SS ''Appomattox'' was a wooden-hulled,

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

Great Lakes freighter that ran aground on

Lake Michigan Lake Michigan ( ) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and depth () after Lake Superior and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the ...

, off Atwater Beach off the coast of

Shorewood, Wisconsin Shorewood is a village in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, United States. A suburb of Milwaukee, it is part of the Milwaukee metropolitan area. The population was 13,859 at the 2020 census. History In the early 19th century when the first white se ...

Milwaukee County, Wisconsin Milwaukee County () is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 939,489, down from 947,735 in 2010. It is both the most populous and most densely ...

, United States in 1905. On January 20, 2005 the remnants of the ''Appomattox'' were listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

. With .

History

The ''Appomattox'' (Official number 116682) was built in 1896 in West Bay City, Michigan by the shipyard owned by master shipbuilder James Davidson who was known for his innovative wooden hulled ships. It was the largest wooden steam powered bulk carrier ever to sail on the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes spanning the Canada–United States border. The five lakes are Lake Superior, Superior, Lake Michigan, Michigan, Lake Huron, H ...

. It was built for the Davidson Steamship Company which was also owned by Captain Davidson; it was also one of the last ships he built. At an

overall length The overall length (OAL) of an ammunition cartridge is a measurement from the base of the brass shell casing to the tip of the bullet, seated into the brass casing. Cartridge overall length, or "COL", is important to safe functioning of reloads i ...

of the ''Appomattox'' was one of the largest wooden ships ever built. Its hull was between its perpendiculars. Its beam was wide, and its hull was deep. It had a gross register tonnage of 2643 tons, and a

net register tonnage Net register tonnage (NRT, nrt, n.r.t.) is a ship's cargo volume capacity expressed in "register tons", one of which equals to a volume of . It is calculated by subtracting non-revenue-earning spaces i.e. spaces not available for carrying cargo, ...

of 2082 tons. It was equipped with a 1,100 horsepower

triple expansion steam engine A compound steam engine unit is a type of steam engine where steam is expanded in two or more stages. A typical arrangement for a compound engine is that the steam is first expanded in a high-pressure (HP) cylinder, then having given up heat ...

which was built by the Frontier Iron Works Company of

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. Its engine was fueled by two

Scotch marine boiler A "Scotch" marine boiler (or simply Scotch boiler) is a design of steam boiler best known for its use on ships. The general layout is that of a short horizontal cylinder. One or more large cylindrical furnaces are in the lower part of the boiler ...

s that were built by the Wickes Brothers of

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. They measured by Due to the vessel's length, the ''Appomattox'' used metallic cross bracing, a metallic

keelson The keelson or kelson is a reinforcing structural member on top of the keel in the hull of a vessel. Originally used on wooden ships, in modern usage a kellson is any structural member used to strengthen the hull or support any heavy weight.Cutl ...

, metallic plates, and multiple metallic arches. Several

siphon A siphon (; also spelled syphon) is any of a wide variety of devices that involve the flow of liquids through tubes. In a narrower sense, the word refers particularly to a tube in an inverted "U" shape, which causes a liquid to flow upward, abo ...

s, pumps were required to keep the ''Appomattox'' afloat. ''Wisconsin's Great Lakes Shipwrecks: Appomattox''

University of Wisconsin–Madison The University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, UW, UW–Madison, or simply Madison) is a public land-grant research university in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It was founded in 1848 when Wisconsin achieved st ...

Sea Grant Institute and

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, 2003 The ''Appomattox'' operated mainly on the

, carrying

iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the f ...

on its eastward voyages, and then returning westward with

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

. The ship usually towed the steamer barge ''Santiago'', which had a length of 324 feet (98.8 m), to increase the amount of cargo carried each trip. The ''Appomattox'' alone could carry more than 3,000 tons of bulk cargo, and it and the ''Santiago'' had a combined capacity approaching 8,000 tons. On August 3, 1900 the ''Appomattox'' was towing the schooner-barge ''Santiago'' in the

St. Clair River The St. Clair River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed November 7, 2011 river in central North America which flows from Lake Huron into Lake St. Clair, forming part ...

. Meanwhile, the schooner ''Fontana'' was under tow of the steamer ''Kaliyuga''. Then as the four ships approached each other, the ''Santiago'' veered off course and collided with the ''Fontana'', which sank almost immediately with one fatality.

Final voyage

On the day of November 2, 1905 the coal-laden ''Appomattox'' was bound southward with the ''Santiago'' which was also full of coal. They were sailing on the west shore of Lake Michigan. The pair came upon a thick bank of fog which severely impaired their visibility. The two vessels came too close to the shoreline and ran aground. Another vessel named ''Iowa'' was nearby, and she also ran aground. With the use of wrecking tugs, a Revenue Service cutter and the crew of the

United States Life-Saving Service The United States Life-Saving ServiceDespite the lack of hyphen in its insignia, the agency itself is hyphenated in government documents including: and was a United States government agency that grew out of private and local humanitarian eff ...

Station were able to free the ''Santiago'' and the ''Iowa'' in no time at all. Unfortunately the ''Appomattox'' had run aground so hard that it sustained severe bottom damage, the crews worked but were unable to refloat the hull. As the weather deteriorated, and the waves continued to pound the hulk of the ''Appomattox'', the crew of the wrecking tugs and the U.S. Lifesaving Service continued in their effort to salvage her. But the bottom of the ''Appomattox'' had cracked in several places, and even though multiple pumps were used, they could not keep the water from entering her hull. The wrecking crews abandoned her on November 15, 1905. In 1907, or 1919, the Reid (or Reed) Wrecking Company of

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removed all of her machinery.

Wreck

The remains of the ''Appomattox'' rest in of water off Atwater Beach. The remains consist of the ''Appomattox'' intact lower bilge which measures , her port side which measures in length, her starboard side, the remains of her engine beds are also located within the wreck. The wreck is popular with divers due to its close proximity to shore and shallow depth.

References

Notes

Citations

{{DEFAULTSORT:Appomattox 1896 ships Maritime incidents in 1905 Shipwrecks on the National Register of Historic Places in Wisconsin Steamships of the United States Shipwrecks of Lake Michigan National Register of Historic Places in Door County, Wisconsin Ships built by James Davidson Great Lakes freighters Wreck diving sites