Byron (schooner) Shipwreck | |
  | |
| Location | Off the coast ofOostburg, Wisconsin |
|---|---|
| Nearest city | Oostburg, Wisconsin |
| Coordinates | 43°36′17.4″N87°41′17.4″W / 43.604833°N 87.688167°W /43.604833; -87.688167 |
| Area | less than one acre |
| Architectural style | schooner |
| MPS | Great Lakes Shipwreck Sites of Wisconsin MPS |
| NRHP reference No. | 09000368[1] |
| Added to NRHP | May 20, 2009 |
TheByron was aschooner that sank inLake Michigan off the coast ofOostburg, Wisconsin, United States. In 2009 the shipwreck site was added to theNational Register of Historic Places.[2]
The commercial vesselByron, a small undocumented 36-foot schooner, was builtc. 1849 and sailed under the command of Captain William Burmeister ofManitowoc, Wisconsin. In 1867 she was run down and sunk by theCanton, another schooner. At the time of the loss, theByron was valued at about $1000, and the cargo at $400.
TheByron now lies in 135 feet of water 12 miles southeast ofSheboygan, Wisconsin. The wreckage was discovered by commercial fisherman Danny Burnette in 1977 when a trawl net brought up an anchor. Divers soon located the wreck site, much of theByron's cargo and equipment was recovered by recreational divers over the next few years. Today, no cargo or artifacts remain; theByron is completely covered with a layer of zebra and quagga mussels and the hull is very fragile.[2]
TheByron is significant as a rare example of its type of commercial vessel, once common to Wisconsin's transportation infrastructure and a vital part of its economy in the time before road and rail networks. There is no surviving historical record of the construction techniques of lakeshoring schooners, making theByron site a potential source of additional information on this type of 19th century vessel.[2]
