Shotline Diving Wreck Profile
- Name: Ida H. Lee
- Type: Wooden screw tug (towboat)
- Year Built: 1863
- Builder: Hingston Brothers, Buffalo, New York
- Dimensions: Approximately 45 ft (13.72 m) long × 10 ft beam × 5 ft draft; approx. 24 gross tons
- Registered Tonnage: 24 gross tons
- Depth at Wreck Site: 18 m / 60 ft
- Location: Milwaukee harbour breakwater
- Official Number: 100058
- Original Owners: W. D. Lee
- Number of Masts: Single deck
Wreck Location Map
Vessel Type
A small steam-powered wooden tugboat, used for towing barges and schooners around harbor environments, typical of mid-19th century industrial port operations.
Description
Built with a single deck and compact hull, the Ida H. Lee was designed for harbour towage. Her wooden structure supported a simple steam engine driving a single propeller.
History
- 1863: Enrolled at Buffalo under the ownership of W. D. Lee (wisconsinshipwrecks.org)
- 1866: Re-enrolled in Chicago
- 1867: Rebuilt at Sheboygan under Captain Nels Theodore Nelson
- 1869: Suffered a fire at Sturgeon Bay (this likely refers to another small tug)
Her final operation on 23 April 1874 involved towing the lumber-laden schooner Ida. The tugs and tow collided—Ida H. Lee tangled in her own towline and was rammed by the Ida—causing her to capsize and sink rapidly. Captain Daly and deckhand James Dixon escaped, but engineer James Slocum remained trapped below and drowned (wisconsinshipwrecks.org, greatlakesrex.wordpress.com).
Significant Incidents
- 23 April 1874: Capsized and sank while towing the schooner Ida, resulting in one fatality.
Final Disposition
The vessel sank upright in Milwaukee harbour after capsizing. No salvage of the hull is recorded.
Current Condition & Accessibility
Not located as a wreck site. It sank in deep harbor waters; no modern dive or archaeological records document its remains.
Resources & Links
[shotline_reference_links slug=”ida-h-lee-us-100058″ title=”References & Links”]
The Ida H. Lee, a 45-foot steam tug built in Buffalo in 1863, was lost in a tragic accident at Milwaukee harbour on April 23, 1874. While towing the schooner Ida, an entanglement set off a collision that overturned the tug. Two men survived, but the engineer’s entrapment led to a single fatality. The incident exemplifies the dangers of towline entanglement and proximity operations in confined waterways. No known wreck remains have been documented.
Full Wreck Record — complete historical article, construction details, voyage logs, incident reports, dive conditions, and all research sources.
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