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Recorded Maritime Accidents, Whitefish Bay, WI and Vicinity

DATE SHIP INCIDENT TYPE LOCATION DESCRIPTION
Dec., 1873 Barge CORMORANT Stranding Fox Point, WI Ship stranded on Fox Point. Got off after jettisoning 5,000 barrels of flour. (HALL)
Oct. 18, 1880 Schooner HUNGARIAN Stranding Whitefish Bay, WI Ship driven onto the rocks by a gale and declared a total loss. (SWAYZE)
Sept. 15, 1881 Schooner D.A. VAN VALKENBURG Stranding Whitefish Bay, WI Ship driven onto the rocks by a gale and demolished. Seven of Eight crew members lost. (SWAYZE)
Apr. 14, 1888 Propeller/Sand Scow JOSEPHINE Sinking Whitefish Bay, WI Ship struck a rock and sunk. Machinery recovered. (SWAYZE)
1898 Scow Schooner DAN HAYES Storm Damage Fox Point, WI Ship sprung a leak during a summer storm. Crew abandoned ship and battled the waves in a small yawl for five hours before coming ashore. HAYES lost all three masts and entire deckload of cargo (bark) but was recovered and survived as a barge. (SHSW)
Dec. 13, 1926 Railroad Carferry PERE MARQUETTE 18 Grounding Fox Point Struck a rock off Fox Point at full speed, resulting in a 48-foot hole torn in her bottom. Ship settled, but was later pumped out and towed to Manitowoc for repairs. (HILTON)
Oct. 22, 1929 Grand Trunk Railroad Carferry MILWAUKEE Sinking Approx. 6 miles east of Whitefish Bay Ship and all hands lost in a gale when freight cars shifted, damaging sea gate. Twenty-one bodies eventually recovered of estimated ship's complement of 53. Worst accident involving a Great Lakes railroad carferry. Ship rests in 130 feet of water. (SWAYZE; HILTON)

Sources: HALL-Capt. J.W. Hall Great Lakes Vessel Accident Database; HILTON-"The Great Lakes Car Ferries" by George W. Hilton; SHSC-State Historical Society of Wisconsin; SWAYZE-David Swayze Great Lakes Shipwreck File;


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