A recent discovery

The latest Wisconsin shipwreck contender for the National Register of Historic Places is a newly discovered wreck in Little Harbor, Sheboygan, Wisconsin. It’s a vessel type called a “launch,” which was prevalent in the state from the 1890s through the 1940s.

According to Wisconsin Historical Society Maritime Archaeologist Tamara Thomsen, “Businesses, families, resorts, even fruit pickers were running around the peninsula, seems like everyone had one of these locally built launches – Sturgeon Bay had a local builder. They were probably flitting everywhere, and here we are just now learning about the breadth, variety and extent of their use!”

The wreck site includes a brass bell, glass windows, a brass propeller and many small personal items inside the boat. The vessel had a gasoline engine — a two-cylinder, two-stroke reversible Straubel Marine Engine produced in Green Bay. Because all of these items remain on the boat, it’s unlikely it was intentionally sunk. Archaeologists are hoping to determine what caused the boat to be abandoned.

One of Thomsen’s volunteers, Zach Whitrock, created a photogrammetry model that is available online: go.wisc.edu/l5knzi.

The archaeology team is working on a National Register of Historic Places nomination for the wreck site, and it will likely go in front of the state committee in November.