SS Joys facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Joys (Shipwreck)
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The steam barge Joys underway
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 Location in Wisconsin
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| Location | Lake Michigan off the coast of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin |
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| NRHP reference No. | 07001218 |
| Added to NRHP | November 21, 2007 |
The Joys was a large steamboat that sadly sank in Lake Michigan. This happened near the coast of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, in the United States. In 2007, the place where the shipwreck rests was added to the National Register of Historic Places. This means it's an important historical site!
Contents
The Story of the Joys
Building a Great Ship
The Joys was built in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, way back in 1884. Imagine a huge boat made of wood and powered by steam! Its job was to carry important cargo across the Great Lakes.
What the Joys Carried
This busy steamboat would travel through the Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal. It carried goods from Menominee, Michigan, to big cities like Milwaukee, Chicago, Illinois, Manistee, Michigan, and Michigan City, Indiana. It helped move many things that people needed!
The Night of the Fire
On December 23, 1898, the Joys was resting quietly. It was anchored in the Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal. Around 1:00 in the morning, the captain saw something scary: flames! Fire was coming from the wheelhouse, which is like the ship's control room.
Escape and Sinking
The captain quickly sounded the alarm. Luckily, all the crew members were able to get off the ship safely. But the fire was spreading fast! The burning ship started to drift in the water. It moved dangerously close to the canal office and a government building on land. People on shore quickly worked together. They managed to tow the burning ship away from land. The fire kept burning until the Joys was mostly gone. It then sank into the cold waters of Lake Michigan.
