Pictured: a built model of this ship — not the historical vessel.

Lucia A. Simpson

Type

Schooner

Period

19th Century

Nation

United States

Overview: Lucia A. Simpson was a three-masted, wooden Great Lakes lumber schooner built in 1875 by Rand & Burger of Manitowoc, Wisconsin. She became famous in her later years as one of the last full-rigged (topmast-and-topsail-carrying) commercial sailing schooners still working on Lake Michigan into the 1930s, making her a well-documented subject for Great Lakes maritime historians and modelers alike. Specifications: She measured 127 feet in length with a 28-foot beam and 8.7-foot depth of hold, and was rated at 227.07 gross tons. She carried three masts and relied on sail propulsion throughout her career; her official U.S. registry number was 140097. Service History: Built for Simpson & Co. of Milwaukee, she spent decades hauling lumber and general cargo across the Great Lakes, passing through several owners including E.G. Filer of Manistee, Charles J. Sanderson of Milwaukee, and finally the Town Harbor Yacht Club of Chicago. In May 1929 she was disabled in a squall off Algoma and towed to Sturgeon Bay for repairs, and a widely reported (if disputed) account holds that the car ferry Ann Arbor No. 7 towed her into Kewaunee, Wisconsin after finding her in distress that July. Notable Facts: By her final active seasons she was recognized as the last "full-rigged" schooner on Lake Michigan, still setting topsails long after most contemporaries had been cut down to simpler rigs. The Manitowoc Marine Museum explored buying her for preservation in 1934, but on December 3, 1935 a fire swept through the Sturgeon Bay Shipbuilding Company's "graveyard of ships," destroying her along with several other laid-up vessels; no lives were lost. A builder's-scale model of Lucia A. Simpson and related plans were produced by the WPA's Historic American Merchant Marine Survey in the 1930s, and the Wisconsin Maritime Museum holds an extensive photographic collection along with an original quarterboard and belaying pin salvaged from the ship, all useful references for scale modelers.