Great Lakes Marine & Shipping
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Wisconsin's East Coast
Shipping, fishing and marine related industries are important to Wisconsin history. In the early years, Wisconsin was the primary link between the St. Lawrence Seaway and Great Lakes and the Mississippi River. Many people and goods traveled through the ports along the east coast of Wisconsin.
Below are WI Marine and Shipping Related Links. If you have any to add, please click the submit a link box to the right to submit your link.
General Information
- Beeson's Marine Directory of the Northwestern Lakes 1909 - Google Books - Directory of ports along the Great Lakes for the year 1909. -
Shipping Ports
Door County
Kenosha County
- Fathoms Deep but Not Forgotten: Wisconsin’s Lost Shipwreck Sites Part I: Kenosha’s Undiscovered Shipwrecks - Article by Brendon Baillod -
Kewaunee County
- Algoma Lighthouse - Lighthouses were an important part of the early shipping industry. Lighthouses often saved ships from the perils of great lakes storms. -
- Christmas Tree Ships - History of the Christmas Tree Ship and a great history of the Algoma Harbor. This site Includes pictures of the Christmas tree ships and the life and times of Captain Herman Schuenemann -
- Kewaunee Car Ferries - History of the Kewaunee car ferries. -
- Kewaunee County Maritime History - Timeline of historic maritime events for Kewaunee county. -
- Tug Ludington - The Tug now rest in Harbor Park in Downtown, Kewaunee -
Manitowoc County
- Shipbuilding Manitowoc County - Ships built in Manitowoc County -
Milwaukee County
- Lady Elgin Shipwreck - Passenger steamer carrying Milwaukee passengers on its way from Chicago to Milwaukee. Lives Lost: 297 of 400 -
- Milwaukee Marine and Shipping Shipwrecks and Disasters - Shipwrecks along the Milwaukee County Shore or related to Milwaukee County Residents -
- Milwaukee Steamboat and Propeller Lines - Source: 1857-58 Milwaukee City Directory Erving, Burdick & Co. 205 and 207 East Water Street -
- Milwaukee-Lake Michigan Ship Wrecks - Lake Michigan Shipwreck diving -
- Port of Milwaukee History - History of the Port of Milwaukee -
- The port of Milwaukee: Historical--descriptive--prospective 1922 - By Milwaukee (Wis.). Board of Harbor Commissioner -
Racine County
Sheboygan County
- Sheboygan County Marine related articles of interest - Various news articles of interest. -
Sailors and Captains
- Beeson's Marine Directory of the Northwestern Lakes 1896 - Directory of people associated with the shipping industry -
- History of the Great Lakes (transcription) - Onsite link with a transcription of the book History of the Great Lakes, by J.B. Mansfield. It includes an index of the ships listed in Volume 1 and a full index of names listed in the biographical volume 2. It also includes a few other marine and maritim -
- Photos of Captains (Downward Bound) - Photos of ship captains. -
- Ship and Boat Captains from the Milwaukee area - Marine Captains from or connected to Milwaukee County -
Great Lakes Vessels and Shipwrecks
There are a variety of vessel databases in this section. If you find your vessel in one, you may want to try others as unique information could be presented in different databases, depending on what was collected on the vessel, the original source of information and the contributions to the databases.
- Alpena Public Library Vessel Database - Thunder Bay, Ontario Library database -
- David Swayze's Great Lakes History - Extensive collection of information on Great Lakes History, including a comprehensive Great Lakes Shipwreck File. David is also compiling a list of names of persons who lost their lives on the Great Lakes in the period 1799-2001. -
- Great Lakes and Seaway Shipping - Information on vessel passage, photos, facts and figures, etc. -
- Great Lakes Marine Collection at the Milwaukee Public Library - The collection includes ship files, log books, vessel plans, and wreck reports of Great Lakes ships (not only Milwaukee related ships). -
- Historical Collection of the Great Lakes - Bowling Green University Great Lakes Vessels Online Index. -
- Historical Great Lakes Vessel Accident Database, v.3.0 - The accident database contains over 21,000 records of Great Lakes vessel accidents taken from original archival accident lists compiled by marine insurance companies, marine reporters and government agencies. by Brendon Baillod & transcribed by volunteers -
- Lake Superior Maritime Collections - Ship Names File - Part of the UW Superior Online Collection -
- Manitowoc County Shipwrecks - Shipwrecks along the Manitowoc County Shore. -
- Marine Heritage Database - Save Ontario Shipwrecks Vessel Database -
- Minnesota Historic Shipwrecks - Yes, Minnesota does touch the great lakes too. -
- Ships Built in Sheboygan County - List of Ships Built in Sheboygan County -
- Steamboat and Propeller Lines 1905 - Source: Source: The Saint Marys Falls Canal: Exercises at the Semi-centennial Celebration at at Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan, August 2 and 3, 1905, together with a history of the canal by John H. Goff, and papers relating to the Great Lakes. -
- Vessels Wrecked at Sheboygan - Ships and vessels wrecked near the coast of Sheboygan -
- Wisconsin Great Lakes Shipwrecks Article Index Database - Search for stories about ships, lighthouses, sailors and anything else about life on Lake Michigan. The database contains references to articles in WI Newspapers. -
- Wisconsin Marine Historical Society Enrollment Database - Our collection includes the U.S. Customs Service Great Lakes Vessel Enrollment Records listing for the period 1815 through 1915. The database has over 40,000 records for 24,000 vessels. -
- Wisconsin Shipwrecks - Learn more about Wisconsin Shipwrecks from the Wisconsin Historical Society -
Related Websites
- Blue Books of American Shipping on Google Books - Marine and Naval Blue Books on Google Books. Lists vessels and their owner or manager. -
- Car Ferries of the Great Lakes - Photos and information about Great Lakes Car Ferries. -
- Downward Bound - Great Lakes Shipping articles. -
- Fathoms Deep but not Forgotten - Synopsis of Wisconsin Historic Shipwrecks Database online by Brendon Baillod -
- Fr. Edward J. Dowling, S.J. Marine Historical Collection - The collection has close to 58,000 photographs, plastic and glass negatives, postcards, color plates, sketches, and paintings, as well as detailed information on nearly every commercial ship that sailed the Great Lakes since 1850.(Univ. of Detroit Mercy). -
- Great Lakes Marine Collection Database - The marine database of the Wisconsin Marine Historical Society and the Milwaukee Public Library has information on more than 10,000 Great Lakes vessels. It includes vessels from 1815 to the present. -
- Great Lakes Naval Training Station - 1919 - Official History of the Great Lakes Naval Training Station -
- Great Lakes Shipwreck Research - The Original Portal for News, Research & Dive Info since 1995 by Brendon Balliod -
- Lifesaving Service on the Great Lakes - Article By Bill Wangemann,City of Sheboygan Historian, 1995 -
- List of U. S. Lifesaving Service and U. S. Coast Guard lifesavers Lost in the Line of Duty on the Great Lakes - Link to the Microsoft Word document is in a green box near the bottom of the page. -
- Maritime History of the Great Lakes - Includes Newspaper transcriptions, ship lists, shipwrecks, historical documents, articles, etc. -
- Sailing on the Great Lakes and Rivers of America - 1874 - Includes information on the Copper, Iron and Silver Region of Lake Superior, Commerce of the Lakes, complete guide to the upper lakes, upper Mississippi, Upper Missouri also Railroad and Steamboat Routes. -
- The Great Lakes or Inland Seas of America 1885 - Embracing a full description of Lakes Superior, Huron, Michigan, Erie and Ontario; Rivers St. Mary, St. Clair, Detroit, Niagra, and St. Lawrence. Commerce of the Lakes, etc. -
- The Story of the Great Lakes - 1909 - Book with maps and illustrations. -
- Wisconsin Maritime Museum - The Wisconsin Maritime Museum engages and educates the public about the maritime history of Wisconsin and the Great Lakes, including Wisconsin's World War II submarines and USS COBIA. -
- Wisconsin Maritime Trails - To foster wider public appreciation of the state's rich maritime past and encourage preservation of unique historic sites such as shipwrecks, lighthouses and historic waterfronts, the Wisconsin Historical Society established the Maritime Trails program. -
