Sinking of the Phoenix
While Jan Willem and his family settled in Alto, droves of immigrants from the Netherlands were making a similar journey across the Atlantic Ocean to the fertile farmlands of the American Midwest.
These families chose either land routes south of the Great Lakes through modern-day Indiana and Illinois or water routes that took them by boat from Buffalo [New York] through the connected waterways to the western shores of Michigan or eastern shores of Wisconsin. Cities like Manitowoc, Milwaukee, and Sheboygan became popular ports of arrival for Dutch immigrants during the mid-1800s.
The Early Journey
The Phoenix was a ship engaged in this lucrative trade of moving immigrants to their final destination to the Wisconsin heartland. After reaching New York, many families traveled overland or by water passage to Buffalo and there boarded a schooner to navigate the waters of the Great Lakes.
On November 11, 1847 the Phoenix would make another such journey with 300 to 350 passengers on board. More than 80 percent of these passengers were immigrants from the Netherlands—people hardened by years of farming in the motherland who spoke a strange tongue puzzling to most of the other passengers aboard.
As the Phoenix wound through Lake Erie and up the St. Clair River into Lake Huron, she encountered a raging and unrelenting storm that partially damaged the ship and sickened many of the passengers. Thankfully the ship was able to quickly recover after docking at Beaver Island for repairs. After a couple of days, the ship turned her bow toward Lake Michigan, slowly making her way through cold blue waters for the final days of the voyage.
For many of the immigrants on board, these final two days represented a significant relief after the 4,000-mile journey from their home country in Europe. The final port on the trip was scheduled to be the village of Sheboygan, however, an intermediate stop in Manitowoc (just 30 miles north of port) was needed to drop a small amount of cargo. Captain G.B. Sweet commanded the Phoenix to quickly resume its final stretch along the shore to Sheboygan and decided to make up lost time by moving at full speed.
Fate of the Phoenix
On this night—November 21, 1847—the ship sailed under clear skies and a calm sea, with the beauty of a thousand stars dancing overhead. While the passengers slept awaiting their arrival, the crew pressed the ship toward port.
At about 2:00 AM local time, the engine room filled with smoke and wooden beams over the boilers caught fire, creating a chain reaction where the flames mushroomed and began billowing about the ship’s undercarriage. In the first moments of the fire, it seemed reasonably manageable. The flames quickly spread, however, and the screams of those being burned echoed through the cabins. Chaos ensued. The vessel, engulfed in flames, had only two lifeboats to be used by its passengers. Given this inadequacy, most people were faced with the terrifying choice of dying at the hands of the fire or perishing in the freezing November waters of the Lake Michigan.
Phoenix by William J. Koelpin | Courtesy MSRA
Meanwhile in Sheboygan, a local man named Judge Morris saw the fire in the distance (just five miles off the coastline) and activated other steamers at the docks including the Delaware and the Liberty. Orders were given for the ships to press into the darkness toward the ballooning fire.
The lifeboats gradually made their way to shore, while the screams and prayers of those dying in the water slowly faded.
Circling the ship’s wreckage and the dozens of bodies bobbing in the water, the crews of the Delaware and Liberty removed their hats and paid respect to the graveyard, for just hours before the excitable cheers of those on board filled the Phoenix’s corridors. In total, it is estimated that about 250 passengers and crew members died aboard the Phoenix that evening. Some were swept upon the western shores of Lake Michigan, others floated mercilessly to the bottom and remain undocumented.
The news gradually spread to Milwaukee, Chicago, and then to the rest of the world. Communities in the Netherlands, including Winterswijk and other villages in the Gelderland, observed the tragedy from far away.
Many survivors found their way inland to towns such as Oostburg and Waupun, forever shaken by the cruel twist of fate. Today the remnants of the ship sit just off the old pier in Sheboygan, leaving forever dormant a ship lost in a disaster that occurred just five heartbreaking miles from the end of an immigrant’s journey.