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Tennie and Laura Shipwreck

Port Washington, WI. - The Wisconsin Historical Society added additional documentation for the previously listed Tennie and Laura Shipwreck in Port Washington, Ozaukee County in the State Register of Historic Places in November.

Built in 1876 in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, by Gunder Jorgensen, the Tennie and Laura is one of the most intact scow schooners discovered to date. The vessel serviced Lake Michigan through the height of the intra-lake lumber trade, and was lost after capsizing in a storm in 1903. Nearly all of the scow schooner’s structural and cultural components remain in place. The site retains excellent archaeological integrity, and the Tennie and Laura site has been infrequently visited by divers due to its extreme depth in over 300 feet of water therefore much of the cultural materials within the vessel’s hull remain undisturbed.

The Tennie and Laura allow historians and archaeologists the rare opportunity to study Great Lakes scow schooner construction and the influence of scow vessels in the lakeshoring trade. These tiny ships provided economic and cultural links between Lake Michigan’s hinterland communities and larger metropolitan markets occupying a specialized niche in Lake Michigan region’s economy. With only seven other known scow schooners in Wisconsin waters, the Tennie and Laura site provides historians and archaeologists a unique opportunity to study 19^th -century wooden ship construction techniques and shipboard life on Great Lakes merchant vessels. Nineteenth-century wooden vessels were rarely built to drawn plans. Today, little documentation exists that illustrates how these unique vessels were constructed, the nuances of differing hull lines, construction techniques, and adaptations to bulk cargo needs.

State 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.

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.

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.