The scow schooner Success was built in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, by Norwegian immigrant, Julius Johnson and launched on June 3, 1875. The ship had one deck, two masts, a plain head, and a square stern. It was enrolled at the Port of Milwaukee on June 5. Its owners were all Norwegian immigrants and all residents of Manitowoc. Carpenter Michael Michaelson owned ½ of the vessel, and Hanson & Scove shipbuilder and shipyard superintendent Christen Olson, carpenter Jorge Olson, and Captain Ole Hanson each owned 1/6 of the vessel. Norwegian immigrant and Manitowoc resident Abram Abrahansen served as the Success’ first Master. Contemporary newsprint offered a scattered and incomplete record of arrivals and clearings for the Success, however it is evident it operated primarily in the Lake Michigan lumber trade.
Late in the evening of November 22, 1896, Success arrived at Whitefish Bay to pick up a load of lumber for Christen Olsen, one of the vessel's former owners. A southwest gale was building, bringing large seas into the bay. Success untied from the pier to wait out the storm at anchor. By the morning of November 24, the storm abated enough for the scow to continue loading and she returned to the pier. By that evening, the wind picked up again and she returned to her anchorage to ride out the storm in the bay. The wind shifted to the southeast on November 25, which brought even larger waves into the bay. Success began leaking so badly that by the afternoon the pumps were unable to keep water out of the vessel. At 5PM, a distress signal was displayed aboard the scow. Shortly thereafter Success slipped its cables and was driven ashore. Many feared the ship would turtle as it came sideways to the waves.

In a heroic effort, Fred Raatz in a pound boat, owned by Fred and Charles Raatz, Peter Peterson, and Ed Thompson, went out to the Success and rescued the entire crew. The cargo was later salvaged, although the vessel was declared a total loss, valued at $1,000. The enrollment documents were surrendered on December 4 of the same year at the Port of Milwaukee. Over the winter, Success's hull was broken apart by ice flows, covered by sand, and forgotten before much of the rigging or machinery could be salvaged.
The remains of the Success scow schooner lie in eight feet of water, 500 feet south of Whitefish Dunes State Park, near the Town of Sevastopol, Wisconsin. Overall, the site exhibits excellent preservation, especially beneath the sand. Located by local divers, the Success was documented by Wisconsin Historical Society archaeologists and the Department of Natural Resources Marine Conservation Warden for Door County in August 2014. The remains of the vessel rest upright on the lakebed with a large portion of the aft section still covered by sand. The sand moves about the site from year to year, covering and uncovering different hull structures, rigging, and machinery. Overall, the site exhibits excellent preservation with major hull sections intact, including the lower section of the centerboard and centerboard trunk. No hull structure above the bilge remains extant, though various artifacts remain beneath the sand. Due to the lack of mussels on most of the vessel, it is evident that the Success has been largely covered by sand until recently.

The site was added to the National Registry of Historic Places in 2015.