Sheboygan County shipwreck added to National Register of Historic Places. What to know about 'Abiah.'

Brandon Reid, Sheboygan Press
·1 min read
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A view of the Abiah shipwreck, submerged under Lake Michigan 13 miles northeast of the Sheboygan Harbor lighthouse.
A view of the Abiah shipwreck, submerged under Lake Michigan 13 miles northeast of the Sheboygan Harbor lighthouse.

MOSEL - A shipwreck that lies submerged in Lake Michigan, about 13 miles northeast of the Sheboygan Breakwater Lighthouse, has been listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Abiah was a schooner launched in late summer 1847 in Irving, New York. It operated in the Great Lakes grain and lumber trades during its career.

In September 1855, while in route from Chicago to Oconto in Wisconsin, Abiah was struck by a sudden squall and capsized.

The vessel was towed to within 15 miles of Sheboygan, where it was finally overtaken by waves and sank.

Abiah’s location remained unknown — until the site was discovered in 2019.

The vessel is largely intact and is submerged beneath 220 feet of water, a news release from Wisconsin Historical Society said.

"The site has the potential to yield a wealth of information about early schooner construction on the Great Lakes," the society added in its release.

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A diver explores the Abiah Shipwreck site on Lake Michigan, 13 miles northeast of the Sheboygan Breakwater Lighthouse.
A diver explores the Abiah Shipwreck site on Lake Michigan, 13 miles northeast of the Sheboygan Breakwater Lighthouse.

Abiah was added to the State Register of Historic Places in 2021, a news release from the state historical society said in December.

The National Register is the official list of historic properties in America deemed worthy of preservation and is maintained by the National Park Service in the U.S. Department of the Interior. The Wisconsin Historical Society administers the program within Wisconsin. It includes sites, buildings, structures, objects and districts that are significant in national, state or local history, architecture, archaeology, engineering or culture.

More about Abiah is at https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/NationalRegister/NR2726.

Contact Brandon Reid at 920-686-2984 or breid@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @breidHTRNews.

This article originally appeared on Sheboygan Press: Lake Michigan shipwreck joins National Register of Historic Places