Alice E. Wilds
Lumber Steamer · United States · Lost 1892 · Chicago & Southern Lake Michigan
A wooden lumber steamer lost off Milwaukee after a fogbound collision in 1892; all crew were rescued.
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The Vessel and Her Loss
Alice E. Wilds was built in Detroit in 1883 by John Oades for the lumber trade and was also chartered for ice carriage. On June 12, 1892, it collided with Douglas off Milwaukee in heavy fog while bound from Chicago for Escanaba. The steamer sank rapidly, and Douglas rescued its crew. Its enrollment was surrendered as a total loss; the institutional source reports a deep-water identification in June 2015.
Vessel
- 1883
- US registry no. 106070
- John Oades
- Detroit, Michigan
- Wood
- 136 ft
- 28.3 ft
- 292.86 gross tons
- Steam screw
- Captain A. E. Wilds; Barney Wilds from 1892
Loss
- June 12, 1892
- Collision
- Off Milwaukee, Wisconsin
- Lake Michigan
- Chicago, Illinois → Escanaba, Michigan
- Not established
- Not established
- 0
- Not established
The Wreck Today
- Over 300 feet
- Reported upright approximately eighteen miles off Milwaukee.
- Not established
- Reported relocated in 1996; identified in June 2015
- Not established
Position
- Not established
- Position not established
- Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Source provides no numeric position; no coordinates inferred from distance offshore.
Evidence
Overall confidence: Documented (88/100)
Cargo accounts conflict, and the source calls for further archaeological work on the wreck’s location and condition.
Wisconsin Historical Society / Wisconsin Sea Grant — Wisconsin Shipwrecks
Construction and registered original hull dimensions, service, final voyage, total-loss outcome and surviving remains. Tonnage is gross register tonnage, not displacement.
