46°55.568′N 90°32.717′W / 46.926133°N 90.545283°W / 46.926133; -90.545283

The Noquebay, loaded with lumber.
Noquebay, loaded with lumber.
History
NameNoquebay
OwnerT.H. Madden, of Bay City, Michigan
Port of registry United States
BuilderBuilt in Trenton, Michigan, in 1872
Launched1872
FateBurned October 9, 1905
StatusThe burned wreckage remains at the bottom of Julian Bay off Stockton Island.
NotesLocation: 46°55.568′N 90°32.717′W / 46.926133°N 90.545283°W / 46.926133; -90.545283 [1]
General characteristics
TypeOriginally built as a schooner, later converted into a towable barge
Tonnage684 tons
Length205 feet (62 m)
Propulsionnone
Noquebay (Schooner-Barge) Shipwreck Site
Nearest cityLa Pointe, Wisconsin
NRHP reference No.92000593
Added to NRHPJune 4, 1992

Noquebay was a wooden schooner barge that sank in Lake Superior in Chequamegon Bay off Stockton Island. The wreck site was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.[2]

History edit

Noquebay was built in 1872.[3] Although originally built as a schooner, she later was modified for use as a towable barge for hauling lumber. Noquebay, along with another ship named Mautenee, was towed by the steamship Lizzie Madden. T. H. Madden, operator of the Madden Company, owned all three vessels.[4]

On October 3, 1905, the Comstock and Wilcox Company of Ashland, Wisconsin, loaded Noquebay with 600,000 board-feet of hemlock lumber.[4] There she waited six days for Mautenee and Lizzie Madden to return from Duluth, Minnesota. On the morning of October 9, the three vessels pulled away from nearby Bayfield, Wisconsin, heading to Buffalo, New York, to deliver their cargo. Shortly after their departure, a fire was discovered aboard Noquebay. The fire apparently started in the compartment containing the donkey boiler.[4]

Because the fire was too severe to extinguish, the crew threw some cargo overboard to save it, and jumped from the burning ship. All of them climbed safely aboard Lizzie Madden. There was nothing Lizzie Madden could do but abandon the burning ship and continue on the journey towing Mautenee. When they reached the Soo Locks at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, they wired ahead to Buffalo, then contacted Ashland with the news.[4]

References edit

  1. ^ "Great Lakes Shipwrecks". Archived from the original on 2 June 2013. Retrieved 21 July 2013.
  2. ^ "Noquebay (Schooner-Barge) Shipwreck Site". Landmark Hunter.com. Retrieved 2012-01-22.
  3. ^ "Service History". Wisconsin Shipwrecks.org. Retrieved 2012-01-22.
  4. ^ a b c d Keller, James M. The Unholy Apostles. pp. 91–93. ISBN 0-933577-001.

External links edit

  Media related to Noquebay (ship, 1872) at Wikimedia Commons