AH-WR-1798

Blue Belle

Scow Schooner · Lost 1887 · Chicago & Southern Lake Michigan

Blue Belle broke up at Sheboygan in 1887 while seeking shelter; the captain and four crew reached safety.

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Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents.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 Milwaukee in 1867, Blue Belle was a wooden scow schooner carrying cedar posts and wood around Lake Michigan. After a 1869 stranding at Bailey’s Harbor she was recovered and repaired in 1870. On September 4, 1887, leaking in heavy weather while bound for Milwaukee, she missed the Sheboygan harbor piers and ran ashore. Life-saving surfmen helped her captain and four crew escape and recovered all the cargo as the vessel broke apart south of the breakwater. Wreckage was removed by a government dredge in 1894.

Vessel

Built: 1867
Registry: Registry no. 2933
Builder: Jason Lethede
Yard: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Material: Wood
Length: 83 ft
Beam: 25 ft
Tonnage: 122.34 gross tons
Propulsion: Sail
Owners: M.S. Erikson, G. Hanson and G. Reinerston of Milwaukee

Loss

Date: September 4, 1887
Cause: Grounding
Location: South side of the Sheboygan breakwater pier, Lake Michigan
Water: Lake Michigan
Voyage: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Cargo: 5,700 cedar posts
Aboard: 5
Lives lost: 0
Master: Not established

The Wreck Today

Depth: Not established
Condition: Went to pieces south of the breakwater pier; wreckage removed in 1894. Present remains not established.
Orientation: Not established
Discovered: Not established
Protection: Not established

Position

Coordinates: 43.75° N 87.70° W
Accuracy: Reported, unconfirmed
Nearest: Sheboygan, Wisconsin
Region: Chicago & Southern Lake Michigan

Converted from institutional inventory N 43°44.852′, W 087°41.790′; survey provenance absent, reported/unconfirmed. Wreckage was removed in 1894; this point does not establish surviving remains.

Evidence

Overall confidence: Documented (89/100)

Voyage origin is inconsistently named Wilts Bay or Willis Bay; mast count, depth and surviving remains are not established.

Wisconsin Shipwrecks — Wisconsin Sea Grant and Wisconsin Historical Society — Blue Belle
Full construction, service and final-voyage accounts; completed loss, administrative dates or location conflicts distinguished; unknowns disclosed.