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A working steam engine from the Chief Wawatam.
This Great Lakes History Log is presented by Filer Credit Union, the Port of Ludington Maritime Museum and Sable Points Media.
By Rob Alway, Editor-in-Chief
MANITOWOC, Wis. — Maritime history along the western shore of Lake Michigan takes center stage at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum, where the stories of Great Lakes shipping, shipbuilding and World War II submarines are preserved along the Manitowoc River.
I visited the museum Saturday, Aug. 22, as part of my continuing research into Great Lakes maritime history. The museum, located at 75 Maritime Drive in downtown Manitowoc, contains more than 60,000 square feet of exhibit space and is considered one of the largest maritime museums in the Midwest. Its collections and exhibits extend beyond Manitowoc to tell the broader story of Wisconsin’s relationship with the Great Lakes and its waterways.
For those interested in Great Lakes commercial shipping, one of the museum’s highlights is its Maritime History Gallery. The exhibit examines shipbuilding, sailors and commerce beginning in the 19th century and traces the development of Wisconsin’s shipyards and vessels. Nearby, the Model Ship Gallery includes scale and half-hull models representing Great Lakes sailing vessels and freighters.
Another particularly impressive artifact is the 65-ton triple-expansion steam engine from the railroad car ferry Chief Wawatam. Built in 1911, Chief Wawatam carried railroad cars, automobiles and passengers across the Straits of Mackinac between Mackinaw City and St. Ignace. The museum’s exhibit allows visitors to see the massive engine in operation, providing a close look at the type of steam technology that powered Great Lakes vessels during the early 20th century.
The museum also explores Wisconsin’s shipbuilding industry through its Wisconsin-Built Boat Gallery, while exhibits on Lake Michigan shipwrecks incorporate artifacts and interactive displays. The museum serves as a repository for recovered Wisconsin shipwreck artifacts and cares for more than 10,000 such objects on behalf of the state. Its overall collection includes nearly 20,000 objects, more than 60 boats, about 300 regionally built outboard motors and more than 250 ship models.
Perhaps the museum’s most recognizable exhibit is moored immediately outside: USS Cobia, a World War II-era Gato-class submarine. Cobia was launched Nov. 28, 1943, at Groton, Connecticut, and completed six war patrols in the Pacific. The submarine sank 13 Japanese vessels during the war and was brought to Manitowoc in 1970 as a memorial to submariners. It was later restored to its 1945 configuration and is designated a National Historic Landmark.
Cobia also helps tell a remarkable chapter of Manitowoc’s industrial history. During World War II, Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company constructed 28 submarines for the U.S. Navy, despite being located hundreds of miles from the ocean. More than 7,000 men and women worked at the shipyard during the wartime submarine program. Cobia itself was not built at Manitowoc, but today serves as a memorial to the people who built the city’s submarines and the sailors who served aboard them.
Visitors can tour Cobia either independently or as part of a guided tour. Moving through the submarine’s narrow passageways, crew quarters and operating spaces provides perspective on the conditions in which submariners lived and fought. The museum has also restored several of Cobia’s systems, including two main engines, its World War II radio shack and its SJ-1 radar.
The Wisconsin Maritime Museum traces its origins to the Manitowoc Submarine Memorial Association, established around 1970 to preserve the area’s submarine-building legacy. Its mission has since expanded considerably, making the museum not only a memorial to Manitowoc’s wartime shipbuilders and submariners but also an important repository and interpretive center for the maritime history of Wisconsin and the Great Lakes.
For anyone interested in Great Lakes history, the museum is worth allowing several hours to explore. Between the commercial shipping exhibits, ship models, historic machinery, shipwreck artifacts and USS Cobia, it offers a broad look at how the lakes shaped Wisconsin — and how Wisconsin helped shape the maritime history of the Great Lakes.
For more information on the Wisconsin Maritime Museum, visit www.wisconsinmaritime.org
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