Phoenix Maritime Trails Marker
Gallery
img
Phoenix Maritime Trails Marker
 
Details
Attraction
Location
Body of Water: Lake Michigan
Trail Name: Mid Lake Michigan
Year Built: 1845
Nearest Address: South Pier Boardwalk
Nearest City: Sheboygan
County: Sheboygan
Zip Code: 53081
Latitude: N 43° 44.850'
Longitude: W -87° 42.567'
Attraction
Features
Open to public?: Yes
Mooring buoy?: No
Mooring buoy in place?: No
Snorkelable?: No
Dive guide?: No
Trails sign?: No
National Register?: No
Attraction
Description
The Phoenix began its fateful journey from Buffalo on November 11, 1847. She carried a crew of 23 and approximately 190 passengers. Most of the passengers were immigrants from Holland intending to settle near Sheboygan and in Dutch settlements of Michigan and Iowa. On the afternoon of Saturday, November 20, the vessel encountered bad weather after passing the Straits of Mackinac, but she made it to Manitowoc, where she waited for the seas to calm. After midnight, she left for Sheboygan. At about 3:30 a.m., on Sunday, November 21, a fire was discovered in the boiler. A merchant from Southport (today Kenosha) named David Blish helped organize bucket brigades to fight the flames, but the fire could not be contained. Blish had a chance to escape in the lifeboats, but he stayed on the Phoenix as she burned. He helped toss overboard furniture and anything that would float, hoping others could jump in and make it to shore or hang on until rescued. Mr. Blish was last seen in the water, helping two children cling onto one of the rafts before succumbing to the cold and losing his grip. Only two lifeboats escaped the inferno that had become the Phoenix. Approximately 31 crew and passengers, including Captain Benjamin Sweet and First Mate H. Watts, were saved in the lifeboats. Most of the passengers and crew who had clung to rafts succumbed to hypothermia before the propeller Delaware arrived from Sheboygan. Only two crew members and one passenger were pulled from the water.
 
Map
 
Nearby
Attractions (9)
Challenge Keel
Gallinipper Maritime Trails Marker
Hetty Taylor Buoy
Kohler-Andrae State Park
Lottie Cooper
Phoenix Maritime Trails Marker
Selah Chamberlain Buoy
Sheboygan Breakwater Lighthouse
Sheboygan Shipwrecks Maritime Trails Marker
Shipwrecks (40)
Abiah (1847)
Ahnapee (1867)
Baltimore (1847)
Belle Wallbridge (1857)
Big Z (1844)
Black Warrior (1854)
Blue Belle (1867)
Brilliant (1856)
Commerce (1857)
Conquest (1853)
View 30 more
Shipwrecks (40)
Abiah (1847)
Ahnapee (1867)
Baltimore (1847)
Belle Wallbridge (1857)
Big Z (1844)
Black Warrior (1854)
Blue Belle (1867)
Brilliant (1856)
Commerce (1857)
Conquest (1853)
David Wagstaff (1863)
Detroit (1886)
E.G. Wolcott
E.M. Portch (1867)
Equator (1842)
Fair Play (1855)
Graham Brothers (1874)
Greyhound (1853)
Hampton (1845)
Hannah Etty (1864)
Hercules (1854)
Hetty Taylor (1874)
I.A. Johnson (1867)
J.M. Harvey (1896)
Julia (1843)
L.B. Nichols (1854)
Lottie Cooper (1876)
Lynx (1905)
Melrose (1852)
Ocean Eagle (1855)
Petrel (1847)
Phoenix (1845)
R.H. Becker (1867)
Selah Chamberlain (1873)
W.F. Allen, Jr. (1853)
Walter B. Allen (1866)
White Oak (1867)
William A. Reiss (1901)
Winona (1863)
Wollin (1854)
View fewer
© 2026 - Wisconsin Sea Grant, Wisconsin Historical Society