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History of the Birmingham Site Vessels
Preliminary historical research suggests that the three sunken
vessels on Sturgeon Bay's eastern shore, near what was probably once
the Sturgeon Bay Stone Company's east dock and today is adjacent to
Birmingham's Cottages, are the Dan Hayes. Cleveland, and J. S. Williams
(formerly the Phoenix). One of the goals
of the Birmingham Site project is to accurately identify these vessels
and determine their relationship to one of several historic quarries
in Sturgeon Bay.
| View completed drawings of
the Dan Hayes, last year's project shipwreck.
Site
Plan and the Cross
Section.
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The
scow schooner Dan Hayes
From the Jim
Jetzer Collection
Courtesy of the Sheboygan Falls Historical Resource Center |
Dan Hayes
Built in 1868 by R. Hayes of Fairport, Ohio, the scow
schooner Dan Hayes (U.S. Registry 35041) was first owned by
Hayes and Fountain, also of Fairport. The vessel was 112 feet in
length and 24.16 feet in beam, with a 7-foot depth of hold. Originally
three-masted, the Dan Hayes had a gross tonnage of 145.96 tons. Her
first enrollment was issued at Cleveland Ohio April 28th 1868. During
its early career the vessel operated chiefly in the lumber trade and
often visited the port of Milwaukee. Today, the wreck represents a
rare example of Great Lakes scow schooner construction. For
a look at the Dan Hayes' construction
On 3 August 1898, while en route from Manistee to Milwaukee with a
load of bark, the Hayes was caught in an unexpected summer storm and
suffered the worst damage of its sailing career. The vessel eventually
sprung a leak just north of Milwaukee and became
"waterlogged" (partially submerged, but still afloat).
According to the Detroit Free Press, Captain Ole Oleson and the
vessel's three crewmen abandoned the leaking vessel and spent five
hours battling the sea in a small yawl before coming ashore. The Hayes,
finally towed into Milwaukee by the tug Simpson, lost all three masts
and its entire deck load of bark. Sustaining about $1,000 in damages,
the Hayes' active sailing career effectively came to an end as
a result of the accident.
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The
Dan Hayes under sail. Note the distinctive rafee style
topsail on the foremast
Courtesy of the
Manistee County Museum |
In fall 1899, Sturgeon Bay's Graef and Nebel Stone Quarry purchased
the vessel and put down $50 to bind the sale. With the value of vessel
property on the rise, however, the Hayes' owner tried backing
out of the sale. The deal was further complicated after the Milwaukee
Tugboat line, hearing of this sale and still owed for towing services,
filed suit. By virtue of an order of the United States district court
dated May 12th 1900 the scow Dan Hayes was sold by the United
States Marshal on 18 May to satisfy that claim. Graef and Nebel
finally purchased the aging Dan Hayes at a "Marshal"
sale, paying only $226 for the dismasted schooner.
After a thorough overhauling, including a new bow and planking, the
vessel was put into the stone trade as a barge. Demonstrating the
hazards of using older vessels as barges, the Hayes seems to
have spent in inordinate amount of time being recaulked to prevent
small leaks from sinking the vessel out of sight. In the spring of
1903, the Hayes was in the employ of the newly formed Sturgeon
Bay Stone Company, of which Graef and Nebel were founders and
co-owners.
On 3 August 1904, while waiting to be picked up by the tug Duncan
City, the fully loaded Dan Hayes began to leak so badly that
she had to be shoved up on shore to prevent her from sinking
completely. Unwilling to repair her yet again, the Sturgeon Bay Stone
Company allowed her to remain on the bottom. Exactly six years after
the storm that effectively ended her sailing career, the Dan Hayes
came finally to rest in the shallow Sturgeon Bay's shallow water.
Captain Isabell, a diver and salvor, considered raising the vessel to
carry sugar beets from Door County to Menominee, although the attempt
was never made.
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The
passenger steamer Cleveland early in its career
Courtesy of the
Dossin Great Lakes Museum, Detroit |
City of Cleveland
Built in 1860 in Cleveland, Ohio, by the firm of Quayle and
Martin, the steamer Cleveland (U. S. Registry 4376) was first
owned by the Northern Transit Company. Driven by a propeller rather
than twin side wheels, the vessel was 136 feet in length, 25.80 feet
in beam, with an 11.47-foot depth of hold. She had a single deck, one
mast, a plain head and a round stern. The Cleveland's fourth
enrollment, issued 26 April 1865 in the Cleveland District, reveals
major structural changes. Her gross tonnage increased from 375 tons to
461.82 gross tons, and a second deck was added and the stern made
square. Research continues regarding the Cleveland's original
engine, though her second engine was a high-pressure single cylinder
type, built by Cuyahoga Iron Works in 1868. The engine had a piston
diameter of 25 inches and a stroke of 30 inches.
The unlucky steamer had several accidents during her career, the
most severe being a collision with the bark Maria Martin in July of
1866, which sank the steamer. At the time of the accident the Cleveland
was valued at $18,000 and held an insurance rating of A2. The stricken
vessel was eventually raised and put back into service, only to be
rammed two years later by the schooner Phalarope. The jib-boom of the
schooner was reportedly driven through the steamer's bulwark and
deck-cabin, causing significant damage. The Cleveland was
modified in 1881, resulting in the removal of one deck and a reduction
to 286.27 gross tons.
The Cleveland changed ownership many times throughout her
43-year career, demonstrating the well-built vessel's changing
utility. At various times the steamer was enrolled in Ohio, Michigan,
New York, and Michigan. In 1899, while valued at $6,000 with a B1
insurance rating, the vessel was purchased by William Mueller. In
August 1900, the steamer once considered "one of the finest
freighters on the Lakes", was deemed unfit for service and her
hull condemned by the local inspector of steamboats as "unseaworthy."
Captain James Sanford later purchased the condemned craft. The
steamer's engine and boiler were removed and installed in the schooner
barge S. M. Stephenson, which used the engine for only a season or
two. The Stephenson did, however, keep the Cleveland's 8.5-foot
by 13-foot boiler. Captain Sanford planned to convert the Cleveland
to a barge and use her as a consort for the Stephenson. A thorough
hull inspection proved this infeasible, however.
In November 1901, Sturgeon Bay's Graef and Nebel stone quarry
purchased the aging Cleveland, then sunk at the Reynolds's slip
in Manitowoc, from the Chicago firm of Sanford and McMillian. The hulk
was raised and towed to the Leathem & Smith shipyard in Sturgeon
Bay, where the following winter her bulwarks were removed in
preparation to use her as a crib. In June 1902, the well-worn vessel
was finally sunk to extend the stone company's dock on the east side
of Sturgeon Bay.
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This
vessel may be the Phoenix, though some sources have
identified it as the schooner Penokee
Courtesy of the
Milwakee Public Library |
J.S. Williams (ex-Phoenix)
The scow schooner J.S. Williams began her career as the
Phoenix (U.S. Registry 20224). Built in 1868 by L.Reed in Henderson,
New York, she was 121.4 feet in length, 26.1 feet in beam, with a 8.2
foot depth of hold and a gross tonnage measurement of 211-78/95 tons
(Old Measure). The Phoenix typified many of the Great Lakes
schooners built after the Civil War, carrying new settlers and
supplies to towns and villages springing up along the shores of the
Great Lakes. As steamers and rail travel became more prevalent and
affordable, schooners were utilized to carry bulk goods, especially
timber, in Wisconsin. The three-masted schooner Phoenix sailed
Lake Michigan engaged in this trade until the turn of the twentieth
century.
The Phoenix made headlines in late November 1887 when she
was struck by the "wild" barge Melbourne, while
anchored off Chicago's waterfront. It was 1:00 a.m. and blowing a gale
when the Melbourne collided with the schooner. Loaded with
200,000 board feet of lumber, the Phoenix quickly became
waterlogged as water poured through the gaping hole in her port bow.
In the early morning darkness, stifled by gale force winds, the
schooner's crew fired guns and burnt torches in an unsuccessful
attempt to alert a passing tug. The crew remained with the stricken
vessel until daylight, eventually abandoning her and making it to
shore in the ship's boat amidst heavy seas. Sustaining $5,000 in
damage, the schooner was repaired and returned to service.
By 1895, the schooner Phoenix was in Manitowoc, Wisconsin
being converted into a tow barge for the Pankratz Lumber Company. At
this time she was re-christened J S Williams, after a Manitowoc
man of the same name. Employed chiefly in the lumber trade, the barge
was towed behind the Pankratz Company's tug and charted occasionally
to haul stone for Sturgeon Bay's Laurie quarry. The Williams'
career was apparently typical, save for one gruesome reminder of how
dangerous barge work could be, when barge hand Albert Williams was
crushed to death after freeing an anchor that had become fouled in a
tow line.
In 1899, Sturgeon Bay's Leathem and Smith shipyard purchased the
aging J S Williams, then lying idle in a few feet of water at
the Washington Stone Company's waterfront. The vessel was repaired,
only to sink again during the fall of the same year. The barge was
raised and repaired in May 1901, but shortly sank again in shallow
water with a partial cargo of stone, just south of the Leathem and
Smith shipyard. The Graef and Nebel quarry purchased the barge in
1902, which, along with the Cleveland, was sunk as a crib at
the company's dock on the east side of Sturgeon Bay in 1902. Spanning
four decades, the career of the J S Williams vividly
illustrates the industrious nature of the Great Lakes shipping
industry.
History of the Schooner Lumberman
Built in July 1862 at Blendons Landing, Michigan by the A.C.
Litchfield Shipyard, the schooner Lumberman began its final
journey at the port of Chicago. Departing for her first trip of the
season, the schooner intended to pick up a load of lumber from
Kewaunee, Wisconsin. On April 7th, 1893, just south of Milwaukee,
winds from a sudden storm overpowered and capsized the 126-foot Lumberman.
The vessel immediately began filling with water and soon began to
sink.
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| The main
deck of the schooner Lumberman |
Below decks during the unexpected squall, the captain and two crew
members barely escaped. The crew was able to quickly climb the
rigging; however, the captain became tangled in the rigging and began
to go down with the vessel. Captain Voss finally managed to free
himself from the sinking vessel and swam to the surface. The passing
steamer Menominee spotted the Lumberman's masts sticking
out of the water. As the steamer drew closer, the Menominee's
crew saw the stricken schooner's captain and crew clinging to the
rigging. After enduring for over three hours in the cross-trees, the Lumberman
crew was rescued and brought to Milwaukee. Initially, the owners
wanted to recover the sunken schooner, though the cost of recovery
outweighed the vessel's value. A hazard to navigation, the protruding
masts that had saved the crew were later removed from the sunken
vessel.
Over the years the location of the Lumberman wreck was lost.
The sunken vessel was finally relocated in 1983 by a group of Illinois
divers. Today, the Lumberman remains one of the best examples
of Great Lakes schooner construction in lower Lake Michigan. Resting
in 60 feet of water, the schooner sits upright and is relatively
intact.
Sources:
- Door County Advocate
- Creviere, Paul Jr. Wild Gales and Tattered Sails (Paul
Creviere Jr., 1997).
- Frederickson, Arthur C. and Lucy F. Ships and Shipwrecks in Door
County, Wisconsin, Volumes I and II. Reprint (Appleton: Clark
Willick, 1986).
- Rowe, Alan. Hollow Pits and Sunken Ships: The Story of
Wisconsin's Forgotten Stone Fleet (Milwaukee: Alan Rowe, 1979).
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