AH-WR-1819

Cape Horn

Schooner · United States · Lost 1910 · Chicago & Southern Lake Michigan

A long-serving Lake Michigan schooner was sunk for shore protection at Bay View in 1910, then broken apart by a gale.

Become Captain of Record

Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents.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

Cape Horn was built by W. Barker at Huron, Ohio, in 1857. The wooden two-masted schooner had a long Lake Michigan career, including a grain-laden leak in 1869 and a collision sinking in 1873 that was not its terminal loss. Its enrollment was surrendered as abandoned in April 1909. On September 16, 1910, the city of Bay View loaded it with rocks and had a fire tug tow and sink it off Iron Street to deter erosion. Residents cut the craft for firewood, and a subsequent gale broke it apart; the remains have not been found.

Vessel

Built: 1857
Registry: US registry no. 4345
Builder: W. Barker
Yard: Huron, Ohio
Material: Wood
Length: 121.4 ft
Beam: 25.4 ft
Tonnage: 202.93 gross tons
Propulsion: Sail; two-masted schooner
Owners: C.A. Phelps of Grand Rapids, Michigan; city of Bay View (final owner)

Loss

Date: September 16, 1910
Cause: Intentional sinking
Location: Off Iron Street, Bay View, Milwaukee; towed within about 100 feet of the street for erosion protection
Water: Lake Michigan
Voyage: Not established
Cargo: Rocks loaded for erosion protection
Aboard: Not established
Lives lost: Not established
Master: Not established

The Wreck Today

Depth: Not established
Condition: Remains have not been found in the institutional account and may have been removed.
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

Institutional map locality is not a surveyed final wreck position; coordinates omitted.

Evidence

Overall confidence: Well documented (90/100)

The subsequent gale date, terminal casualty figures, depth and verified position of surviving remains are not established.

Wisconsin Shipwrecks — Wisconsin Historical Society and Wisconsin Sea Grant
Full construction table and service/final-voyage narrative; earlier collision sinking, 1909 administrative abandonment and September 16, 1910 deliberate sinking distinguished from later undated gale breakup.