Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2014 All Rights Reserved USGenNet Data Repository Please read USGenNet Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott for the USGenNet Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ =========================================================================== Formatted by USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== The Milwaukee Journal Tuesday, October 29, 1929 S.S. WISCONSIN SUNK, 10 DEAD Boat Goes Down Near Kenosha, 63 Rescued Springs Leak Off Waukegan While on Way From Chicago to Milwaukee; Battles Lake Storm Off Kenosha in Vain as S O S Calls Summon Coast Guards. The Goodrich passenger steamer Wisconsin sank off Kenosha harbor about 7 a.m. Tuesday with the loss of at least 10 lives. H. E. Lyon, Ardmore hotel, Milwaukee, the purser did ****** his list of crew and passengers off the ship, but he said that to the best of his knowledge there were 73 aboard. With 10 dead **** hospitals, and 44 other survivors listed, all were believed accounted for by noon. The survivors able to make the trip were placed on a North Shore special car at 2:45 p.m. and taken to Chicago. Four of those saved were passengers. Kenosha and Racine coast guards took off 39 men but the ship sank before they could return for the rest. The two coast guard boats and Chambers Brothers fishing tug picked up 27 more, some on life rafts and some clinging to wreckage. Seven of those were dead and three others died in Kenosha hospitals. Physicians said that 10 or 12 others were in critical condition from exposure and might not live. No list is available to determine the number of missing. Among the dead were Capt. D. H. Morrison, Chicago who went down with his ship and who was picked up later clinging to a part of the cabin, and Chief Engineer Julius Buschman, Manito- woc, who fought off members of the crew when they tried to force him into a lifeboat. Buschman chose to stick with his captain. It was reported that before the rescuers returned he was washed overboard. Captain Dies on Land Capt. Morrison was alive when he was picked up, but in a very weak condition. He seemed to regain some of his strength on the way to shore in the Kenosha coast guard boat and when he was half carried from boat to ambulance he tried to walk. Coast guards rushed up to shake his hands and he acknowledged their greetings with a weak smile. He collapsed just as he reached the ambulance and was dead before he reached the hospital. The full list of known dead is as follows: Capt. D. H. Morrison, Chicago Chief Engineer Julius Bushman, Manitowoc Victor Estes, deckhand, Chicago Joseph Metz, deckhand, Chicago Walter Rein, deckhand, Chicago Sam Richards, deckhand, Chicago Burt DeCassagus, chief cook, Chicago "Old Joe," last name unknown, a deckhand A negro, Joe, last name unknown, third cook An unidentified man. The coast guards and the fishing tug gave up the search about 10 a.m. Tuesday, reporting that if any men were missing they must have sunk with the ship. A navy seaplane from the Great Lakes training station was sent about noon to circle over the stormy lake and look for survivors or bodies. Leak Discovered Near Waukegan The WISCONSIN left Chicago about 7:45 p.m. Monday. A bad leak on the port side was discovered about 11 p.m. when the ship was off Waukegan. "The leak was reported from below." said Fred Truber, 23, of 121 Nineteenth st., Milwaukee, who was on lookout duty. "I notified Capt. Morrison at once and he ordered the pumps started. There was a lot of water in the hold and it kept on gaining in spite of the pumps. Capt. Morrison then ordered an S O S. While Carlson (the radio operator) was sending out the S O S, I manned the searchlight and began to swing it in a circle (the signal of distress)." Paul Berg, lookout at the Kenosha coast guard station saw the searchlight flashing and aroused the crew. The station's radio was turned on and the S O S was heard. The crew put out within a few minutes and was joined near the sinking ship by the Racine coast guards, who had put out after picking up the S O S. Ship Badly Listing. The Wisconsin was low in the water, listing badly to port with 15 feet of water in the hold and great waves were breaking over the upper works. The seas prevented the coast guards from laying along- side so the lifeboats were lowered, two on the port and one on the starboard side. As the starboard boat was lowered, three men rushed for it and tipped it over. One of them sank and was not seen again. The other two clung to the overturned boat and were pulled back aboard the WISCONSIN. The port side lifeboats containing 39 men, got away safely, but the small boats could not live in the storm so the occupants were transferred to the coast guard boats. One of the lifeboats was crushed against the Kenosha coast guard boat by the waves and Truber's arm was caught between, breaking it at the wrist. All in the boat were picked up. Captain Shouts "Goodby" The two coast guard boats could carry no more and had to pull away. George Richardson, who was aboard the Kenosha boat, said that he saw Capt. Morrison and his mates surrounded by 15 or 20 men stand- ing on the deck shouting "Goodby." The only hope of these men was the liferafts, for small boats could not live. The Kenosha coast guard boat in charge of Capt. Alfred Christoph- erson, landed 21 men at Kenosha harbor and put back immediately to rescue Morrison and the others on the ship. The Racine boat landed 18 soon after and followed the Kenosha boat back into the lake. In the meantime, Chambers Brothers fishing tug had gone out to aid in the rescue. Before any of the boats reached the WISCONSIN again, she sank set- tling at the stern and then ***ing under. The upper works tore free in the suction and life rafts laden with the rest of the officers and crew bobbed up. The fishing tug took the men off the rafts with dif- ficulty. Three men were taken from one raft. The other raft had nine men strapped to it. The tugmen reported that it rolled over several times before they could reach it and they feared that the men on it would drown. Taken From Raft Eight men, however, were able to loose their straps and help get aboard the tug. The other man, a negro, was unconscious and too weak to move and lay lashed to the raft. Clifton Young and Clarence *e***s, Kenosha, members of the tug crew, boarded the pitching raft and carried him to the tug. Three other men were picked up by the tug as they bobbed in the waves. One of the men aboard the Chambers tug was dead when it reached the harbor. The Kenosha coast guards returned to harbor in a few minutes with six men. Three had been supported in the water by life belts and the other had been clinging to wreckage. Three had to be carried to an ambulance on stretchers. The Racine boat appeared in a few minutes with six more men but before it landed Capt. John Olander shook his head, indicating that they were dead. Six bodies were unloaded and taken to the morgue. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Radio Keeps Two Ships In Touch The WISCONSIN was in communication by radio with its sister ship, the ILLINOIS, from shortly after midnight until the sinking vessel's radio went silent about 5:45 a.m. About 1 a.m. Kenneth Carlson, Mil- waukee, the WISCONSIN'S operator, reported that the WISCONSIN was sinking. Evidently he lost the ILLINOIS signal, for he sent an S O S about 1:30 a.m., saying that the fire hold was flooded and that immediate help was needed. He asked any receiver to relay the mes- sage to the captain of the ILLINOIS. The ILLINOIS meanwhile had been forced to run into Racine harbor for shelter when rudder chains broke. Capt. Fred J. Delletre of the ILLINOIS received a message from the Chicago commercial radio station relaying the WISCONSIN'S appeal and replied that he would put out as soon as repairs could be made. The Racine and Kenosha coast guards were reached by telephone, but already had put out. Due To Sink About 2 a.m. a carferry operator picked up another S O S with the report: "Due to sink anytime now!" The Chicago station caught this message at 2:30 a.m.: "Fires out. No steam. Rush tow before its too late." Then, in succession, came messages from the sinking ship: "Power weakening. Send help quick." "S O S drifting toward Kenosha harbor." "Can stay up half hour longer; is help coming?" "Can see coast guard coming half way out from Kenosha." "Kenosha coast guard here, have attached two lines." "Coast guard can do nothing, is standing by to take off crew. Any larger boats coming?" "Tug and other coast guard on way, we'll make it yet." Then, after an interval, "Abandoning ship. Can't stay any longer." A Pere Marquette carferry picked up the S O S outside Milwaukee harbor at 4:30 a.m. and sent a message that it would start for the sinking ship, but could not make it in less than two hours. ------------------------------------------------------------------- HORROR AND HEROISM BLENDED IN TALES BROUGHT BY SURVIVORS Man Awakens to Find Chaos Crew Shows Courage, Says One Witness, Denies Hysteria. Louis Larson, second engineer of the ill fated WISCONSIN, came out of the catastrophe uninjured. He told of the scene on board the ship when he awakened shortly before midnight. He had been off watch, but had been awakened by the pitching vessel and roaring sweep of the storm. Later he was called for duty. "Even at that hour - I think it was between midnight and 1 a.m.- the ship was rolling heavily. I went down to look at the engines and found a terrible amount of water already taken in. It sure looked bad and there was a good deal of confusion as the crew shouted back and forth above the gale. I was in the engine room for the last time about 3 a.m. At that time the engines quit struggling. They just wouldn't turn over any more. "I can't swear to it, but I think I saw Julius Buschman, chief engineer, pitch overboard while the lifeboats were being launched. He was throwing out a line to one of the boats when he slipped and went over. That was the last I saw of him. Apparently he didn't come up within reach of anybody." Bushman's body was recovered. Larson is a Milwaukee man, living at 1145 1/2 First st. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Showed Courage, Declares Survivor. John Rogers of Chicago, quartermaster of the WISCONSIN, was aboard the second boat to leave the sinking ship. He said that in spite of the mountainous seas the transfer to the boat was effected in an or- derly manner and that those who pulled away from the doomed vessel calmly took the seats alloted to them. "It was a terrible ordeal to go through." said Mr. Rogers, "but the scene certainly showed that in the crisis most men can be relied on to reveal their courage. I saw little of the hysteria which I have heard boils to the surface when men are face to face with death. "I can speak directly only of the one boatload, but for that one I say this much; It was a grand display of guts." ------------------------------------------------------------------- Lauds Calmness in Face of Death Praise for conduct of men and officers was voiced by Harvey Lyons, purser, as he was being rubbed down at a hotel. He was weak but could not be restrained from lauding his fellows. "I never saw more coolness and bravery in 33 years of sailing." he declared. "The men were laughing and cracking jokes as they low- ered the lifeboats and those who had to remain on the sinking ship until the coast guards return showed no sign of fear, although they knew the ship might go down before they could be taken off. "When we had to shove off on a raft the waves upset it several times and finally Sam Morrow and I dropped off into the water and hung, one on each side, to steady it. We were in the water two hours before help came." ------------------------------------------------------------------- Square Mile of Debris Found; Rescued Raving. Delirious From Battle With Waves, Many Survivors Cling to Sides of Tug. By FRANK SCHERSCHEL (Journal Staff Photographer) Kenosha, Wis. - A square mile of wreckage - that's all there is left of the WISCONSIN. I've just been out there where the boat went down and that's all there was to see. The fishing tug CHAMBERS, owned by the Chambers brothers and under command of Capt. Clifford Chambers, put out at 9:05 a.m. from Kenosha, just on the bare chance that survivors might be found. It was the second rescue trip for the tug. The first one, early in the morning, resulted in the saving of 15 men. When the tug had battled its way out there the second time, the water was literally sprinkled with wreckage. Mattresses, pillows, chairs, ladders, the upper rigging of the boat, boards, boxes and all manner of similar debris was scattered over the surface of the climb- ing water. Waves 12 Feet High A guess would give the height of the waves at 12 or 14 feet. Certainly it was the aftermath of a terrific gale. The little tug bounded up and down over the crests and plowed through without diffi- culty but it seemed to take hours to reach the scene. We were out of sight of land long before we reached the spot where the WISCONSIN went down. When we got there, Capt. Chambers ordered a complete survey of the water over a space of more than a mile square. We stayed out there bobbing up and down like a cork until the captain was satisified that there were no more bodies to be picked up. One of the objects sighted was a raft from the lost ship and it certainly was a hint of tragedy as it floated about hopelessly in the tumbling hills of black water. We also spotted three life preservers and pulled them in. Chairs Picked Up The crew picked up a number of chairs and other articles of value, which were brought in. We saw no clothing and no sign of personal belongings. One of the sights was a sprinkling of feathers, which showed like white specks on the water. Apparently a number of the pillows in the cabins had burst. Capt. Chambers told a thrilling story of the rescue of the 15 men his tug brought in the first time. He told of taking three men off a raft, just in the nick of time. The danger then was that the surviv- ors would die of exposure and it was this fact that led Capt. Chamb- ers to put back into Kenosha when he had saved the 15. The captain revealed that he had seen a number of bodies floating on the water, but said he had not dared to stop to pick them up, for fear that those he had rescued would perish before he could fight his way back the 9 miles to Kenosha harbor. Survivors Delirious Fishermen on the tug gave up their coats to the survivors and did everything else they could to make the men comfortable. "It was pitiful the way some of those survivors acted when we got them on board." Capt. Chambers said. "Many of them were delirious. They couldn't get it out of their heads that they were still tossing out there on the raft. They clung to the sides of the tug and wouldn't let go." Stories of heroism, both by members of the WISCONSIN crew and the rescue parties were common. Capt. Chambers told of the work of Bill Bratton, a member of the coast guard, who dived from his boat and pulled two men out of the water, getting them safely into the rescue boat. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Ship Received Test Sept. 17 List Seen Last Week of Little Consequence, Is Report. The steamer WISCONSIN of the Goodrich line was inspected as late as Sept. 17, when its boilers and hull were examined by two federal officials as she was en route from Milwaukee to Sheboygan, it was stated at the United States steamboat inspector's office in the federal building Tuesday. It was reported entirely seaworthy. That inspection, and one given July 3 as the vessel was bound from Sheboygan to Milwaukee, were re-examinations. The steamer had been given its yearly complete inspection Apr. 14 at Manitowoc, Wis. An inspection was given Oct. 15 of a lifeboat that had been ordered re- paired and found all right. The fact that the ship was listing when it came into Milwaukee a week ago was no indication that the ship was structurally damaged, according to W. A. Collins, boiler inspector. Due To Cargo Shift That list was due to cargo shifting and was apt to happen to any vessel in such a storm following the shifting of even one piece of cargo which would start the rest of its load moving, he said. The instance called for no inspection by the government, no report having been made of any flaw in the boat's construction. At the Goodrich Transit Co. offices here Tuesday it was pointed out that the vessel's cargo was unloaded in Milwaukee after she came in listing last week. When that was done, the vessel righted itself, a new load was taken on and it proceeded to Chicago on an even keel, it was said. The government gives all vessels a thorough inspection once a year and three times a year, in addition, two inspectors board ships, en route, and without notice, to survey the ship under way. Draw Off Steam The annual boiler inspection calls for drawing off all steam, going over the boilers while cold and putting them under water pres- sure one and a half times that of their normal steam pressure, according to Mr. Collins. All pipes and connections of the power system are gone over for leaks and bad connections. Pumps, including those for taking water out of the hold, and rudder connections are also inspected. In the annual inspection given the hull, the entire hull is in- spected with a flashlight, it was pointed out by Capt. Frank W. Patten, hull inspector. Steel hulls are observed for corrosion, rust and breaks. Wooden hulls are drilled for rot. Boats with bottom compartments to shut off water leaks are examined by the inspector going into those compartments. Each lifeboat and its oars are tested, including equipment, water and food. Fire hose and all other equipment are tried out. Crew Is Drilled The reinspections usually call for lifeboat drills by the crew to determine if they know their stations and know how to handle the boats in emergency. The WISCONSIN carried six lifeboats with a total capacity for 106 persons and rafts with a total capacity for 165 others, making its life rescue equipment capable of handling 271 persons. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Had Hunch They Would Not Return -- And Didn't 2 Survivors Tell How Their Pals Predicted Fate Shortly Before Ship Sank. By Staff Correspondent Of The Journal Kenosha, Wis. - A rough and tumble crew fills the police station here, a crew that has nothing now to do but smoke cigarettes, drink hot coffee, stick close to the radiators and tell about the sinking of the good ship WISCONSIN. Most of the men, all survivors from the ship that went down Tues- day morning, are deckhands. They have lived the life and hardship is nothing new. They have taken it all stocially and many of them can laugh over the disaster. All of them can talk and do and the stories told have as many versions as there are men. The exact number is 38. Charles Schemkus is a sort of boss. So is Bill Placeway. Both of them tell of the premonitions felt by two of their pals who were vic- tims of the disaster. Schemkus tells this tale: "We were all sittin' around, just waitin' for what was goin' to happen. We had been kept busy earlier in the night, shiftin' cargo - we had a lot of automobiles aboard - but when the lights went out - that was about 1 o'clock - we couldn't do anything, so we were sittin' around on deck. "My Last Cigarette" "Victor Estes was sittin' next to me. I slips him a cigarette and he lights it. He and I sit there smokin' as pretty as you please and finally he says: 'Listen, Charlie, I got a hunch. This here is my last cigarette.' I says, 'Don't be a damn fool, Victor.' I says, 'we're goin' to come out of this all right.' "No, Charlie,' he says, 'this is my last cigarette.' "I tried to tell him that we were sure to be picked up by the ILLINOIS or some other boat, but he wouldn't listen. And that was his last cigarette. Funny, ain't it?" Placeway's story runs the same way. It concerns a pal of his, Walter Rein, another deckhand, and it goes: "Sure, that's what we were doin', just sittin' around waitin'. Walter was next to me and we got to talkin' about workin' on a boat. It's a hard life, you understand, but when a guy gets used to it he hates to quit. Anyhow, Walter was kickin'. He says, 'This is a hell of a way to make a livin'. I didn't say anything, but when he says this was his last trip, I asks, 'What do you mean?' He Never Came Back "It certainly was queer, but he says, 'Listen, Bill, I'm never goin' to get to shore.' 'Don't be a nut,' I says, 'both you and me has been through worse storms than this.' 'No, Bill,' he says, 'I'm never goin' to get to shore.' We sat there, him mumbling all the time how he would certainly quit the lakes forever if he ever did get to shore. But he didn't. And he knew he wouldn't." Louis Lesperance, of Two Rivers, was a watchman in uniform, a supervisor of the passenger cabins on the WISCONSIN. He told this story while hugging a police station radiator: "At 11 o'clock, I got orders from the first mate to wake up all the passengers. We had only four of 'em. I did it. They woke up easy and were not scared half so much as I expected. They put on their clothes and left their cabins just as if nothing was wrong. They sat around waiting for what was going to happen. Life Preservers Ordered "I guess none of them suspected that the ship was in such bad shape, but they did know that help had been asked and was on the way. After the captain learned that the engines had gone blooie, he order- ed all passengers and crew to put on life preservers and stick close to the lifeboats. That's what we did. "We were told that the coast guard was coming and that the ILLINOIS was on the way, but we didn't know that the ILLINOIS was in trouble herself. When daylight came, we could see the life guard boats cruising around and that was cheerful. It was so rough that the coast guard boat couldn't get close, but that didn't scare any- body. It was a help, anyhow. "I didn't hear anybody praying, the way folks are supposed to and nobody was having fits. The captain was up there on the bridge superstructure and I give him credit. He was plenty calm all through it. For that matter, everybody I saw was behaving proper. It was nice to have plenty of life preservers with a lot to spare. And it didn't strike me as being so awful rough - not nearly so bad as the night the carferry went down." Saw Fight Hopeless Tony Tillman, an oiler on duty, said that the leak in the WISCONSIN caused such a flow of water into the engine room that at 11:30 it was seen to be a hopeless fight. He offered this testimony on the disaster: "When the chief engineer saw how bad the situation was, he sent to the captain and advised beaching the ship. As I understand it, the captain agreed that this was the only thing to do and gave orders to do it. When the ship was turned around, however, it was found that we couldn't make any headway because the engines had almost quit. We had no power to speak of and pretty soon even that gave out. Then there was nothing to do but wait. "I'll tell you how we stopped an explosion. We filled up the old boilers to the very top. Otherwise she would have blown up sure. At 3 o'clock the water was pouring in at the rate of three feet every half hour, so at that time we all went up on deck -- all except the chief engineer who stuck below and was almost drowned in the engine room." Rescued From Trap Ben Switzer, another oiler but not on watch, told of going down to the engine room when he missed the chief engineer and finding him there vainly battling to start the pumps. He said there was then 10 feet of water in the hold. It was he who rescued Julius Buschman, the engineer, from drowning like a rat in a water trap. The first lifeboat, according to Skitzer's story, was made ready for launching at 4:30 a.m. The first one, he said, was boat No. 6, in command of Mike Larson, with four passengers assigned to it. Something went wrong with the rigging and for 20 minutes the boat dangled helplessly between the deck and the greedy seas. In attempt- ing to hold the boat from being battered to pieces against the mother ship, Larson was severely injured. His hand was smashed, but he con- tinued to give heroic service. The large number of deckhands aboard the WISCONSIN was due to the fact that the cargo was so largely automobiles, which required un- usual attention from the crew. Up to the time of the fading of the lights, all hands were kept on the jump trying to keep the ship's freight from getting off balance. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Passes Near Doomed Ship Freighter WAUKEGAN Is Hampered by Lack of Wireless. The freighter WAUKEGAN of the West Port Steamship line docked here Tuesday at 6:35 a.m., three hours late, after weathering a heavy sea and steaming on a parallel course from Chicago to Kenosha with the steamship WISCONSIN which went down in the storm. When Captain Walter Thebo last sighted the WISCONSIN it was 14 miles off Kenosha. All night -- from Chicago to Kenosha - the WAUKE- GAN was only about five miles from the WISCONSIN. Capt. Thebo kept a close watch, personally, but was unable to communicate with the WISCONSIN, as the WAUKEGAN has no wireless. Only minor damage was done to the WAUKEGAN. A rudder chain broke in the night and was immediately repaired. It carried a cargo of about 200 tons, including cocoa and matches, and several boxes of merchandise were spilled. Washed By Heavy Seas It was with difficulty that the captain of the WAUKEGAN kept watch for the WISCONSIN and sailed his boat safely, for a big sea, running from the east, shot combers up over the cabin, and water seeped in through the door. "We took a couple of bad lunges," said Capt. Thebo, "but we always favored the weather and never let it roll too much. "We hit the troughs. But that is something the WISCONSIN could not do with safety, for it would roll." Capt. Thebo has been in command of the WAUKEGAN for about six months. He sailed from Chicago Monday at 7 p.m. Passed Kenosha Harbor Nearing Kenosha, the captain thought that he might put up there, but he said "there was too much sea and I wouldn't take a chance of hitting shallow, and so proceeded on to Milwaukee. It was impossible to hold too much to our course." The WAUKEGAN carried a crew of 36, including the captain. ------------------------------------------------------------------- WISCONSIN, Built in 1881, Failed to 'Shake Off Fate' The WISCONSIN, one of the few iron ships remaining on Lake Michigan, had a varied career. Launched at the Wyandotte yards in 1881 and christened the WISCONSIN, she operated on the Grand Trunk line between Grand Haven and Milwaukee for many years with her sister ship, the MICHIGAN. During the winter of 1885, both the WISCONSIN and the MICHIGAN were caught in the ice off Grand Haven and the MICHIGAN was crushed and sank after the crew had escaped across the ice. The WISCONSIN was purchased by the Crosby line and rebuilt and renamed the NAOMI. About 17 years ago, the NAOMI caught fire on the way across the lake and a passenger and several of the crew were burned. After several years, the ship again was rebuilt and named the E. G. Crosby. While she was known as the NAOMI, Robert H. McKay, captain of the carferry MILWAUKEE, which sank last Tuesday night, was the ship's first mate. He was the outstanding hero in rescuing passengers during the fire on the vessel. Commandeered during the war, she became a hospital ship on salt water and after the war was purchased by the Wisconsin Transit Co. and renamed the PILGRIM. The Goodrich line later acquired the shipand operated her between Chicago and Milwaukee. Later, the name was changed back to the original WISCONSIN. Marine men said that the name was changed back to WISCONSIN be- cause of the strong superstition on the lakes that a vessel with a name changed from the original christening will be an ill-fated ship. The change back to the WISCONSIN evidently did not shake off this fate. The WISCONSIN had a gross tonnage of 1,921. It was 209 feet long and had a 40-foot beam. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Kenosha Shore Ship Cemetery The area of Lake Michigan off Kenosha is becoming a veritable graveyard for ships. It was there that the wreckage of the carferry Milwaukee was found last week, indicating that the big ferry found- ered not far from that region. Five miles off Kenosha, the steamer WISCONSIN is on the bottom. Many other lake disasters have occurred there. Capt. Melvin Mackey of Milwaukee, who commanded the steamer ROOSEVELT this summer and has commanded the WISCONSIN, said the worst place on the Milwaukee-Chicago trip was off Waukegan. "What is there about the lake off Kenosha to account for so many wrecks there?" he was asked. "Nothing more than the wind." he said. "When it blows like it did in the storms of last week and today, the lake piles up a bad sea. I always thought it was worse off Waukegan than off Kenosha." Waukegan is about 15 miles south of Kenosha. "There is a shoal off Waukegan," said Capt. Mackey, "and when the wind blows from the east the sea seems to pile up there worse than elsewhere." When the WISCONSIN foundered it was on the way north from Chicago, and had made its way through the dreaded area off Waukegan. It is conjectured that the ship may have been given a mortal wound by the specially heavy seas there, but was able to struggle on as far as near Kenosha before it went down. "The WISCONSIN was a splendid ship." said Capt. Mackie. "It was very quiet and free from the machinery vibration that passengers no- tice on a good many boats. Passengers would remark that they had no trouble in getting to sleep on the WISCONSIN and sometimes would say that if they woke up in the night they would think that **** ***** because they could not hear the machinery. It was nothing but a terrible wind that could cause the ship any trouble." ------------------------------------------------------------------- Boy Misses Wreck Carries Bills by Train, Escapes Storm A 19 year old cabin boy, Lawrence Hopp, of Benton Harbor, Mich., was the only member of the Steamship WISCONSIN'S crew of 55 men to escape the perilous experience of being rescued from the sunken ves- sel. Hopp went to Racine from Chicago by train on orders from Capt. D. A. Morrison shortly before the cargo laden WISCONSIN sailed Monday night for Milwaukee. He carried freight bills for the Racine office of the Goodrich Transit Co., owner of the ship, and was to have boarded the boat there. The cabin boy sat for hours in the office at the Racine docks. While waiting for the boat - expected at 12:30 a.m. at the latest - he talked and joked with a group of sailors and dock workers. Glib chatter stopped momentarily when Capt. Henry J. Delletre of the ILLINOIS hurriedly entered the dock offices. "The WISCONSIN'S in danger. Wants help. We just got an S O S," he shouted." Everybody laughed. It was a good joke for 3 a.m. "That's a funny idea, Cap. It's a pretty big joke, eh? Hopp said smiling. The captain repeated his statement, this time emphatically. The joking ended and excited men rushed outside. Waves were being blow across the harbor by the gale. The lake roared and big rollers lashed noisily. Hopp and three others followed the lake shore in an automobile and saw the sinking ship through field glasses. The boat was in complete darkness except for occasional red flares which burned dimly. The cabin boy left Racine about 6 a.m. for Milwaukee. He waited at the Goorich docks Tuesday for reports of the disaster and orders from officers. He said that the chief conversation of the crew, since the sinking a week ago of the carferry, Milwaukee, has been what each man, would do if the boat foundered. About $100 worth of Hopp's clothing was lost on the ship. He was on the WISCONSIN for two months and has sailed the lakes for five years. ===========================================================================