Well, this is one fishing trip that won’t soon be forgotten. After all, when you land a big catch, you want the world to know. Even if that catch is more than 150 years old. And just so happens to be a never-before discovered shipwreck. Tim Wollak and his 6-year-old daughter were on Wisconsin’s Green Island, when Henley spotted something in the water.
The little girl said she likes to find rocks and sea glass while her dad fishes. Wollak said they were “just kind of driving around … and there it was.” Henley thought they had spotted a rare Green Bay Octopus, but Wollak quickly knew what they were looking at: a shipwreck.
Tim Wollak and his daughter, Henley. Photo courtesy of Wollak
I was surprised I had never seen it before because it’s in an area where people regularly go,” he said.
Wollak went home and after trying to research the wreck on his own, he contacted the Department of Natural Resources. With their help, along with the Wisconsin Historical Society (WHS), the father/daughter duo was able to learn about their big catch. “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 ship, Wollak was told, had been sailing on the lake on Oct. 8, 1871, carrying cargo from a nearby town. It soon became ensnared in the smoke from the Great Peshtigo Fire – the deadliest forest fire in U.S. history. More than 1,200 people died during the blaze, according to the National Weather Service.
The ship wreckage found by Tim Wollak and his daughter, Henley. AP Photo
The wooden ship was more than 122 feet long and the crew was forced to abandon it in eight to 10 feet of water. The ship eventually grounded itself, the WHS said, where Wollak and his daughter found it. The crew reached safety, and eventually attempted to salvage what they could from the ship, the WHS said. Over time, the society added, sand covered the shipwreck and history forgot it until now.
For Wollak, it’s hard to imagine a more exciting fishing trip in their future. “I don’t know how we top it,” he said. “I told (Henley) 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.” For a look at the ship and the Wollaks, watch below.
