAWRENCE were towing two stone barges north of the point, with no towing lights. AMERICA’s bow collided with the leading scow, ripping a large gash into the vessel. AMERCIA quickly began to settle in the water, but the crew was able to reach the vessel’s yawl and escape before the vessel sank. Originally, the plan was to refloat the vessel, however, after two unsuccessful attempts to tow the vessel into shallow water and raise it (in 1880 and 1882), the vessel was abandoned on the lake bottom.

Today, AMERICA lies in 110 feet of water, 9 miles north of Rawley Point. The vessel’s hull is broken at the turn of the bilge, but all of the construction components remain on site, including upright centerboard, un-stepped bowsprit and jibboom, and two of its masts, which sit just off the wreck’s starboard side. The site was documented by the Wisconsin Historical Society, Maritime Preservation and Archaeology Program and volunteers in 2012, with the site listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2013.

In 2022, a team of NOAA divers visited the site to take additional images for monitoring, documentation, and a 3D photographic model. In August 2024, AMERICA was one of the wreck sites to receive a WSCNMS a mooring system to help protect the shipwreck, and to aid divers and boat operators alike!

(Historical research and archaeological information compiled by our partners at the Wisconsin Historical Society, Maritime Archaeology and Preservation Program)



[image descriptions: an underwater image of AMERICA’s bow (NOAA / WSCNMS), an image of AMERICA’s collapsed deck and intact cargo hatch (NOAA / WSCNMS), a diver swimming near AMERICA’s upright centerboard (NOAA / WSCNMS), a drawing of an “extreme canaller” (Louden Wilson), a screenshot of AMERICA's 3D model (WSCNMS / NOAA)]

Explore Two Rivers Two Rivers, WI, City Hall Two Rivers Parks and Recreation Dept. Two Rivers Historical Society Friends of Point Beach State Forest

Are you a current undergraduate student looking to immerse yourself in the world of freshwater research and help solve water-related challenges?? Do you know a current undergraduate student interested in freshwater research?! Well, we have a great opportunity to share with you!!

Freshwater@UW is currently looking for students to apply for their Summer Research Opportunities Program for an incredible mentored research experience! Come work alongside projects related to pollution and environmental contamination, fish and plant ecology, science communication, economics, history, and more!

What’s in it for you:
✅$6,600 stipend, plus housing and travel
✅Hands-on research that prepares you for grad school, research careers, or public service
✅Professional development workshops and a vibrant, collaborative community
✅Research locations include UW-Madison, UW-Milwaukee, UW-La Crosse, UW-Green Bay, UW-Oshkosh, UW-Parkside, UW-Stevens Point and in Manitowoc, WI
✅Program Dates: May 27 - August 2, 2025

The past two summers, we had a fantastic Freshwater@UW summer scholar from UW- Milwaukee, Nick Quaney, join us at the Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast NMS. Nick was based at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum, working with shipwreck artifacts from the sidewheel steamer NIAGARA. Nick was able to work closely with the collections manager at the museum to catalogue, identify, and research a large portion of the nearly 3,000 artifacts from NIAGARA, gaining invaluable hands-on experience.

If shipwrecks and historic artifacts aren’t your thing, that’s ok! If you are interested in anything freshwater related and ready to explore your future in freshwater research, make sure to check out this fantastic program! Freshwater@UW has projects in ecology, chemistry, microbial sciences, history, engineering, and even economics.

No prior research experience? No problem! If you're motivated and eager to learn, we want you to apply! Applications are currently being accepted, now through February 15, 2025! To learn more and apply, visit: https://water.wisc.edu/wateruw-madison-undergraduate-research/

Check out this super interesting article on how all the various National Marine Sanctuaries got their names!!

How NOAA's sanctuaries got their names NOAA’s 17 national marine sanctuaries and two marine national monuments protect some of our nation’s most valuable natural resources and heritage. Their names reflect our history and culture. Here’s how they got their names.

NOAA’s Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary is seeking applicants for eight primary and seven alternate seats on its advisory council. The council ensures public participation in sanctuary management and provides advice to the sanctuary superintendent.

The sanctuary is accepting applications for the following seats: Citizen-at-Large (2 primary and 2 alternate), Diving/Dive Clubs/Archaeology (primary and alternate), Education (primary), Economic Development (primary and alternate), Fishing (alternate), History/Heritage/Public Interpretation (primary), Recreation (primary), Tourism & Marketing (primary and 2 alternate).

The application period opens on Nov. 22. Completed applications are due by Jan. 31, 2025. Applications received or postmarked after Jan.31, 2025 will not be considered. To receive an application or for further information, please contact Russ Green via email at [email protected]; by phone at 989-766-3359; or by mail at Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary, One University Drive, University of Green Bay, Sheboygan Campus, Sheboygan, WI 53081. Applications can also be downloaded from the sanctuary’s website at https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/wisconsin/involved/recruitment.html.

Applicants accepted as members should expect to serve a three-year term. The advisory council consists of 15 primary and alternate members representing a variety of public interest groups. It also includes 12 seats representing other federal and state government agencies.

Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary’s Advisory Council actively recruits for new members and alternates when positions are available. Check our website https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/wisconsin/involved/recruitment.html frequently for updates on how you can help manage Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast’s resources.

Contact: Russ Green, 989-766-3359

[image descriptions: images of past WSCNMS Advisory Council meetings and members (WSCNMS / NOAA)]

Hello and welcome back to another ! This week we are featuring the schooner PATHFINDER!

PATHFINDER was built in 1869 by Campbell, Owen and Company in Detroit, MI as a large, heavily built schooner. Measuring 188 feet in length, PATHFINDER was outfit with a massive, reinforced keelson structure to give the wooden vessel longitudinal strength. The schooner spent much of its career in the Great Lakes grain trade, carrying grain from the upper Great Lakes eastward, and returning with coal from ports on Lake Erie. In 1872, PATHFINDER's hull was further strengthened in order for the vessel to carry the weight of iron ore cargos in addition to cargos of grain and coal. By 1877 the vessel had acquired some damage and underwent major repairs, including receiving a new deck. continuing on in service across the Great Lakes for another nearly 10 years.

After its repairs, PATHFINDER continued to ply the Great Lakes for nearly 10 more years, until November 1886. On November 17, PATHFINDER was being towed around Rawley Point (then Twin Rivers Point) by the steam barge JIM SHERIFFS with a cargo of iron ore when the two vessels were caught in a massive snowstorm. During the storm, PATHFINDER began to ice up, eventually causing its towline to break. Despite several attempts to reconnect the vessel to the steam barge, PATHFINDER was pushed ashore by the waves. The vessel quickly settled into the "quicksand" that surrounds the point. The combination of the vessel's heavy cargo of iron ore and the gelatinous quicksand on Rawley Point, the vessel could not be pulled off. After a few days, the vessel began to break up and it was declared a total loss.

Today, PATHFINDER sits upright and broken in approximately 17 feet of water, off the northern end of Point Beach State Forest. The vessel was discovered by ultralight pilot, Suzze Johnson in 2013, and recorded by the Wisconsin Historical Society's Maritime Preservation Program in 2014, resulting in the site being listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2015. Although the upper hull sections have broken away, PATHFINDER’s bow and heavily reinforced keelson remain intact, along with part of the vessel’s cargo of iron ore. Due to its shallow depth, PATHFINDER can be seen from the water’s surface on calm, clear days.

Last summer, divers and archaeologists from WSCNMS revisited PATHFINDER and documented the site using photogrammetry. The 3D model of the site is available to view on the WSCNMS SketchFab page (link in the comments)! This type of documentation helps archaeologists monitor and manage wreck sites from year to year. In places such as Rawley Point, this is especially important due to the vast changes these sites experience with the shifting sands.

(Historical research and archaeological information compiled by the Wisconsin Historical Society, Maritime Archaeology and Preservation Program)



[image descriptions: an underwater image of an archaeologist documenting PATHFINDER's bow (WSCNMS / NOAA), an underwater image of a diver swimming along PATHFINDER’s hull (WSCNMS / NOAA), an underwater image of PATHFINDER's bow (WSCNMS / NOAA), a screen shot of PATHFINDER’s 3D model (WSCNMS / NOAA), a screen shot of PATHFINDER's entry on the Lake Michigan State Water Trail (WI DNR)]

Last Thursday, the WSCNMS Advisory Council met for its eleventh meeting at Two Rivers City Hall in Two Rivers!

Highlights included Two Rivers city updates, committee reports and discussions, and a sanctuary update, along with fantastic presentations from Joe Metzen (Explore Two Rivers Tourism Director), Mike Mathis (Director of Two Rivers Parks and Recreation), and Greg Buckley (Two Rivers City Manager) featuring local updates and current projects! It was a fascinating meeting!

Thanks to everyone who attended! The next WSCNMS Advisory Council meeting is Thursday, Jan. 23 in Manitowoc! As always, the public is welcome and encouraged to attend!

To find out how you can become involved with the Advisory Council, or the Sanctuary itself, visit: https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/wisconsin/involved/

[image descriptions: images of the WSCNMS Advisory Council meeting and presentations in Two Rivers (WSCNMS / NOAA)]

Tonight is the night! Our next sanctuary Advisory Council Meeting is being held TONIGHT (November 21) at 6pm at City Hall in Two Rivers!

If you want to know more about what the Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast NMS and our community partners, come join us!

The Advisory Council currently meets every other month in one of the four communities along the coast, and tonight’s meeting (Thursday, November 21) is being held at the Two Rivers City Hall Council Chambers (1717 E Park Street, Two Rivers, WI) at 6pm. Members of the public are welcome and encouraged to attend!

Come hear about regular council business, working group updates, and community updates from Joe Metzen (Explore Two Rivers Tourism Director), Mike Mathis (Director of Two Rivers Parks and Recreation), and Greg Buckley (Two Rivers City Manager)!

A public comment period will open at approximately 7:50 p.m. Come one and all! Coffee and snacks will be provided.

Hopefully we'll see you tonight!

[image descriptions: three images of the WSCNMS Advisory Council’s past meetings (WSCNMS / NOAA)]

Welcome back to another ! It is that time of year: today, only a few days before the 112th anniversary of its sinking, we are featuring one of Wisconsin’s most well-known shipwrecks: ROUSE SIMMONS (aka: The Christmas Tree Ship)!

ROUSE SIMMONS was built in Milwaukee in 1868, as a double centerboard schooner – a rare Great Lakes vessel type. Named after one of its original financers, Rouse Simmons (founder of the Simmons Mattress Company of Kenosha), ROUSE SIMMONS had an extensive career as a lumber schooner, carrying lumber across Lake Michigan for 42 years for various owners.

After serving in the lumber industry for over 40 years, in 1910, a share of ROUSE SIMMONS was purchased by Herman Schuenemann in, who was known for investing in ships to carry evergreen trees from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to Chicago each November. Scheunemann would sell these trees from the deck of the schooners, decking the vessels out with garland and electric lights for a Christmas ambiance. Schuenemann used ROUSE SIMMONS to carry trees in this way from 1910 to the vessel’s sinking in 1912.

On November 23, 1912, at 2:00PM, the Ann Arbor No. 5 sighted a schooner, believed to be ROUSE SIMMONS, north of Kewaunee, about five miles offshore. The schooner was flying a heavily reduced rig: only a staysail, a jib, and a reefed foresail, and it was laboring in the waves, but displayed no distress signals. At 2:50PM, the Kewaunee Life-Saving Station’s lookout spotted the schooner, about five to six miles southeast of the station, flying an inverted ensign (American flag) at half-mast, an accepted distress signal.

Seeing this, the Kewaunee Lifesaving Station called the Two Rivers station to let them know a vessel in trouble was headed their way. The Two Rivers Lifesaving station crew used their powered surfboat to render assistance; however, by the time it rounded the point north of Two Rivers, and could see almost to Kewaunee, no vessel was spotted. The crew made a large circle in search of a vessel or debris, motoring an hour north, an hour into the lake, and an hour south before the wind started picking up and a snowstorm began, never sighting the vessel. In the years following the vessel’s loss, various pieces of debris would wash ashore, or were brought up in fishing nets, including Herman Scheunemann’s wallet, confirming the vessel did sink in the area. The wreck site of ROUSE SIMMONS remained unknown until its discovery in 1971 by Milwaukee shipwreck hunter Kent Bellrichard.

Today, ROUSE SIMMONS sits upright in 165 feet of water, just north of Rawley Point, with much of its deck planking gone and cabin gone. A large depression sits around ROUSE SIMMON’s hull, with its bow embedded in the sand. Additionally, all of the vessel’s rigging was thrown forward, indicating a violent collision with the lake bottom.

Evidence discovered by archaeologists around the vessel’s windlass indicates that the crew had been attempting to set anchor just before the sinking. Despite the deep water, the crew may have hoped to use one of the anchors as a sea anchor, to hold the vessel’s position into the wind. In the hold, Christmas trees can still be seen stacked inside. The vessel was documented by the Wisconsin Historical Society, Maritime Preservation and Archaeology program in 2006, which resulted in the vessel being listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.

This summer, a WSCNMS mooring buoy system was placed at the ROUSE SIMMONS site, helping protect the site from anchor/mooring damage, and providing divers with access to the site!

(Historical research and archaeological information compiled by our partners at the Wisconsin Historical Society, Maritime Archaeology and Preservation Program)



[image descriptions: historic image of ROUSE SIMMONS (Wisconsin Maritime Museum), image of ROUSE SIMMONS docked in the Chicago River, selling Christmas Trees (C. Patrick Labadie Collection), image of ROUSE SIMMONS taken via ROV during the mooring system installation (WSCNMS), multibeam sonar image of ROUSE SIMMONS (NOAA / WSCNMS), image of the recent mooring buoy system placed at the ROUSE SIMMONS site (WSCNMS)]