ALGOMA, Wis. – The Wisconsin Historical Society announces the listing of the Margaret A. Muir shipwreck on the State Register of Historic Places. State Historic Preservation Officer Daina Penkiunas presented a certificate to Kevin Cullen and Robert Jaeck. The shipwreck is submerged in Lake Michigan near the city of Algoma (Kewaunee County).
Owner David Muir supervised the construction of the schooner Margaret A. Muir at Manitowoc in 1872. The vessel transported grain, lumber, and other bulk cargo to and from Great Lakes ports throughout its career. Despite groundings and collisions, the schooner retained the same ship lines throughout its service history.
In September of 1893, Margaret A. Muir was sailing on Lake Michigan bound for South Chicago with a cargo of salt when a southeast gale struck. The ship battled the storm throughout the night and the next morning, and when the schooner was a few miles off Ahnapee (Algoma), an enormous wave broke over the deck and sank the vessel. The captain freed a small boat just as the schooner keeled over and sank. The crew made their way three miles through the breakers and to the beach.
Over the next several months, the ship was broken up by wind and wave action and declared a hazard to navigation. In 1894, the vessel was dynamited to flatten the hazard.
State and federal laws protect this shipwreck. Divers may not remove artifacts or structure when visiting this site. Removing, defacing, displacing, or destroying artifacts or sites is a crime. More information on Wisconsin’s historic shipwrecks may be found by visiting Wisconsin’s Great Lakes Shipwrecks website: https://www.wisconsinshipwrecks.org/Home#anchor3
To learn more about the State and National Register programs in Wisconsin, visit: www.wisconsinhistory.org.
About the Wisconsin Historical Society
The Wisconsin Historical Society, founded in 1846, ranks as one of the largest, most active and most diversified state historical societies in the nation. As both a state agency and a private membership organization, its mission is to help people connect to the past by collecting, preserving and sharing stories. The Wisconsin Historical Society serves millions of people every year through a wide range of sites, programs and services. For more information, visit wisconsinhistory.org.
