Floretta
Canal Schooner · Lost 1885 · Door County & Lake Michigan
Floretta survived earlier sinkings before foundering with iron ore off Manitowoc in September 1885; her seven crew escaped in the yawl.
Become Captain of RecordSee Shipwreck on Map
The Vessel and Her Loss
Floretta was built at Detroit in 1868 as a wooden two-masted schooner. She survived earlier collisions and sinkings, including a collision during the October 1880 Alpena Gale, and was raised and repaired. On September 18, 1885, carrying iron ore from Escanaba to Chicago, she developed a leak in heavy seas off Manitowoc. Her seven crew members escaped in the yawl and reached Manitowoc. The wreck was discovered in 1980 and documented by the Wisconsin Historical Society in 2013.
Vessel
- 1868
- US registry no. 9688
- John Stupinsky
- Detroit, Michigan
- Wood
- 134 ft
- 26 ft
- 259.99 gross tons
- Sail
- Not established
Loss
- September 18, 1885
- Storm
- Off Manitowoc, Wisconsin
- Lake Michigan
- Escanaba, Michigan → Chicago, Illinois
- Iron ore consigned to Joliet Steel Works
- 7
- 0
- Not established
The Wreck Today
- 180 ft
- Partially broken up; stern heavily damaged, much of the remaining decking intact, iron ore in the holds and three anchors at the bow; draped in commercial fishing nets.
- Not established
- 1980
- Listed on the National Register of Historic Places (Wisconsin Shipwrecks inventory).
Position
- 43.95° N 87.54° W
- Reported, unconfirmed
- Manitowoc, Wisconsin
Wisconsin Shipwrecks published inventory position, converted from degrees and decimal minutes; not independently surveyed here.
Evidence
Overall confidence: Documented (85/100)
Depth is approximate; the historic report places the loss fifteen miles off Manitowoc, while the inventory places the discovered wreck eleven miles southeast of the city.
Wisconsin Historical Society and Wisconsin Sea Grant — Wisconsin Shipwrecks
Construction, identity, service history and vessel-specific final-voyage narrative; template numeric counters excluded.
