Adriatic
Schooner-Barge · United States · Lost 1934; exact day unknown · Door County & Lake Michigan
A former Great Lakes consort, Adriatic became a self-unloading stone barge before burning at Sturgeon Bay in 1934.
Become Captain of Record
The Vessel and Her Loss
James Davidson built the three-masted wooden schooner-barge Adriatic in 1889 at West Bay City, Michigan. She hauled wheat, ore and coal as a steamer consort before entering the Leathem and Smith stone trade. A 1913–1914 conversion installed conveyors and a 60-foot unloading boom. Dismantled and abandoned in 1927, she burned to the waterline and sank at Sturgeon Bay in 1934. Her lower hull and much of the self-unloading machinery survive beneath silt near the shoreline.
Vessel
- 1889
- US registry no. 106676
- James Davidson
- West Bay City, Michigan
- Wood
- 202 ft
- 34.58 ft
- 915.67 gross tons
- Sail; towed as a consort and later as a self-unloading barge
- Not established
Loss
- 1934; exact day unknown
- Fire
- Near the Leathem D. Smith Dock Company yards, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin
- Green Bay
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
The Wreck Today
- 2–15 feet
- Lower wooden hull and self-unloading machinery remain beneath silt; unloading tower and boom are no longer evident.
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
Position
- Not established
- Position not established
- Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin
Evidence
Overall confidence: Well documented (93/100)
The exact day of the 1934 fire, casualty totals and a surveyed coordinate are not established in the reviewed account.
Wisconsin Shipwrecks — Wisconsin Sea Grant and Wisconsin Historical Society — Adriatic
Full construction table, service history, final-voyage and present-condition narrative; recovery versus final loss and source conflicts distinguished.
