AH-WR-1821

Charley J. Smith

Scow Schooner · United States · Lost Sank and was abandoned by October 1905; fragments settled by late fall 1905; exact sinking date not established. · Door County & Lake Michigan

A small two-masted scow schooner sank at Little Sturgeon Bay and was abandoned, settling in fragments by late fall 1905.

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Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents.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

Charley J. Smith was built by J. Smith at South Haven, Michigan, in 1879. The wooden two-masted scow schooner carried a usual crew of two in Lake Michigan coastwise trade, often transporting wood. An 1890 report describes an earlier South Haven beaching and crew rescue, not its terminal loss. It later sank at the A.B. Stevenson wharf at the head of Little Sturgeon Bay and was abandoned while going to pieces. Its enrollment was surrendered as abandoned on October 10, 1905, and its last fragments had settled by late fall; the actual sinking day is not established.

Vessel

Built: 1879
Registry: US registry no. 125749
Builder: J. Smith
Yard: South Haven, Michigan
Material: Wood
Length: 60 ft
Beam: 16.8 ft
Tonnage: 42.94 gross tons
Propulsion: Sail; two-masted scow schooner
Owners: Wm. Armstrong (1903 Door County Advocate reference)

Loss

Date: Sank and was abandoned by October 1905; fragments settled by late fall 1905; exact sinking date not established.
Cause: Not established
Location: A.B. Stevenson wharf at the head of Little Sturgeon Bay, Door County, Wisconsin
Water: Lake Michigan
Voyage: Not established
Cargo: Not established
Aboard: Not established
Lives lost: Not established
Master: Not established

The Wreck Today

Depth: Not established
Condition: By late fall 1905 its last fragments had settled to the bottom; present-day condition not established.
Orientation: Not established
Discovered: Not established
Protection: Not established

Position

Coordinates: Not established
Accuracy: Position not established
Nearest: Little Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin
Region: Door County & Lake Michigan

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

Evidence

Overall confidence: Documented (88/100)

The exact sinking date, initial loss mechanism, terminal crew and casualty totals, depth and verified present wreck position are not established.

Wisconsin Shipwrecks — Wisconsin Historical Society and Wisconsin Sea Grant
Full construction, coastwise service and terminal sinking/abandonment narrative; 1890 rescued beaching and October 10, 1905 enrollment surrender distinguished from undated terminal sinking.