The scow schooner Alaska lies in 5 feet of water, partially covered by sand off the southern end of Point Beach State Forest, in the town of Two Rivers, Wisconsin. Nearly all hull structure, artifacts, and some rigging implements, remain intact on the site. Master shipbuilder Smith Neville, Sr., built Alaska in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. She operated primarily in the Lake Michigan lumber trade her entire career.

Early in 1879, while heading north from Milwaukee to Ahnapee (Algoma), Wisconsin for a load of lumber, she was caught in a gale and pushed ashore. An attempt to refloat the Alaska damaged the vessel; she was declared a total loss, and was left to rest in the quicksand south of Rawley Point. The vessel has very good integrity with the bow, deck machinery, centerboard trunk, some rigging implements, and much of her hull structure intact. Alaska’s stern, and portions of her lower hull and associated debris field are covered by shifting sands, protecting many associated artifacts from looting and damage from divers and kayakers visiting the site.

The Alaska shipwreck site was discovered in May 2015, located by ultralight airplane pilot, Suzze Johnson, during a flight over the site and following a period of coastal erosion and sand movement that uncovered the wreck. The scow was documented by Wisconsin Historical Society archaeologists and volunteers over two days in July 2015. Because the wreck has recently been uncovered of sand, the Alaska site is lightly visited by divers, snorkelers, kayakers and boaters. The Alaska is an excellent example of a scow schooner built in Wisconsin, and provides historians and archaeologists the rare chance to study and document this unique vessel type. The Alaska shipwreck site has already produced a wealth of archaeological knowledge on scow schooner construction and use, and as shifting sands continue to uncover undocumented hull sections and artifacts, it may continue to produce important archaeological data.

State and federal laws protect this shipwreck. Divers may not remove artifacts or structure when visiting this site. Removing, defacing, displacing or destroying artifacts or sites is a crime. More information on Wisconsin’s historic shipwrecks may be found by visiting Wisconsin’s Great Lakes Shipwrecks website, www.wisconsinshipwrecks.org.