SS Joys

Joys (Shipwreck)
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
The steam barge Joys underway
Location	Lake Michigan off the coast of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin
Coordinates	44°51′4″N 87°23′21″W
NRHP reference No.	07001218
Added to NRHP	November 21, 2007

The Joys was a steamboat that sank in Lake Michigan off the coast of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, United States. In 2007 the shipwreck site was added to the National Register of Historic Places.^[1]

History

The Joys was built in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1884.^[2] She would go on to haul cargo through the Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal from Menominee, Michigan to the ports of Milwaukee, Chicago, Illinois, Manistee, Michigan and Michigan City, Indiana.

On December 23, 1898, the Joys was at anchor in the Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal. At about 1:00 a.m., the captain saw flames from the wheelhouse and sounded the alarm. The crew was able to escape, but in the ensuing chaos the ship was carried in the current toward the canal office and government warehouse. Eventually, efforts from those on land were successful in towing the vessel away from land, where it then burned to the waterline and sank.

References

1. "Weekly List of Actions Taken On Properties". National Park Service. Archived from the original on 2017-05-26. Retrieved 2012-02-11. (Archived May 26, 2017)
2. "Steam Barge Joys". Historical Marker Database.org. Retrieved 2012-02-11.