Sea Star
Scow-Schooner · United States · Lost November 5–6, 1886 · Door County & Lake Michigan
High seas wrecked Sea Star at Clay Banks in November 1886; life-savers rescued two men trapped aboard.
Become Captain of Record
The Vessel and Her Loss
Sea Star was a wooden two-masted scow-schooner built at Irving, New York in 1855 by C. Stevens. In early November 1886, high seas drove her against Clay Banks pier while cordwood and lumber were being loaded. The vessel then broke loose and went onto the beach, where she sank and began to break up. The life-saving crew rescued the two men trapped aboard; her rigging was removed before abandonment. Her remains have not been located.
Vessel
- 1855
- US registry no. 22356
- C. Stevens
- Irving, New York
- Wood
- 91 ft
- 23 ft
- 95.48 tons (remeasured in 1865)
- Sail
- Not established
Loss
- November 5–6, 1886
- Storm
- Clay Banks pier and beach, Wisconsin
- Lake Michigan
- Not established
- Cordwood and lumber, being loaded at the time of loss
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
The Wreck Today
- Not established
- Hull broke up near the pier; remains have not been located and possible association with bottomland debris off Bear Creek is unconfirmed.
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
Position
- Not established
- Position not established
- Clay Banks, Wisconsin
Evidence
Overall confidence: Documented (80/100)
Exact sinking day, surviving wreck position and present depth are not established; a possible debris-field association is unconfirmed.
Wisconsin Historical Society and Wisconsin Sea Grant — Wisconsin Shipwrecks
Construction, rig and dimensions; November 1886 wrecking and two-man rescue; unlocated remains and chronology uncertainty preserved.
