''Lucerne'' was a commercial

schooner A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoon ...

. In November 1886, she sank due to bad weather in

Lake Superior Lake Superior in central North America is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface areaThe Caspian Sea is the largest lake, but is saline, not freshwater. and the third-largest by volume, holding 10% of the world's surface fresh wa ...

, off

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

Chequamegon Bay Chequamegon Bay ( ) is an inlet of Lake Superior in Ashland and Bayfield counties in the extreme northern part of Wisconsin. History A Native American village, known as ''Chequamegon'', developed here in the mid-17th century. It was developed b ...

. The site of the wreck was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1991.

History

''Lucerne'' was launched on April 23, 1873. She was nearly long and reportedly cost $55,000 to build. On November 15, 1886, ''Lucerne'' was loaded with 1,200 tons of

iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the fo ...

at her home port, Ashland,

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

. The load was consigned to ''Little, Oglebay and Company'' of

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

. After the delivery, the

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

and crew began a voyage back to Ashland. With new canvas

sail A sail is a tensile structure—which is made from fabric or other membrane materials—that uses wind power to propel sailing craft, including sailing ships, sailboats, windsurfers, ice boats, and even sail-powered land vehicles. Sails may ...

s and a light wind blowing, all the signs pointed to a speedy voyage home. However, a November

snowstorm A winter storm is an event in which wind coincides with varieties of precipitation that only occur at freezing temperatures, such as snow, Rain and snow mixed, mixed snow and rain, or freezing rain. In temperate continental climates, these sto ...

on the lake began developing that night. On November 17 or 18, 1886, ''Lucerne'' succumbed to the violent storm, and sank off Long Island. At the height of the storm, the captain of the ship ''Fred Kelly'' had sighted ''Lucerne'', but ''Fred Kelly'' unfortunately could not offer any help to the distressed ship under the circumstances. Nobody witnessed ''Lucerne''s final minutes, and none of the crew survived. William Mack, part owner of ''Lucerne'', became worried when the ship never arrived back at Ashland. He telegraphed Bayfield, Wisconsin, and asked for a search vessel to be sent. The boat ''S. B. Barker'' was dispatched for the purpose, but did not have to go far to find the wreckage of ''Lucerne''. The ''S. B. Barker''′s crew discovered three masts sticking out of the water. Upon closer inspection, they saw three of the ship's crew members there, frozen solid in three inches (76 mm) of ice. Apparently they had climbed to the top of the masts to escape the freezing waters of

and had perished there while waiting to be rescued. The three bodies were moved to Bayfield.Wisconsin Shipwrecks
/ref>

References

{{NRHP Lake Superior shipwrecks 1873 ships Maritime incidents in November 1886 Shipwrecks of the Wisconsin coast Shipwrecks on the National Register of Historic Places in Wisconsin Shipwrecks of Lake Superior Ships lost with all hands Apostle Islands National Register of Historic Places in Ashland County, Wisconsin

History

See also

References