AH-WR-1855

Cherubusco

Bark (or Barque) · Lost 1872 · Door County & Lake Michigan

A Milwaukee-built bark was beached waterlogged in North Bay in 1872, then broke up and was abandoned.

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Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents.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

Cherubusco was built by Hubbell at Milwaukee in 1848. The wooden, three-masted bark carried lumber and general cargo on the Great Lakes and hailed from Cleveland under owner Leonard Garn. The institutional final-voyage account dates her waterlogged beaching in North Bay to November 18, 1872. The tug Drake transported her crew to Chicago. She subsequently broke up and her owners abandoned her. Hull structure in North Bay has been attributed to Cherubusco, but the institution explicitly states that identification is uncertain.

Vessel

Built: 1848
Registry: US registry no. 4329
Builder: Hubbell
Yard: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Material: Wood
Length: 114.2 ft
Beam: 27.1 ft
Tonnage: 203.70 gross tons
Propulsion: Sail
Owners: Leonard Garn, Cleveland, Ohio

Loss

Date: November 18, 1872
Cause: Grounding
Location: North Bay, Door County, Wisconsin
Water: Lake Michigan
Voyage: Not established
Cargo: Manufactured goods and sundries, according to institutional cargo field
Aboard: Not established
Lives lost: Not established
Master: Not established

The Wreck Today

Depth: Not established
Condition: Historical breakup and abandonment documented. North Bay hull structure attributed to Cherubusco is explicitly of uncertain historical identification; no verified modern condition assigned.
Orientation: Not established
Discovered: Not established
Protection: Not established

Position

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

Inventory position refers to remains of uncertain identification; no surveyed position adopted or inferred.

Evidence

Overall confidence: Documented (80/100)

Historical terminal loss documented; identification of attributed North Bay remains uncertain. Crew counts, casualty totals and a surveyed position not established. Source contains conflicting enrollment chronology.

Wisconsin Historical Society and Wisconsin Sea Grant — Wisconsin Shipwrecks: Cherubusco (1848)
Full construction, Service History, Final Voyage and Today read: registry 4329, Hubbell, Milwaukee 1848, wood, 114.20 x 27.10 ft, 203.70 gross tons; three-masted bark, lumber/general trade, Leonard Garn/Cleveland; November 18, 1872 waterlogged beaching North Bay, Drake took crew to Chicago, breakup and abandonment. Enrollment March 31, 1872 conflicts; historical ID of attributed hull explicitly uncertain. No casualty totals, verified depth or surveyed position adopted.