Three ships wrecked off St. Francis coast

Three 19th-century Great Lakes sailing ships, the Boston, the Sebastopol, and the Alleghany, had two things in common. All three were shipwrecked off the shore of St. Francis, Wis., and all three were shipwrecked as a result of an inadequate Milwaukee harbor.

Milwaukee’s original harbor (located about a half-mile south of the present-day harbor) had a shallow harbor entrance, which kept larger ships from entering the inner harbor. These larger ships were forced to anchor outside the harbor entrance at extended piers to unload their goods. Without the protection of the inner harbor during fierce lake storms, many of the ships risked great damage or destruction. Also, due to inadequate navigational lighting, ship captains found it difficult to find the harbor at night, especially during a storm, resulting in ships running aground. Between 1846 and 1855, the three previously mentioned sailing ships were doomed because of these inadequacies.

Fate of the Boston

The side-wheel steamship Boston was built in 1845 and measured 210 feet in length. On Nov. 24, 1846, the Boston arrived in Milwaukee from Buffalo, N.Y., but was unable to enter the inner harbor due to the shallowness of the harbor mouth. The ship instead docked at the extended pier to discharge its cargo. At around 8pm that evening a horrific storm came out of the northeast. Seeking safety, Captain William T. Pease again attempted to take the ship through the harbor mouth into the inner harbor, but the Boston was caught by the powerful gale and lost its smoke stacks, rendering the engines useless.

Anchors were lowered, in hopes of riding out the storm, but the strong winds dragged the Boston southward and around 11pm the ship struck bottom about 150 feet off the shore of the present-day St. Francis Seminary in St. Francis. Help arrived and all the crew and passengers were rescued. The surf broke over the ship, which filled with water. The remaining smoke stack hung limply over the side. An organ destined for an Episcopal church was rescued, as well as cabin doors and panel work, and the vessel’s engine.

Sebastopol Doomed

On Sept. 12, 1855, the side-wheel steamship Sebastopol left Boston for Milwaukee with a crew of 33 and 60 passengers. The newly built ship measured 234 feet long. The 600 tons of cargo, worth $100,000, included copper, tin, lead and iron ingots, safes, and 50 horses. The Sebastopol arrived near the Milwaukee harbor during a severe northeastern storm. Captain Thomas Watts sailed toward what he thought were lights on the harbor pier but in all likelihood were the lights of a another ship or the lights of the houses on the bluff. The Sebastopol traveled off course three miles south of the harbor and struck bottom 200 feet off the shore of the present-day St. Mary’s Academy in St. Francis.

Sebastopol crewmembers set out in a lifeboat, but it capsized and three were drowned. A government lifeboat rescued crew and passengers, including Captain Watts’ wife and four children. Seven or eight of the horses were saved, with some survivors reaching the shore on horseback. Valued at $1,000 each, more horses could have been saved but it was impossible to get them to jump in the water, according to the Milwaukee Sentinel.

The bodies of the three crewmembers, James Clark, Frank (last name unknown), and Morris Berry were recovered from the lake. “I have had all three of the bodies taken to the Lake Protestant Cemetery [in St. Francis] and decently buried side by side,” said Justice of the Peace Jared Thompson in a Milwaukee Sentinel editorial. Three more bodies were later recovered. Cargo was strewn across the beach and at the bottom of the lake. (Divers rediscovered the shipwreck in the 1970s in 15 feet of water near E. Oklahoma Avenue and salvaged items including pewter tableware, ironstone dishes, and a brass belt.)

Last Gasp of the Alleghany

On the evening of Oct. 20, 1855, during a heavy northeastern storm, the propeller ship Alleghany approached the Milwaukee harbor. The 177-foot ship was built in 1849. Captain Asa S. Curtiss saw no light on the harbor piers and ended up anchoring north of the harbor. Due to the intense storm, the anchor did not hold. The ship lost its smoke pipe, was dragged to the southwest, and struck bottom about 100 feet from the lakeshore of the present-day St. Francis Seminary. A local newspaper reported that various articles of cargo were thrown in the water, “forming a sort of bridge from the boat to the shore, on which the women and children were carried.” All 30 passengers survived.

In 1848, the Wisconsin Legislature passed a law allowing Milwaukee to levy a tax to pay for the construction a new harbor entrance. By 1857, a new, safer harbor entrance opened (known as the straight-cut) just north of the original harbor.

19th-century Ships of the Great Lakes

Schooners, side-wheel steamships, and propeller steamships sailed the Great Lakes during the 19th century. These commercial vessels moved cargo and passengers between the Great Lakes ports. Schooners were big sailboats powered by the wind and had two or more masts. Side-wheel steamships had locomotive-type boilers that were fueled by coal and wood. The boilers created steam that turned the ship’s side paddlewheels. Propeller steamships also had boilers that provided steam power that turned the submerged propellers. All three types of shipping vessels continued to be used on the Great Lakes well into the 20th century.

Other 1846-55 Shipwrecks off Milwaukee County’s Lake Shore

• C. C. Trowbridge, side-wheel steamer, 1842
• Badger, side-wheel steamer, 1837
• Bolivar, schooner, 1847
• Nile, side-wheel steamer, 1850
• Buckeye State, schooner, 1852
• Active, schooner, 1855
• J. Steinhart, schooner, 1855
• John F. Porter, schooner, 1855
• Orleans, brig,1855

Source: maritimetrails.org

**There are no known drawings or period images of the Boston, Sebastopol, or Alleghany. Shown below are some period steam-powered vessels that would have plied the Great Lakes. Click to enlarge.

Copyright 2011 by Bay View Compass. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.