Two mast schooner Jennibel was built at the yard of shipwrights Amos C. Stoakes and Benjamin Locklin in Sheboygan, Wisconsin and launched in 1863. It received an insurance rating of “A”. It was bought by John Bertschy in 1864 and used for shipping wheat from its home port in Sheboygan. Partial ownerships of Jennibelexchanged multiple hands in 1865 and 1866, eventually ending under the ownership of Jokum Christensen and William Cairns of Milwaukee. The vessel primarily shipped lumber under its new owners, though it still shipped other foodstuffs. In 1869 Jokum’s son Christen Christensen bought partial ownership, and received a little more in 1871 as a wedding gift. It continued lumber shipments, becoming exclusively a lumber shipper in 1872 and 1873. With the Panic of 1873, lumber demand fell heavily, and the Jennibelsaw little action between 1874 and 1879, falling into disrepair and eventually being declared “not insurable”. Despite this, the schooner was still put to work by the Christensens.
On September 17, 1881, Jennibel was bound for Milwaukee with a hull full of green wood and deck loaded with hemlock bark when it was hit with a sharp squall while passing through Death’s Door passage, capsizing it. The crew of the tug John Gregory saw the incident and assisted by towing the schooner, towing the vessel upside down. About 4.5 miles southwest of Chambers Island, the weight of water and green wood in the hull caused Jennibel to sink and right itself, its masts protruding ten feet out of the water. The vessel was unable to be recovered.
60 years later, an illicit failed attempt was made by divers to recover the Jennibel, leading to the separation of the schooner’s stern from the rest of the vessel. The vessel sits upright and intact on the lake bottom with most of its hull components extant. The Jennibel site was documented by WHS archaeologists and volunteers in June 2025. The site has already produced a wealth of archaeological information and has the potential to yield additional important archaeological data in future years.