Ed's Travelogue: Menominee, Michigan July 1976 The Mystery Ship at 19 Fathoms (The Schooner 'Alvin Clark')

This was a fascinating thing to see. Menominee, Michigan was just a hop-skip-&-jump from pestigo, Wisconsin and I drove there on the same day. The ship on display was billed as The Mystery Ship and that's what I remember it as. Having sunk in Green Bay during a storm in 1864, the ship was discovered in 1967 by Frank Hoffman and raised in 1969. It was remarkably preserved with some of the ships functions still operable. As I said it was initially billed as The Mystery Ship but was later discovered to be the schooner Alvin Clark which was hauling a load of lumber before being capsized and sinking during that sudden storm in 1864. On a sad note, while the salvage operation was successful, there were no plans to actually preserve the ship and it deteriated so badly it had to be destroyed. here's the Wikipedia write-up

"Deterioration and demolition[edit]

Freed from the cold and low-oxygen waters at the bottom of the bay, Alvin Clark immediately started to deteriorate. Hoffman's group had not included museum or historic society representatives, and his demand to be compensated for expenses involved in raising the ship frustrated efforts to find a permanent home for the ship or start any sort of conservation. Proceeds from the museum did not pay off Hoffman's incurred debt of $300,000, much less provide restoration funds.^[11] The ship eventually deteriorated beyond restoration. In 1985, an intoxicated Hoffman attempted to burn with gasoline what was left of the ship, but he was arrested and sentenced to a week in prison and a year of probation.^[14][15] In 1987, he sold the ship, now a hulk, to a group of local investors for $117,000.^[11] The investors moved and stabilized the ship,^[11] but they were not able to adequately preserve it.^[2] The ship was eventually found to be beyond saving and was declared a public hazard.^[16] In 1994, the Mystery Ship Seaport and the remains of the Alvin Clark were demolished to make way for a parking lot.^[14]"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvin_Clark_(schooner)

^{The ship is no more, but here are photos of it. Enjoy! Opa Fritz}