National Register of Historic Places
AUSTRALASIA (wooden bulk carrier) Shipwreck
Sevastopol vicinity, Door County, Wisconsin
The record
- Listed
- July 3, 2013
- Type
- Site
- Address
- 820 ft. SE. of Whitefish Dunes State Park, Sevastopol vicinity
- County
- Door
- State
- Wisconsin
- Contributing resources
- 1 site
- Coordinates
- 44.92338, -87.18704
- Reference number
- 13000466
Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.
Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesBarry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesBarry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDigital Commonwealth, Boston Public LibraryDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesUSGS Historical Topographic Map Collection
The story
Written by AI from this property's National Register nomination and the record above; every sentence is checked against its sources before it appears here. Corrections: privacy@treealive.com
The Australasia Shipwreck is the wreck site of a wooden bulk carrier in Lake Michigan, about 820 feet southeast of Whitefish Dunes State Park near Sevastopol in Door County, Wisconsin. James Davidson built the ship in 1884.
Why it's listed
It was listed under Criterion D, with state-level significance in maritime history, engineering and historic aboriginal archeology; its period of significance runs from 1884, when built, to 1896, when lost.
Physical character
The wreck lies in two pieces: a bow section exposed about 40 feet and a stern section exposed about 75 feet, with the lower hull intact beneath the lakebed. Built of wood and reinforced with steel, its double-framed hull ran 285 feet long by 40 feet in beam, with iron hogging trusses; its two Otis steel boilers lie toppled to starboard, stacks crossways.
Historical context
Launched from Davidson's shipyard in 1884, the Australasia was then the largest wooden ship afloat on the Great Lakes, and that year it set a wheat-cargo record out of Duluth. It later ran as a bulk carrier for the Corrigan Transit Company, which took it over in 1893, until a fire in 1896 led the crew to abandon ship and salvagers scuttled the hulk south of Cave Point.