The all steel 60 foot fishing tug Forelle was built in 1908 at Ferrysburg, Michigan by the Johnson Brothers boat builders. Forelle is the German name for trout. The vessel was one of the larger tugs of the Milwaukee fishing fleet and on occasion was known to travel as far north as Green Bay in search for fishing grounds.
The fishing tug Forelle was known as a "Fruit Boat". The vessel was built for and used as a fishing tug but during slack periods it was used in the fruit business.
On Wednesday September 19th,1923, the steel fishing tug Forelle loaded a cargo of fruit at Benton Harbor, Michigan, bound for Milwaukee. She was expected to arrive in Milwaukee at about 5 am Thursday morning. When the Forelle did not arrive as expected, it was feared that she may have foundered in the heavy gale that hit Lake Michigan Wednesday night. A Coast Guard cutter as well as three other fruit boats and fishing tugs searched the lake, but found no trace of the missing vessel. It wasn't until fruit baskets, port and starboard light screens and lifejackets were found off Kenosha on Saturday 9/22/1923, that any remains of the Forelle were found, and when more wreckage was found the following day in the same area, it appeared likely that the Forelle sank not far from Kenosha.
Brendon Baillod states that the Forelle has been a search target for decades, but there has, as of yet, been any reports of finding the wreckage. Kimm Stabelfeldt states in his Explore Great Lakes Shipwrecks, Volume I that the Floretta could be located not far from the wreckage of the Rosinco the luxary yacht that sank in 195 feet of water, but in deeper water, as deep as 400 feet.