"A fortnight previous a lumber-laden scow, bound from Bay de Noquette, Michigan, to Chicago, Illinois, broke adrift from the tug which had her in tow, and went ashore near the depot at the foot of Wisconsin street, Milwaukee. Early in the morning of...(September 22nd)...a gang of men commenced operations to raise the craft. It was the intention to secure timbers across the latter's decks, sink pontoons under the projecting ends, pump the pontoons out, and thus lift the stranded vessel. While this work was in progress...the wind suddenly shifted to the northeast and increased to a gale...One of the pontoons was driven on the beach, while the other was kept afloat until the tug Dexter came and towed in into the harbor. Seven men, most of them employees of the Milwaukee Ship Yard Company, had been left on the scow and, as their small boat had been filled and been swept adrift, their situation became one of extreme peril. The surf broke furiously over the vessel, and there was several hundred feet of raging water between it and the shore....life-savers hastened to the scene...as opportunity offered, between the fiercely-rushing waves, one by one the party jumped into the boat... The scow subsequently pounded to pieces and became a total wreck, though most of the cargo was recovered." USLSS 1886:338-339

"The lumber-carrying scow which has been ashore in the bay for some weeks, was yesterday abandoned by the Milwaukee Tug Company, which had the contract of releasing her. An examination yesterday showed that she had nearly broken in two, and that one end of her had gone out in the recent gale. The scow was owned by the Bay de Noquette Lumber Company and was valued at $2,500." Milwaukee Sentinel 9/25/1885.