Just minutes into their planned three-day search, two maritime historians discovered the wreckage of the tugboat John Evenson 42 feet beneath the surface of Lake Michigan, where it sank in 1895.
Wisconsin Historical SocietyA 3D model of the full wreckage of the 19th-century tugboat John Evenson.
Built in 1884, the John Evenson was a steam-powered wooden tugboat that operated in Lake Michigan. It played a key role in towing ships through the Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal in northern Wisconsin during its 11-year career.
The John Evenson was trying to tow the barge I. Watson Stephenson on June 5, 1895, when the vessels collided, causing the tugboat to capsize and sink. Four of the five crew members escaped, but the boat’s engineer tragically drowned.
Efforts to locate the John Evenson began soon after the accident, but initial searches were unsuccessful. Interest in rediscovering the wreck grew again in the 1980s, but it wasn’t until September 2024 that maritime historians Brendon Baillod and Bob Jaeck successfully located the remains of the tugboat using sonar technology, bringing an end to the 129-year-long mystery.
The Tugboat ‘John Evenson’ Sinks In Lake Michigan
The John Evenson was a steam-powered wooden tugboat built in 1884. The 54-foot-long ship’s home port was in Milwaukee, but it frequently guided boats into the Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal in northern Wisconsin. Additionally, the John Evenson was tasked with salvaging shipwrecks in Lake Michigan and hauling stones for the Laurie Brothers Quarry.
Milwaukee Public LibraryThe John Evenson during its service as a tugboat for vessels in Lake Michigan.
The tugboat operated for 11 years before a tragic accident led to its demise. On June 5, 1895, the John Evenson was trying to tow the I. Watson Stephenson into the shipping canal when it floated in front of the larger vessel. The I. Watson Stephenson hit the side of the John Evenson at a high speed, capsizing the tugboat. Within three minutes, the vessel was completely underwater.
Four of the five crew members aboard the John Evenson were able to escape, but the boat’s engineer, Martin Boswell, was below deck when the vessel flipped and did not survive. The tragedy was widely reported in newspapers at the time, sparking efforts to recover the tugboat — but they wouldn’t be successful for 129 years.
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The 129-Year-Long Search For The ‘John Evenson’
In 1897, the owners of the John Evenson set out to raise the shipwreck, but they ran into insurance issues during their search and abandoned the task altogether. Interest in the wreck rose again in the 1980s, and one local Wisconsin dive club even offered $500 to anyone who could find the remains of the tugboat, but to no avail.
Wisconsin Historical SocietyA diver explores the wreckage of the John Evenson.
Then, Brendon Baillod and Bob Jaeck set out to look for the wreckage. The search came on the heels of two other major discoveries made by the historians in recent years. In July 2023, the men located the Trinidad, a schooner that sank in Lake Michigan in 1881. Then, in May 2024, they found the wreckage of the Margaret A. Muir, which went down in a storm in 1883.
However, their discovery of the John Evenson may have been their luckiest yet.
While researching the wreck, Baillod and Jaeck noticed that several reports from the incident mentioned the same general area of Lake Michigan, about five miles off the coast of Algoma, Wisconsin, so they decided to start there.
They planned for a three-day expedition — but they didn’t need nearly that much time. As soon as they turned on their sonar equipment to tune it, a large boiler appeared on the screen. It was the John Evenson.
“We just couldn’t believe it,” Jaeck recalled in a video detailing the discovery. “We actually hadn’t even started our search. We were just getting the equipment up and going.”
Wisconsin Historical SocietyThe propeller of the John Evenson, which has has been sitting 42 feet beneath the surface of Lake Michigan for 129 years.
They deployed a remotely operated vehicle to confirm that they had indeed found the tugboat, and the following day, Wisconsin’s state underwater archaeologist Tamara Thomsen and diver Zach Whitrock took 2,000 photos of the wreckage, allowing them to create a 3D model of the site.
The enduring mystery of the tugboat’s location has been solved at last, but Baillod and Jaeck still can’t believe their luck. As Baillod told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, “It was almost like the wreck wanted to be found.”
After reading about the wreck of tugboat John Evenson, dive into the stories of nine of history’s most famous shipwrecks. Then, learn about the SS Central America, the 19th-century ship that sank while it was full of gold.
