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Apostle Islands National Lakeshore

The Apostle Islands are an archipelago of 22 islands that form an extension of the Bayfield Peninsula, stretching into Lake Superior from northernmost Wisconsin. Apostle Islands National Lakeshore covers approximately 70,000 acres of which about 40 percent is underwater. The first underwater work carried out by the Park Service team was on docks and quarries at the park in 1982. In 1984, archeologists from the SRC and rangers from the park discovered the remains of a late 1800s schooner-barge thought to be the Noquebay--an archeologically significant wooden wreck with disarticulated but well-preserved remains. The project was geared toward generating information that would be useful in submerged cultural resources site protection, visitor safety, and interpretation.

There are remains of several other wrecks within or just outside of park boundaries in State waters. In fact, the State of Wisconsin Division of Historic Preservation has an active and effective underwater archeology program that has conducted projects on numerous submerged sites in the region including the Apostles. They have produced some excellent reports cited below.

SRC archeologists mapping the Noquebay
The steering gear and wheel of the Noquebay
  • September 1984 – Documentation of schooner Noquebay. Toni Carrell, Principal Investigator.

  • June-July 1984 – Training of local divers in nondestructive recording techniques. Daniel Lenihan, Project Director.

  • July 1982 – Two day survey of submerged historical sites at the Lakeshore.

    References:

  • Carrel, Toni, 1985, Submerged Cultural Resources Site Report: Noquebay, Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. Submerged Resources Center Professional Report No. 4. National Park Service, Santa Fe, NM.

  • Cooper, David J., 1995, Davidson’s Goliaths: Underwater Archeological Investigations of the Steamer Frank O’Connor and the Schooner-barge Pretoria. State Historical Society of Wisconsin.

  • Cooper, David J., Editor, 1991, By Fire, Storm and Ice: Underwater Archeological Investigations in the Apostle Islands. State Historical Society of Wisconsin.

  • Keller, James M., 1984, The Unholy Apostles. Apostle Island Press, Bayfield Wisconsin.

Related Links
Apostle Islands National Lakeshore
Wisconsin Historical Society Underwater Archaeology
The Wisconsin Underwater Archeology Association