Oscar Newhouse – St. Marys River Schooner Shipwreck (1927)

Shotline Diving Wreck Profile

• Name: Oscar Newhouse
• Type: Schooner
• Year Built: 1876
• Builder: Olsen, Sheboygan, WI
• Dimensions: 70 ft × 20 ft × 7 ft; tonnage ~70 gross / ~65 net
• Registered Tonnage: 70 gross / 65 net
• Location: Rocky Point, Michigan (St. Mary’s River)
• Official Number: 19459
• Original Owners: C. E. Garey of Saginaw, Michigan
• Number of Masts: Two

Wreck Location Map

Vessel Type

• Originally built as a wooden two-mast schooner
• Converted sometime between 1895 and 1910 to an auxiliary gas-screw schooner (i.e. equipped with gas engine)
• Used as a packet vessel, reportedly employed as a rum-runner in her later years

Description

Oscar Newhouse was a modest wooden schooner: 70 ft long, 20 ft beam, and 7 ft draft, with approximately 70 gross tons. Constructed in Sheboygan, Wisconsin (1876), she underwent a conversion to auxiliary gas propulsion around the turn of the century, reflecting the transition from sail to internal combustion propulsion in small Great Lakes packet vessels. Her design was typical of wooden coastal schooners used for local freight, passenger or small cargo service.

History

• Ownership: By 1927, owned by C. E. Garey of Saginaw, Michigan.
• Service: Initially sail-powered schooner, later auxiliary gas engine installed. She reportedly functioned as a rum-runner during Prohibition-era trade, likely operating covertly in the St. Mary’s River corridor—though no documented seizures or legal records have been located.
• Crew: Records indicate three persons were aboard at the time of fire; all survived. No further details about names or roles are provided in the surviving registry files. No casualties. No obituary or memorial records found in usual Great Lakes vessel loss index.

Significant Incidents

• The vessel was destroyed by fire on July 8, 1927, off Rocky Point, MI in the St. Mary’s River. Details regarding the cause or sequence of events—crew accounts, fire origin, cargo, or exact location—are absent in surveyed sources.
• A registry surrender form filed in Port Huron on August 20, 1927, was annotated “vessel burned,” formally ending her status as an active vessel.
• No insurance or court records have been located thus far; correspondence files from HCGL/U.S. casualty lists do not yield further technical or legal detail.

Final Disposition

• Discovery: There is currently no confirmed wreck location known. Oscar Newhouse is not listed in modern deep-site databases or dive records. As far as available records indicate, the wreck remains unlocated.
• Condition: Unknown (likely dispersed or scavenged, as small wooden hull burned and sank shallow in a river).

Current Condition & Accessibility

• No official navigational hazard bulletins or Notices to Mariners referencing Oscar Newhouse exist in archival navigation charts or hazard lists published later. None noted.

Resources & Links

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Oscar Newhouse represents a small-scale packet schooner typical of late 19th-century Great Lakes coastal trade, later adapted to gas engine power and perhaps illicit transport during Prohibition. Her destruction by fire in 1927 marked the end of a modest maritime career. The absence of detailed witness reports, legal or insurance records, combined with no subsequent wreck identification, leaves significant gaps in her story—particularly regarding the crew, cargo, fire origin, and any post-loss salvage.

Research Recommendations: Consult Port Huron Times-Herald or local newspapers (e.g. Detroit, Saginaw press) from July–September 1927 for reports of the vessel burning or crew statements. Review U.S. Coast Guard or predecessor hazard-loss filings and correspondence residing in archives (National Archives at Chicago or Detroit). Investigate C. E. Garey shipping or business records in Saginaw area historical or maritime archives. Field survey of St. Mary’s River shallow zones near Rocky Point via side-scan sonar or diver exploration may help locate remains.