OSHKOSH (NBC 26) — A new 145-year-old shipwreck discovery in the Fox River is putting a spotlight on the maritime history of Berlin.
- A 145 year-old steam boat wreck was found in the Fox River in April.
- The ship is believed to be the L.W. Crane, which was built in Berlin in 1865.
- The attention from the discovery shines a light on Berlin's unique maritime past.
The Wisconsin Historical Society and the Wisconsin Underwater Archaeology Association surveyed the Fox River in April. Their goal was to find pieces of the Berlin City, a steamboat built in 1856 that sank in 1870.
Historical Society maritime specialist, Jordan Ciesielczyk, says they didn’t locate the Berlin City, but they did make an unexpected discovery.
“Sometimes you find the shipwreck you weren’t looking for,” he says.
Between the Jackson Street and Hwy 44 bridges, the crew found the wreck of an unknown steamboat.
While the investigation is still underway, Ciesielczyk says based on the size and location of the vessel, they believe it is the L.W. Crane, an 1865 steamboat made in Berlin.
According to Wisconsin Shipwrecks, the ship caught fire and sank near the St. Paul Railroad in Oshkosh in 1880.
“These are kind of a forgotten piece of Wisconsin history,” Ciesielczyk says. “Most people look at the Wolf and Fox Rivers and it’s kind of hard to imagine that there was a 100-foot steam ship going up and down it regularly.”
Ciesielczyk says with newer and better technology, the chances of finding an undiscovered shipwreck are growing. Still, Wisconsin Shipwrecks has just eleven other shipwreck discoveries listed in the Fox River.
“This is like the kind of discoveries that we live for,” Ciesielczyk says.
The news has shone a spotlight on the City of Berlin, where the steamboat is said to have been built.
“Berlin’s history is extremely interesting,” Bobbie Erdmann, a local Berlin historian says. “For a little town, it has so much.”
Erdmann has been a board member on the Berlin Historical Society for two decades. She says steamboats and river activity were central to her community’s history.
“The rivers and lakes were the state’s highways, so they did a lot of shipping by the boats,” she says. “Everything came together to make it a big money maker and a big asset at that time.”
While Erdmann admits she hadn’t heard of the L.W. Crane before the discovery, she says it’s opened a new mystery for local historians.
“Adds another piece to our puzzle and makes our picture more complete because now some of us will start looking into finding out who the Crane belonged to,” she says.
Berlin’s maritime history is still seen in its modern community.
“It is exciting to see some of the riverboat activity get discussed again,” Mike McMonigal, a member of the Berlin Boat Club, says. “It’s a vital part of Wisconsin’s history.”
The Berlin Boat Club is a local non-profit that maintains the lock system.
In fact, the club helped save the historic Eureka Lock outside of Berlin. The same lock system the L.W. Crane would have taken in the 19th century.
“I think it’s really significant,” McMonigal says. “It was historically significant back then for commerce, but then to retain that same lock and the same advantage for recreational boaters today.”
