Rudolph Wetzel
Tug · Lost 1882 · Chicago & Southern Lake Michigan
The tug Rudolph Wetzel blew up off Oak Creek in 1882 while racing another tug for work; her three crew vanished with her.
Become Captain of Record
The Vessel and Her Loss
Built in 1870, the wooden tug Rudolph Wetzel left Racine on the morning of October 28, 1882, racing the tug Sill north to find a vessel to tow. About three miles off Oak Creek, Sill's crew saw the fireman run to the pilothouse and back, and the engineer turn a valve. Seconds later an explosion destroyed Wetzel, showering Sill with debris. Captain Lovell, fireman Thomas White and engineer William Kelley were never found. The cause was hotly debated, and her wreck has never been located.
Vessel
- 1870
- Not established
- Not established
- Wood
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
- Steam (screw)
- Not established
Loss
- October 28, 1882
- Mechanical failure
- About three miles off Oak Creek, Wisconsin
- Lake Michigan
- Racine, Wisconsin
- Not established
- Not established
- 3
- Capt. Lovell
The Wreck Today
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
Position
- Not established
- Position not established
- Oak Creek, Wisconsin
No pin: Wisconsin Shipwrecks inventory positions are not used as wreck pins.
Evidence
Overall confidence: Documented (75/100)
Original newspaper accounts are quoted by the source and were not independently inspected.
Wisconsin Shipwrecks (Wisconsin Historical Society and Wisconsin Sea Grant) — Rudolph Wetzel
Specification table and final-voyage text read; quoted newspapers not independently inspected.
