Wisconsin father and daughter find shipwreck believed to have been from 1871 fire

PESHTIGO, Wis. (WLUK) — It is believed a more than 152-year-old shipwreck has been found after being lost the night of the Great Peshtigo Firein Wisconsin and a father-daughter duo are the ones who discovered it.

Henley Wollak, 6, is used to finding the big one while out on the water with her father, Tim.

“I like fishing with my daddy,” said Henley.

The find one day this summer, near Green Island, was unlike any the duo had discovered before.

“I was surprised I had never seen it before because it's in an area where people regularly go,” said Tim Wollak.

Tim Wollack thought it was a shipwreck, but hadn't heard of one being in that location before. He posted pictures to Facebook groups, where someone with the Wisconsin Historical Society came across them.

“We went back to our database to see if there was anything reported in the area and we didn't have anything,” said Tamara Thomsen, a maritime archaeologist for the Wisconsin Historical Society. “However, in the database, we have information on historic losses and this fits the loss location of the George L. Newman.”

The 122-foot-long George L. Newman, carrying lumber from Little Suamico, was trying to navigate thick black smoke on Oct. 8, 1871, the night of the Peshtigo Fire, when it grounded near Green Island. The crew was rescued and stayed on the island for a week, trying to salvage what they could from the vessel.

“It was actually built in 1855, so it's a pretty significant shipwreck, pretty old for Wisconsin shipwrecks anyways,” said Thomsen. “To have it tied to the Peshtigo Fire, it makes it even more special.”

A few shipwrecks are reported to the historical society each year, according to Thomsen, but one from a 6-year-old and her dad is rare.

“I don't know how we top it,” said Tim Wollak. “I told her I'm pretty sure there's no one else in her school that has ever found a shipwreck that nobody had recorded before....I guess we'll just have to fish more and see if we can find more shipwrecks.”

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources did more imaging last week to further confirm the historical society's suspicions of it being the Newman.

A survey is planned for next spring to assess the site for listing on the National Register of Historic Places.