MOORINGS PLACED AT HISTORIC SHIPWRECKS NEAR MILWAUKEE AND RACINE

 

MILWAUKEE, Wis. (7/9/02) – Thanks to the recent installation of mooring buoys at two shipwrecks off the Village of Shorewood and Racine, Lake Michigan divers are finding it easy to travel back in time.

 

The buoys help divers locate and enjoy two “underwater time capsules,” according to state underwater archaeologist Jeff Gray of the Wisconsin Historical Society. “The Appomattox and the Kate Kelly allow divers to take a trip back to the late 1800s, when schooners and steamers ruled the Great Lakes,” Gray said. 

 

The Appomattox buoy was installed June 6 and the Kate Kelly was installed June 27.  Both projects were completed by WHS archaeologists with assistance from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee WATER Institute. The buoys are part of several initiatives that make up the Wisconsin Maritime Trails program developed by the WHS and the University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute.  Trails in Lake Michigan and Lake Superior will educate divers and non-divers alike about the state’s maritime history by featuring shipwrecks, lighthouses, historic waterfronts and other maritime resources, Gray said.  Shore-side historic markers, visitors' materials, dive guides, a Web site and the shipwreck moorings will be incorporated into the trails. 

 

Funding for the Kate Kelly buoy was provided by the Great Lakes Shipwreck Research Foundation.

 

The Appomattox and the Kate Kelly join a dozen other Wisconsin shipwrecks marked by seasonal buoys.  In Lake Michigan, buoys mark wrecks off Port Washington, the Milwaukee area and around Door County.  Four buoys in the Apostle Islands of Lake Superior also help divers locate popular historic shipwreck dive sites.

 

Anchored to the lakebed, the large white and blue buoys protect the wrecks by allowing dive boats to tie directly to the fixed buoys instead of dragging anchors to locate the wrecks, according to Gray. The line that anchors the buoys also guides divers safely to the wrecks.

 

On November 2, 1905, the Appomattox ran aground off Atwater Beach, five miles north of the lifesaving station in Milwaukee, during a heavy fog. Efforts to tow her into deeper water failed, and the pounding of the seas against the stranded vessel soon rendered her unsalvageable.

 

A 319-foot wooden steamer built by innovative shipbuilder James Davidson in Bay City, Mich., in 1896, the Appomattox carried a variety of bulk cargoes during her career. Today the remains of the vessel are broken and scattered in about 25 feet of water.  The shallow depth and close proximity to shore make the wreck a popular dive site, especially for beginning divers or even snorkelers, Gray said.

 

The schooner Kate Kelly, built in 1867 at Tonawanda, New York, was loaded with hemlock railroad ties when she foundered in a storm two miles off Racine’s Wind Point on May 14, 1895.  The 126-foot, two-masted schooner was bound for Chicago from Masonville, Mich., when the storm came up. The vessel capsized before she sank, taking all six crew members with her.  Broken up and scattered at a moderate depth of 55 feet, the remains of the Kate Kelly provide an excellent first-hand view of mid-nineteenth-century schooner construction for intermediate divers.

 

These are just two of hundreds of submerged archaeological sites that can be visited in Wisconsin.  More than 700 shipwrecks and thousands of other archaeological sites rest in the 22 percent of the state that lies under water, according to Gray. In addition to their historic and archaeological value, many of these sites have tremendous recreational appeal, he said.

 

“Underwater archaeology enables a better understanding of maritime traditions, technology, economics, and culture,” he said.  “The cold, fresh water of the Great Lakes preserves shipwrecks and other artifacts. Visiting and studying wrecks like the Appomattox and Kate Kelly gives us rare opportunities for hands-on exploration of history.”

 

Many of the shipwrecks the WHS has studied are featured on a Web site called Wisconsin’s Great Lakes Shipwrecks.  This site also provides the navigational coordinates for the shipwrecks buoyed as part of the Maritime Trails program. For more information on Wisconsin shipwrecks, call the Wisconsin Historical Society at (608) 271-8172.

 

 

For More Information:

Cathy Green, Wisconsin Maritime Trails Coordinator, (608) 271-8172

John Karl, Science Writer, UW Sea Grant Institute, (608) 263-8621

 

Editors Note: 

Images of the shipwrecks and the buoy installations are available for downloading at http://seagrant.wisc.edu/shipwrecks/AppKelleyImages.htm

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Conceived in 1966, Sea Grant is a national network of 30 university-based programs of research, outreach and education dedicated to the protection and sustainable use of the United States' coastal, ocean and Great Lakes resources. The National Sea Grant Network is a partnership of participating coastal states, private industry and the National Sea Grant College Program , National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration , U.S. Department of Commerce. The University of Wisconsin Sea Grant College Program is administered by the Sea Grant Institute on the UW-Madison campus in Madison, Wisconsin.

 

 

 

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last updated 20 December 2002

http://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/communications/news_releases/2002/KellyApp.html