The wreck of the schooner St. Peter in Lake Michigan off the shore of Ozaukee County near Port Washington was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Dec. 19, 2024, the Wisconsin Historical Society has announced.
The Chicago-based schooner – built by master builder Peter Perry in New Baltimore, Michigan in 1868 – ran grain, lumber and other bulk cargo until it wrecked on May 6, 1874.
Over its brief career, WHS notes, the schooner, "experienced groundings, collisions and sinkings that required repair; however, its ship lines remained the same throughout its service history.
"On May 6, 1874, St. Peter was bound from Chicago, Illinois, to Toledo, Ohio, with a cargo of wheat. It encountered stormy conditions about 35 miles northeast of Milwaukee and began to leak with three feet of water in the hold, and the crew abandoned the ship and boarded the yawl. They rowed only a few minutes before St. Peter lurched forward and sank bow first."
While the St. Peter was valued at $4,500, its owners F. Gilman and G.W. Flood carried insurance only its cargo of wheat.
The site of the wreck was discovered during a bathymetry survey being undertaken by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Office of Coast Survey in the summer of 2022.
Once located, Wisconsin Historical Society maritime archaeologists visited the site in July 2023, using a remotely operated vehicle, equipped with multibeam imaging sonar and video cameras, supplied and operated by Crossmon Consulting, LLC.
What they discovered is that the St. Peter sits upright in 450 feet of water within the boundaries of the Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary.
According to WHS, "The remains are intact up to its railing, and the bowsprit and head rigging are extant. The spars and rigging have been thrown to the port side of the ship and rest on the lake bottom.
"As an early wooden schooner in Wisconsin waters, St. Peter provides historians and archaeologists the rare chance to study wooden schooner construction and the grain, lumber, and other bulk cargo trades."
Due to the location of the wreck in extremely deep and remote waters, it has not been visited outside of this survey, at least as far as WHS knows.
The wreck is protected by both state and federal laws that prohibit divers from removing, displacing or destroying artifacts or structures when visiting this site. Doing any of those things is a crime and the the exact location of the wreck is not shared so as to discourage any destructive, criminal behavior.
For a more detailed history of the St. Peter and its ownership, check out this website.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
