The JennibelShipwreck was discovered in Lake Michigan near the town of Gibraltar. (Photo courtesy of theWisconsinHistorical Society)
GIBRALTAR, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — A shipwreck off the coast of Door County was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
The Jennibel Shipwreck (Schooner) was constructed at the Stoakes & Locklin shipyard in Manitowoc in 1863. The vessel operated in the Great Lakes lumber and other bulk cargo trades. The Jennibel experienced groundings and collisions, which required repairs, but the ship lines remained the same.
On the morning of Sept. 17, 1881, the Jennibel was sailing through Deaths Door Passage with a load of green lumber and tan bark from Egg Harbor, bound for Milwaukee when a sudden gale struck and the ship capsized. The tug John Gregory came to its aid, took the crew aboard and the vessel in tow toward Sturgeon Bay. While off Chambers Island, the ship settled and sank. Although salvage attempts were made to recover the ship, it was ultimately abandoned. The vessel was valued at $2,500 but carried no insurance.
The vessel sits upright with the hull intact, except the transom which was broken in one of the salvage operations. Many of the ship’s hull components remain intact and many more remain hidden within its hull or are scattered surrounding the site. As an early wooden schooner in Wisconsin waters, Jennibel provides historians and archaeologists the opportunity to study wooden schooner construction and use in other bulk cargo trades.
Last year, the shipwreck was added to the State Register of Historic Places.
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