For Immediate Release 

Contact: Kara O’Keeffe
kara.okeeffe@wisconsinhistory.org
608-261-9596

April 4, 2019

The Selah Chamberlain Shipwreck Listed in the National Register of Historic Places

Sheboygan, Wis. - The Wisconsin Historical Society has announced the listing of the Selah Chamberlain (bulk carrier) in the vicinity of Sheboygan, Sheboygan County, in the National Register of Historic Places. National Register designation provides access to certain benefits, including qualification for grants and for rehabilitation income tax credits, while it does not restrict private property owners in the use of their property.

The bulk carrier Selah Chamberlain, built in 1887, and sunk in 1886 is located two miles northeast of Sheboygan Point, in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, partially covered by sand in 87 feet of water in Lake Michigan. The Selah Chamberlain was built by the shipbuilding firm of Quayle and Martin in Cleveland, Ohio, commissioned by the Bradley Transportation Company for the transportation of bulk commodities. The vessel was in service for 13 years, until it met an untimely end in a collision with a passing steamer. The Selah Chamberlain represents a critical transitional period in wooden shipbuilding technology between the earlier steam barges and the development of the bulk freighter. The Selah Chamberlain reflects early bulk freighter design and is significant because it presents an opportunity to study and learn more about the experimentation that took place to successfully make this transition.

State and federal laws protect this shipwreck. Divers may not remove artifacts or structure when visiting this site. Removing, defacing, displacing or destroying the 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.

The register is the official national list of historic properties in America deemed worthy of preservation and is maintained by the National Park Service in the U.S. Department of the Interior. The Wisconsin Historical Society administers the program within Wisconsin. It includes sites, buildings, structures, objects and districts that are significant in national, state or local history, architecture, archaeology, engineering or culture.

To learn more about the State and National Register programs in Wisconsin, visitwww.wisconsinhistory.org.

About Wisconsin Historical Society
The Wisconsin Historical Society, founded in 1846, ranks as one of the largest, most active and most diversified state historical societies in the nation. As both a state agency and a private membership organization, its mission is to help people connect to the past by collecting, preserving and sharing stories. The Wisconsin Historical Society serves millions of people every year through a wide range of sites, programs and services. For more information, visit www.wisconsinhistory.org.

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