Great Lakes Shipwreck Preservation Society – GLSPS

Posted to Facebook on December 27, 2024

We have just added a small Lake Michigan fish tug photographed by our partner Wisconsin Historical Society to the 3DShipwrecks.org database and website.

The 35 ft fish tug Peter W. was built in 1945 in Wiinikka Boat Works near the south entry of the Keweenaw Waterway. The boat was used in the fishing trade in multiple areas and sold and resold to multiple owners. It fished in Keweenaw, L’Anse, then to Sturgeon Bay Wisconsin, and finally to Door County. Her final owner was John Schmirler, who fished the boat out of Ellison Bay. In the mid 1980’s the boat mysteriously broke from its berth on the pier at Gills Rock of Door County and sank not far from the dock.

Today the boat is only occasionally dived in 55 ft of water. The model was created from 2,686 4000×3000 GoPro images shot in the 2023 season by Zach Whitrock as part of a Wisconsin Historical Society Project. The link to the new model is: https://3dshipwrecks.org/shipwreck-peter-w/ and the location is shown in the second image.