8 Wisconsin’s Underwater Heritage December 2002 Coming Events Feb. 22, 2003 Great Lakes Shipwreck Film Festival. Sponsored by the Ford Seahorses, Ford Performing Arts Center, Dearborn, MI. For information check their web site at www.fordseahorses.org. March 15-16, 2003 Ghost Ships Festival. Milwaukee, WI. For information contact Brendon Baillod, [email protected] or check their website, www.ghost-ships.org. April 12, 2003 Wisconsin Underwater Archeology Association Spring Meeting. Manitowoc, WI. For information contact P. J. Creviere at 920-337-0270 or [email protected]. April 25-27, 2003 Our World Underwater. Rosemont, Il. For information check their web site at www.ou rworldunderwater.com or email to [email protected]. June 7-15, 2003 Door County Shipwreck Survey. WUAA will be mapping various sites in the Bailey’s Harbor area. For details contact Russ Leitz, 715-258-2935 or [email protected]. Wisconsin Underwater Archeological Association P.O. Box 6081 Madison, WI 53716 For those interested in the study and preservation of Wisconsin’s underwater history and cultural resources. Wisconsin’s UNDERWATER HERITAGE Vol.12 No. 4 A publication of the Wisconsin Underwater Archeology Association December 2002 Collision at Sea: The Loss Of The Schooner Daniel Lyons by Dr. Richard Boyd and Janet Defnet An old marine maxim warns: “A fire famous Goble Shipyards in Oswego, 20,000 bushels of wheat consigned art sea can ruin your whole day”. New York, and was owned by to J. B. Griffin and Company in Black No doubt the same could be said for George Goble and Dan Lyons, both Rock (Buffalo), New York. Riding a a collision at sea on any given night. prominent businessmen in that city. fresh west wind, the vessel made an In the hey-day of the sailing ship, The Goble Shipyard produced dozens effortless trip northward and by pre- any abrupt and unscheduled noctur- of lake boats over a 40-year period, dawn Friday was passing the Lake nal meeting of two vessels usually several of which are now popular Michigan port of Algoma, Wisconsin, resulted in a marine disaster, and shipwreck dive sites, including the then known as Ahnapee. It was a such was the case with the schooner Lyons. In 1873, Goble and his ship- crisp fall night and the lake surface Daniel Lyons in the 1870’s. building partner, James Macfarlane, glistened with bright moonlight The Lyons (also listed in some coincidently constructed three nearly as the schooner glided northward reports as the Daniel Lyon) was identical schooners, namely the Sam with first mate Owen Madden at very much the typical three-masted Cook, Atlanta and Daniel Lyons. the helm. The wind shifted slightly Great Lakes schooner: she measured The first five years of the Lyons’ to the northwest, so Madden began 138 feet long with a 26-foot beam, career were tediously uneventful tacking north by east along the Door 11-foot draft and a gross weight of until October 17, 1878. On that fate- County coastline. 318 tons. The vessel, official regis- ful Thursday morning, the Lyons Eventually a set of running lights try number 6780, was built by the departed Chicago about 1 am with appeared in the distance about a mile away. Both red and green col- ors were readily visible through the clear night, so a ship was obvi- ously approaching directly from the northeast. This turned out to be another schooner, the Kate Gillett, carrying a cargo of fence posts from Cedar River, Michigan. She belonged to J. V. Taylor of Taylor, Bush and Company and was bound for Chicago. continued on page 4 A flotilla of schooners in Sarnia Harbor about 1873. The two-masted vessel anchored above the docked steamer Sarnia is the West Side, a product of the Goble Shipyards which is typical of the two and three masted canal schooners built there. Great Lakes Marine Collection of the Milwaukee Public Library/Wisconsin Marine Historical Society. 2 Wisconsin’s Underwater Heritage December 2002 Wisconsin Underwater Archeology Association News Fall Meeting Report June 7 through 15, 2003 is Dates for next year’s meetings scheduled for diving on and drawing were set. The spring meeting will be The Fall meeting of the associa- the wrecks in the harbor of Bailey’s April 12 and the fall meeting will be tion was held on Saturday, October Harbor. on September 27. Location and pro- 12, 2002 in the Sellery Room at the gram to be determined. State Historical Society Building in P. J. Creviere reported that he is Madison. working on putting lighthouse log We adjourned for lunch and in books on computer. the afternoon took a very interest- The business meeting was ing tour of the Historical Society brought to order by President Work done on the whaleback Meteor October 5 and 6 was dis- archives. The Society is constantly Russell Green. The treasurer, Tom making more information available Villand reported a balance of $3626. cussed. Eight WUAA members worked on cleaning, scraping and online. WUAA members are encour- Articles and information for the next aged to check out the Wisconsin newsletter are due December 1, and priming the engine room. We hope to organize another work session for Historical Society website at www.wi the due date for the following news- sconsinhistory.org. letter is March 1. next spring. Russell Green reported on the progress of the Maritime Trails proj- New Home For State ect. Underwater Archeology He also informed us that a The WHS underwater archeology Federal court has awarded owner- office has moved to a new building, ship of the Rosinco to the state of at 523 Atlas Avenue, in Madison. Wisconsin. He also said that the The new facility will have a larger, Appomattox could be a possible improved conservation lab. The new future WUAA project/workshop. telephone number is 608-221-5909. Whaleback Meteor. photo by Tom Villand Wisconsin’s and provides support President Activities Coordinator Underwater to members’ research Russ Green Cathy Klecker and publication projects. Madison, 608-221-5909 Marshall, 608-655-3769 Heritage is pub- Annual membership dues lished quarterly by the Vice-President Website Manager are $15. For membership Wisconsin Underwater Hank Whipple Colin Zylka information, contact the Archeology Association, Madison, 608-245-1222 Waukesha, 262-524- secretary or write to the a nonprofit association Secretary 0145 address below. of individuals and orga- Russel Leitz Directors nizations interested in Send correspondence to: Waupaca, 715-258-2935 Richard Boyd WUAA studying and preserving Treasurer Delafield, 262-646-2092 the underwater cultural PO Box 6081 Tom Villand Robert Korth resources and historical Madison, WI 53716 Madison, 608-221-1996 Gresham, 715-787-4444 sites of Wisconsin. email: Newsletter Editor Janet Defnet In addition to publish- [email protected] Danny Aerts Mukwonago, 262-363- ing this newsletter, the website: Middleton, 608-821-0048 9874 Association also holds www.mailbag.com/users/ semiannual meetings wuaa/ December 2002 Wisconsin’s Underwater Heritage 3 Bailey’s Harbor Summer Spring Meeting Plans In Memoriam of 2003 Field Project The Spring meeting of the Clark Willick, of Appleton, age 75, A WUAA 2003 summer field project Association will be held on died Monday, November 25, 2002, will be held at Bailey’s Harbor from Saturday, April 12 at the Wisconsin at Appleton Medical Center. Clark June 7 to June 15, with the surveys Maritime Museum in Manitowoc. was born on May 11, 1927, in of three shipwreck sections that lie The morning will feature a pre- Burlington, Wisconsin, to the late to the east of the wreck site of the sentation by John Karl on celestial William and Harriet (Berndt) Willick. Christina Nilson, in a lagoon shore- navigation. Clark worked as a construction diver for many years in Wisconsin and ward of the Old Bailey’s Harbor A business meeting will fol- surrounding states. He also worked Lighthouse. The goal of the project low the presentation. After lunch as a millwright for a number of is to do a complete field survey and there will be a tour of the museum, years in the Fox River Valley. Clark site drawings of these three sites in including the new addition. order to determine if any of them never did retire and was still pursu- Two other activities are possible. are a part of the Nilson and if not ing his diving activities up until the The museum now offers sleepovers what ship(s) do they represent. time of his death. He was a member in the submarine, Cobia. Those of the Fox Valley Scuba Club and the The Nilson was built in 1871 as interested may be able to do so on Wisconsin Underwater Archeology a three-masted schooner by Hanson the Friday night before the meet- Association. & Scove at Manitowoc and was ing. We may also organize a dive to employed in the bulk cargo trade. scrape zebra mussels off the hull of During a blizzard on October 24, the Cobia. The mussels add weight 1884 after she had transited Death’s to the submarine, causing it to sit Door but was unable to enter the too low in the water. Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal to seek Please contact P. J. Creviere if shelter, she reversed her course try- you are interested in either of these ing to find shelter at Bailey’s Harbor. activities or if you have other ques- Blinded by the snow she struck hard tions about the meeting. You can on the Outer Reef at Bailey’s Harbor. call P. J. at 920-337-0270 or email Unable to extricate herself she soon [email protected]. became a total loss.