Legacy Notes & Full Historical Record

This section preserves the original unedited Shotline content for this wreck so that no historical detail is lost as we transition to the new logbook format.

Identification & Site Information

• Vessel Name: Delaware
• Former Names: None known
• U.S. Official Number / Registry: Not listed (pre-1866 registration)
• Year Built: 1846
• Year Lost: 1855
• Date of Loss: 5 November 1855
• Depth: Approx. 15 ft (4.57 m) at time of loss
• Location: Lake Michigan, 7–8 miles south of Sheboygan, WI
• Coordinates: N 43° 38.984′ / W 87° 43.474′
• County: Sheboygan
• Nearest City: Sheboygan, WI

Vessel Type

• Type: Steam screw (propeller steamer)
• Primary Use: Freight transport (general provisions)
• Rig: Single mast (auxiliary sail)

Construction Details

• Hull Material: Wood
• Length: 173.84 ft (52.98 m)
• Beam: 24.25 ft (7.39 m)
• Depth of Hold: 10.25 ft (3.12 m)
• Gross Tonnage: Not listed
• Builder: Thomas H. Cobb & L.D. Burnell
• Construction Site: Black River, Ohio (some sources list Black River, New York)
• Propulsion: Steam screw propeller, single engine, single stack
• Special Notes:
  • Originally 145 ft (canal-size); cut and lengthened ~30 ft in 1847 for lake trade.
  • Wood-hulled with single-deck cargo configuration.

Ownership & Registry

• Owners: Davis, Sutton, M.C. Hale & Capt. Dixon of Buffalo, NY
• Home Port: Buffalo, NY

Cargo & Service History

• Cargo at Loss:
  • ~2,400 barrels of beef
  • Flour
  • Green hides
  • General provisions bound Chicago → Buffalo
• Service Notes:
  • Operated as a Lake Michigan–Lake Erie cargo steamer.
  • Designed for freight and limited passenger service.
  • Underwent hull lengthening (1847) to compete with larger freighters.

Final Voyage & Sinking

• Date of Incident: 5 November 1855
• Voyage: Chicago to Buffalo, NY
• Event Summary:
  • Driven ashore by heavy gale approximately 7–8 miles south of Sheboygan, WI.
  • Vessel stranded in ~15 ft of water.
  • Hull broke apart and cargo was lost.
  • Total Loss declared.
• Casualties:
  • Crew of 18; 10–11 fatalities, 7 survivors
  • No crew names have been confirmed in digital records
• Aftermath:
  • Wreck quickly broke up in shallow water
  • Cargo scavenged or lost to lake
  • No documented salvage beyond initial attempts

Site & Archaeological Status

• Wreck Condition:
  • The vessel broke up completely in shallow water shortly after grounding
  • Likely scattered remains, buried or eroded
  • Modern discovery of structural remains unconfirmed
• Depth: 15 ft (4.57 m) originally; likely now buried under shifting sands
• Diving Notes:
  • Visibility & conditions: High sand movement; shallow surf zone hazard
  • No formal dive documentation or coordinates of surviving timbers

Notmars & Advisories

• No contemporary Notices to Mariners recorded.
• Hazard quickly dissipated due to shallow, breaking surf zone.

Casualty & Crew Records

• Total Crew: 18
• Lives Lost: 10–11
• Known Survivors: 7
• Crew Names: Unrecorded in digitized archives

Research Recommendations:

• Buffalo marine insurance archives (1855) may have crew affidavits.
• Local death registers in Buffalo and Sheboygan could provide obituaries or family claims.
• Historic newspapers (Buffalo Daily Courier, Sheboygan Mercury) in microfilm may contain individual notices.

Resources & Links

• Wisconsin Shipwrecks – Delaware
• Great Lakes Maritime Database (Ann Arbor)
• Great Lakes Shipwrecks Research
• Sheboygan Historical Society

Historical Significance

The Delaware represents:

• Early steam screw freighter evolution on the Great Lakes
• Transition from canal-size hulls to extended hulls for lake cargo
• One of many mid-19th-century losses during autumn storms on Lake Michigan

As no structural remains are known today, it is primarily a historical wreck site, with archival and casualty research value rather than diving or tourism potential.

steamer-delaware-us-1846 1855-11-05 21:20:00