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Town of Baileys Harbor, Door County, WI. - The Wisconsin Historical Society announces the listing of the Emeline Shipwreck (near the Town of Baileys Harbor, Door County) on the State Register of Historic Places.

The Emeline shipwreck was a wooden double-centerboard schooner, and the remains lie in 18 feet of water on a bottom of sand. Present-day understanding of this vessel type, and the lake shoring trade in which it operated, has come from archaeological data recovered from wreck sites such as this.

The vessel spent most of its career carrying lumber throughout the Great Lakes region. In 1896, Emeline was caught in a northwest squall, blown over to its starboard side, and unable to gain stability. The crew were able to reach Baileys Harbor. After several attempts to right the vessel, it sank in 18 feet of water near the Anclam Pier. The wreck was broken up by wind and wave action, declared a hazard to navigation, and later dynamited to flatten the hazard.

The State Register is Wisconsin's official list of state properties determined to be significant to Wisconsin's heritage. The State Historic Preservation Office at the Wisconsin Historical Society administers both the State Register and National Register in Wisconsin.

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.