Lucerne (shipwreck)
{{Short description|Schooner wrecked in Lake Superior}}
{{Coord|46|43.389|N|90|46.035|W|display=title}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image |Ship image=File:Lucerne with Selah Chamberlain and Raleigh.jpg |Ship caption= An early 1880s photograph of the Lucerne }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country=United States |Ship flag={{shipboxflag|United States|merchant}} |Ship registry={{flag|United States|civil}} |Ship name=Lucerne |Ship owner=William Mack (part owner) |Ship operator=Captain George George S. Lloyd, skipper William Mack |Ship ordered= |Ship builder= |Ship yard number= |Ship laid down= |Ship launched=April 23, 1873 |Ship christened= |Ship maiden voyage= |Ship identification= |Ship acquired= |Ship nickname= |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship fate=Lost with all 10[http://wisconsinshipwrecks.org/vessel/Details/386 Wisconsin Shipwrecks] hands in a storm on November 17 or 18, 1886 |Ship status=Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1991 |Ship notes=Location: {{Coord|46|43.389|N|90|46.035|W}}{{cite web|title=Great Lakes Shipwrecks|url=http://www.wisconsinshipwrecks.org/divers_mooringsall.cfm|accessdate=21 July 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130602094559/http://www.wisconsinshipwrecks.org/divers_mooringsall.cfm|archive-date=2 June 2013|url-status=dead}} }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship type=Schooner |Ship tonnage=728 gross tons |Ship displacement= |Ship length={{convert|195|ft|m|0}} |Ship beam= |Ship depth= |Ship hold depth= |Ship draft= |Ship capacity= 1,330 |Ship ice class= |Ship power= |Ship propulsion= |Ship speed= |Ship crew=9 |Ship notes= }} {{Infobox NRHP |embed=yes |name= Lucerne (Shipwreck) |image= |caption= |map_caption= |location= |nearest_city= La Pointe, Wisconsin | locmapin= |built= |architect= |architecture= | added= December 18, 1991 | area= | refnum= 91001775 |mpsub= |governing_body= }} |
Lucerne was a commercial schooner. In November 1886, she sank due to bad weather in Lake Superior, off Long Island in Chequamegon Bay. The site of the wreck was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.{{cite web|url=http://historical-places.findthedata.org/l/60661/LUCERNE-Shipwreck |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120710045959/http://historical-places.findthedata.org/l/60661/LUCERNE-Shipwreck |url-status=dead |archive-date=2012-07-10 |title=Lucerne (Shipwreck): La Pointe, Wisconsin |publisher=Find the Data.org |accessdate=2012-01-22 }}
History
Lucerne was launched on April 23, 1873. She was nearly {{convert|195|ft|m|0}} long and reportedly cost $55,000 to build.{{cite web|url=http://www.wisconsinshipwrecks.org/explore_lucerne_serv.cfm|title=Service History|publisher=Wisconsin Shipwrecks.org|accessdate=2012-01-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120428211752/http://www.wisconsinshipwrecks.org/explore_lucerne_serv.cfm|archive-date=2012-04-28|url-status=dead}}
On November 15, 1886, Lucerne was loaded with 1,200 tons of iron ore at her home port, Ashland, Wisconsin. The load was consigned to Little, Oglebay and Company of Cleveland, Ohio.{{cite book|last=Keller|first=James|title=The Unholy Apostles|year=1984 |isbn=0-933577-001|pages=39–44}} After the delivery, the captain and crew began a voyage back to Ashland. With new canvas sails and a light wind blowing, all the signs pointed to a speedy voyage home. However, a November snowstorm on the lake began developing that night.
On November 17 or 18, 1886, Lucerne succumbed to the violent storm, and sank off Long Island.{{cite web|url=http://www.wisconsinshipwrecks.org/explore_lucerne_final2.cfm|title=Final Voyage|publisher=Wisconsin Shipwrecks.org|accessdate=2012-01-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101203093513/http://wisconsinshipwrecks.org/explore_lucerne_final2.cfm|archive-date=2010-12-03|url-status=dead}} At the height of the storm, the captain of the ship Fred Kelly had sighted Lucerne, but Fred Kelly unfortunately could not offer any help to the distressed ship under the circumstances. Nobody witnessed Lucerne{{'}}s final minutes, and none of the crew survived.
William Mack, part owner of Lucerne, became worried when the ship never arrived back at Ashland. He telegraphed Bayfield, Wisconsin, and asked for a search vessel to be sent. The boat S. B. Barker was dispatched for the purpose, but did not have to go far to find the wreckage of Lucerne. The S. B. Barker′s crew discovered three masts sticking out of the water. Upon closer inspection, they saw three of the ship's crew members there, frozen solid in three inches (76 mm) of ice. Apparently they had climbed to the top of the masts to escape the freezing waters of Lake Superior and had perished there while waiting to be rescued. The three bodies were moved to Bayfield.[http://wisconsinshipwrecks.org/vessel/Details/386 Wisconsin Shipwrecks]
See also
file:Lucerne Shipwreck items.jpg|Items recovered from the Lucerne shipwreck site, on display at the Madeline Island Historical Museum.
file:Capstan from Lucerne.jpg|This capstan was used to raise the great canvas sails and to handle mooring lines aboard the three-masted schooner Lucerne. It remains on display at the Bayfield Maritime Museum.
References
{{reflist}}
{{Apostle Islands}}
{{1886 shipwrecks}}
{{NRHP Lake Superior shipwrecks}}
Category:Maritime incidents in November 1886
Category:Shipwrecks of the Wisconsin coast
Category:Shipwrecks on the National Register of Historic Places in Wisconsin
Category:Shipwrecks of Lake Superior
Category:Ships lost with all hands
Category:National Register of Historic Places in Ashland County, Wisconsin