18-month search for a Great Lakes shipwreck is the subject of the next DCMM speaker program

STURGEON BAY - The mysterious disappearance of a commercial fishing boat in Lake Michigan, and the 18-month-long search that followed, is the topic of the next program in the Maritime Speaker Series offered by the Door County Maritime Museum.

Brennan Christianson, the museum's collections coordinator, will present "The Search for the Linda E." Jan. 4 at the museum's Sturgeon Bay location. The public can attend the program in person at the museum or see it online via Zoom.

The Linda E. was a nearly 40-foot-long vessel designed to haul and set gill nets for commercial fishing, described as a typical Great Lakes commercial fishing boat by the Wisconsin Shipwrecks website. It was used only in winters by owner/captain Leif Weborg because it had a reinforced hull suitable to withstand icy conditions, a report on the wreck from the U.S. Coast Guard said.

Built in 1937, she was still active from her home port of Port Washington on Dec. 11, 1998. That day was calm and sunny with no visibility issues on Lake Michigan, as the three experienced commercial anglers aboard the Linda E., two of them Door County natives, traveled 6 miles from shore to catch chubs – but never returned. No distress call was sent from the boat, which was equipped with radio and cellphones, and searchers found no trace of a wreck – no debris, bodies, not even an oil slick.

It was the beginning of the search for the Linda E. that took a year and a half, one the U.S. Coast Guard at the time called the largest air-water search ever on Lake Michigan, with findings whose repercussions resonate to this day.

Christianson earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay with a major in history and minors in humanities and German. He attended graduate school at UW-Milwaukee, earning a master's in public history and a certificate in museum studies.

DCMM hosts experts and interesting characters from around the country to give programs on maritime topics, from history to current issues affecting the Great Lakes and the economy that relies on them, for the Maritime Speaker Series. The programs are held the first Thursday of each month from October through May.

Future scheduled programs are on "Native Canoes in Wisconsin," presented by archaeologists Sissel Schroeder and Tamara Thomsen on Feb. 1; "Freshwater Fisheries" by Dr. Karen Murchie of Chicago's Shedd Aquarium, March 7; and "Bridging the Gap: The History of the Sturgeon Bay Railroad Bridge" by Daniel Liedtke of the National Railroad Museum in Ashwaubenon, April 4. The subject of the May 2 program is to be determined.

Brennan Christianson presents "The Search for the Linda E." at 7 p.m. Jan. 4 on the second floor of the Door County Maritime Museum, 120 N. Madison Ave., Sturgeon Bay. There is no cost to attend or view it on Zoom; the museum suggests bringing a nonperishable food item for donation if attending in person or donating to a local food pantry if watching online. For more information and a link to register for the online presentation, visit dcmm.org/seaperch/maritime-speaker-series.

Contact Christopher Clough at 920-562-8900 or cclough@doorcountyadvocate.com.

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This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: DCMM speaker program looks at 18-month search for Great Lakes shipwreck