A team of 10 underwater archaeologists shared their findings during a week-long exploration of a historic shipwreck at an open house on July 30, 2009, at the Holiday Inn Harborview in Port Washington.
The public was invited to stop by, talk with the archaeologists about the project, and view underwater photos, videos, and a photomosaic of the wreck assembled from more than 100 images. The event was sponsored by the Port Washington Historical Society.
The dive team will be documenting the Northerner, a wooden schooner built in 1850 in Clayton, N.Y. The Northerner worked the Great Lakes for 18 years, until her luck ran out on November 28, 1868. While being loaded with lumber in heavy winds in Amsterdam, Wis., she pounded heavily on the bottom. Sailing on the lake later that day, she began leaking badly. The crew put into Port Washington, lightened her load, and secured a tow to Milwaukee.
During the tow, however, the Northerner filled with water and capsized. All crew members were pulled from the cold water by the tow boat.
Today the 79-foot Northerner has much to teach us about life on the shores of Lake Michigan in the late 19th century, according to Keith Meverden, underwater archaeologist at the Wisconsin Historical Society (WHS) and head of the dive team.
Shipwrecks are like time capsules, Meverden said. Small schooners like the Northerner were the economic lifeblood of hundreds of small towns along the Great Lakes.
The shipwreck lies in 130 feet of water 5 miles southeast of Port Washington. It is one of an estimated 700 sunken vessels in Wisconsin waters of the Great Lakes, Meverden said.
The WHS program in Maritime Archaeology and Preservation is supported in part by the University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute.
For more information on the Northerner, see
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