The wreck of the Rosinco, the first diesel yacht on Lake Michigan, rests beneath 185 feet of water, upright and embedded in the lakebed, 12 miles east of Kenosha, Wis.  It is intact and extremely well-preserved.

A head-on view of the Rosinco 's bow.  (Photo courtesy of Bradley Friend.)

Regarded as extravagant, indeed, revered as one of the most palatial motor yachts to ply Lake Michigan during the first quarter of the twentieth-century, the Rosinco remains an object of interest and speculation for archaeologists, historians, and recreational divers. A significant cultural resource, the wreck of the Rosinco is a tangible monument to several milestones in ship construction, including early diesel technology and the use of steel as a primary building material for yachts.

A profile of the yacht's port bow.  (Photo courtesy of Bradley Friend.)

At the time of its loss, the yacht was owned by the prominent industrialist Colonel Robert H. Morse. Morse's Rosinco was a well-recognized symbol of the tremendous prosperity of America's social elites and their desire for opulence and leisure.  This vessel and others like it attested to the personal achievement of their entrepreneurial owners. 

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