Wreckage of this ship, on display on Sheboygan’s lakefront, was pulled from Lake Michigan’s icy waters in the 1990s. | Throwback Thursday
SHEBOYGAN - The Lottie Cooper was built when three-masted cargo ships were common on the Great Lakes, moving goods from port to port.
According to Sheboygan Press clippings provided by Beth Dippel of the Sheboygan County Historical Research Center, in 1876, the Lottie Cooper was constructed in Manitowoc. She would spend the next 18 years at sea on the lake, hauling lumber from various ports to Sheboygan to serve the need of lumber-hungry factories in the city.
She was part of the fleet operated by Edward Groh at the time. That fleet included the schooners Lottie Cooper, Evening Star, Joseph Duvall and Quickstep. Tugs Sheboygan, Satisfaction and Peter Reiss were also an important part of the fleet. The job of the tugs was towing schooners and scows into the Sheboygan Harbor before the north breakwater construction.
In a vintage photo, she is quite a regal sight with a full sail, parked along several of her contemporaries.
Lake Michigan storms have caused the demise of many fine vessels over the years, including the Lottie Cooper.
The schooner Lottie Cooper was anchored outside the harbor one late afternoon after its first trip of the season in 1894. Later that evening, a strong gale swept over the region causing a heavy sea. Water filled the hold of the schooner, which was loaded with lumber. It then capsized and sank to the bottom. She sank just off Sheboygan's south pier.
In a clipping from the Evening Telegram, the writer told of spring's "fierce gale that lashed the water of Lake Michigan into an angry sea," and described the drowning of Norwegian sailor Edward Olson, the first death of the 1894 shipping season. Capt. Fred Lorenz was in command of the schooner at the time it went down.
Wreckage floated from the lake to shore all day long after the sinking of the boat. By the time the Telegram published the news, everyone already knew about the tragedy.
For many years after the sinking of the Lottie Cooper, part of its hull protruded above the surface of the water.
Nearly 100 years after its sinking, during the construction of the Sheboygan Marina in the 1990s, the white-oak remains of the hull were pulled from the tenacious grip of the harbor's depths. At the time the oak on some portions of the wreckage looked like new wood as the icy waters of the lake preserved the planks.
In the summer of 1993, the remains of the Lottie Cooper were put on educational display at the lakefront along Broughton Drive, where she continues to tell the story of early maritime shipping near Sheboygan.
The two sides of the ship that were recovered are positioned 27 feet apart, the original width of the vessel.
Signs at the display tell the story of the ship's construction details and of the early days of Sheboygan's role in Great Lakes shipping of goods and people.
Today, she serves as a nostalgic reminder that 145 years ago she was a grand sight on the horizon of Lake Michigan, usually delivering loads of lumber to Sheboygan factories.
To see the image larger, click here.
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This article originally appeared on Sheboygan Press: Sheboygan's Lottie Cooper shipwreck pulled from Lake Michigan in 1990s
