AH-WR-1721

A.B.C.F.M.

Schooner · United States · Lost May 1902 · Chicago & Southern Lake Michigan

The former lumber schooner and gospel ship A.B.C.F.M. was scuttled off Milwaukee in May 1902.

Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents. See the documented evidence.

Historically Reconstructed. Drawn from partial documentation of this vessel together with her known class and configuration. See the documented evidence.

The Vessel and Her Loss

A.B.C.F.M. was built at Milwaukee in 1854 as J. & A. Stronach, a wooden three-masted schooner for the lumber trade. She was renamed in 1881 and continued hauling lumber, with a brief period as a traveling gospel ship. After abandonment in the Kinnickinnic River in 1900, she was towed into Lake Michigan and scuttled off Milwaukee in May 1902. The wreck has not been found.

Vessel

Built: 1854
Registry: US registry no. 12978
Builder: George Barber
Yard: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Material: Wood
Length: 109.9 ft
Beam: 23.9 ft
Tonnage: 143 gross tons
Propulsion: Sail
Owners: Not established

Loss

Date: May 1902
Cause: Intentional sinking
Location: Off Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Water: Lake Michigan
Voyage: Not established
Cargo: Not established
Aboard: Not established
Lives lost: Not established
Master: Not established

The Wreck Today

Depth: Not established
Condition: Not established
Orientation: Not established
Discovered: Not established
Protection: Not established

Position

Coordinates: Not established
Accuracy: Position not established
Nearest: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Region: Chicago & Southern Lake Michigan

Evidence

Overall confidence: Documented (85/100)

The wreck has not been located; its position, depth, casualty totals and present condition are not established.

Wisconsin Historical Society and Wisconsin Sea Grant — Wisconsin Shipwrecks
Identity, rig and construction particulars, service history and final sinking chronology; loss distinguished from earlier damage or abandonment.