AH-WR-1810

Alaska

Scow Schooner · United States · Lost Grounded early in 1879; declared a total loss and abandoned in June 1881 · Chicago & Southern Lake Michigan

Alaska grounded near Two Rivers in 1879 and was abandoned in 1881; her wooden scow hull was rediscovered beneath shifting sand.

Become Captain of Record See Shipwreck on Map

Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents.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

Interpretive Reconstruction, drawn to convey the vessel's era, type and general form. See the documented evidence.

The Vessel and Her Loss

Built at Sheboygan in 1869, Alaska was a one-deck, two-masted wooden scow schooner used in the Lake Michigan lumber trade. A gale drove her ashore at Two Rivers Point early in 1879 while bound from Milwaukee to Ahnapee for lumber. All crew escaped, but refloating attempts damaged the vessel. After two years of unsuccessful salvage, she was declared a total loss and abandoned in June 1881. Suzze Johnson rediscovered the sand-covered remains from an ultralight aircraft in May 2014.

Vessel

Built: 1869
Registry: US registry no. 105090
Builder: Hoeckner & Co.; master ship carpenter Smith Neville, Sr.
Yard: Sheboygan, Wisconsin
Material: Wood
Length: 89.6 ft
Beam: 19.3 ft
Tonnage: 85.14 gross tons
Propulsion: Sail, two-masted schooner
Owners: Not established

Loss

Date: Grounded early in 1879; declared a total loss and abandoned in June 1881
Cause: Grounding
Location: South of Two Rivers Point, Lake Michigan, Wisconsin
Water: Lake Michigan
Voyage: Milwaukee, Wisconsin → Ahnapee, Wisconsin
Cargo: Not established
Aboard: Not established
Lives lost: 0
Master: Not established

The Wreck Today

Depth: 5 ft
Condition: Bow, deck machinery, centerboard trunk and much of the hull survive beneath shifting sand; stern and portions of lower hull are covered.
Orientation: Not established
Discovered: May 2014
Protection: National Register of Historic Places listed, according to the institutional inventory

Position

Coordinates: 44.193° N 87.511° W
Accuracy: Surveyed position
Nearest: Two Rivers, Wisconsin
Region: Chicago & Southern Lake Michigan

Converted from the institutional confirmed-location entry N 44° 11.607′, W 087° 30.677′; map point refers to the surveyed wreck site, not the initial grounding track.

Evidence

Overall confidence: Well documented (94/100)

The initial grounding day and total crew number are unknown; June 1881 marks the declared total loss, not a precisely dated sinking.

Wisconsin Shipwrecks — Wisconsin Sea Grant and Wisconsin Historical Society — Alaska
Full construction table, service history, final-voyage and present-condition narrative; recovery versus final loss and source conflicts distinguished.