AH-WR-1853

Windsor

Schooner-Barge · United States · Lost 1893 · Door County & Lake Michigan

A former Detroit ferry rebuilt as a lumber schooner-barge broke up near Cana Island in 1893; five crew members were rescued.

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Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents.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

Windsor was built by J.S. Jenkins at Detroit in 1856 as a side-wheel ferry carrying passengers and freight. After an April 1866 fire she was rebuilt as a barge in 1871, rigged as a two-masted schooner-barge in 1876 and rebuilt again in 1892. On September 30, 1893, she encountered heavy seas while carrying cedar posts and telephone poles from Snow Island to Chicago. She sprang a leak and grounded near Cana Island; one crew member was lost and five were rescued by the United States Life-Saving Service. The vessel went to pieces and was stripped and abandoned in early October.

Vessel

Built: 1856
Registry: US registry no. 62523; previously 26366
Builder: J.S. Jenkins
Yard: Detroit, Michigan
Material: Wood
Length: 115 ft
Beam: 30.4 ft
Tonnage: 237.84 gross tons
Propulsion: Sail at loss; originally side-wheel steam
Owners: T.S. Ruddock of Chicago

Loss

Date: September 30, 1893
Cause: Grounding
Location: Southeast end of the reef near Cana Island, Door County, Wisconsin
Water: Lake Michigan
Voyage: Snow Island → Chicago, Illinois
Cargo: Cedar posts and telephone poles
Aboard: 6
Lives lost: 1
Master: Not established

The Wreck Today

Depth: Not established
Condition: Historical account describes breakup, stripping and abandonment in early October 1893; no modern remains assessment supplied.
Orientation: Not established
Discovered: Not established
Protection: Not established

Position

Coordinates: Not established
Accuracy: Position not established
Nearest: Cana Island, near Baileys Harbor, Wisconsin
Region: Door County & Lake Michigan

Institutional inventory coordinates lack surveyed provenance in reviewed record; no position adopted or inferred.

Evidence

Overall confidence: Documented (87/100)

A surveyed wreck position, present depth and modern condition of surviving remains are not established in the reviewed source.

Wisconsin Historical Society and Wisconsin Sea Grant — Wisconsin Shipwrecks: Windsor (1856)
Full construction fields, Service History, Final Voyage and underlying counter: Jenkins/Detroit/1856, wood, 115 x 30.4 ft, 237.84 gross tons; registry 26366 changed to 62523; ferry service, 1866 fire, 1871 barge conversion, 1876 two-masted schooner-barge conversion and 1892 rebuild; September 30, 1893 Cana Island grounding, cargo/route, six aboard, one swept overboard, five rescued; breakup, stripping and early-October abandonment. Counter corroborates one death; no modern survey or supported depth.