Highlights Archives
State Wins Landmark Shipwreck Case
A United States District Court ruled late last autumn that the State of Wisconsin has title to the historic shipwreck Rosinco, a 1916 luxury yacht that sank in Lake Michigan, near Kenosha, in 1928. The decision settles a case, begun in August 7, 2000, when an Illinois resident who had removed objects from the ship asserted a claim for title to the wreck under admiralty law.
 The Georgiana III, in 1916. The boat was later renamed Whitemarsh, and finally Rosinco, in 1925. WHS Underwater Archaeology Program The Rosinco is a well-preserved wreck of the ninety-five-foot-long luxury yacht owned by Wisconsin industrialist Robert H. Morse. It sank on a round trip from Chicago to Milwaukee after striking an unknown object on September 18, 1928. The Rosinco was the first diesel-powered yacht on Lake Michigan and considered the most extravagant.
The Wisconsin Department of Justice, represented by Assistant Attorney General Paul Barnett, argued that Wisconsin owned historic shipwrecks located on state lands such as the bottom of Lake Michigan. Loss of the case by the state would have put in jeopardy hundreds of Wisconsin shipwrecks, many dating to the earliest years of Great Lakes exploration and navigation and reflecting Great Lakes maritime history. However, United States Magistrate Judge William E. Callagan ordered a judgement in favor of Wisconsin on the basis of the Abandoned Shipwreck Act, a federal historic preservation law designed to help maritime states protect historic shipwrecks within their waters.
The national shipwreck preservation community and artifact hunters alike closely monitored the case because of its legal precedent. The Attorney General’s office was assisted by former WHS underwater archaeologist Jeff Gray, who gathered much of the evidence, as well as staff members Russ and Cathy Green, Board of Curators member Hank Whipple, and volunteers from the Wisconsin Underwater Archaeology Association.
To learn more about the Roscinco, visit the Society and University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute’s Website, which features an underwater video tour of the wreck.
:: Posted January 12, 2003
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