Anchors Aweigh Milwaukee Multi-Cache
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This is a multicache that will take you to three historic ship’s anchors on display in Milwaukee. There is a distance of approximately 7.5 miles from beginning to end. The final is a micro - so please bring a pen!
There are many different types of anchors that were used on ships and boats. These anchors are classified according to their shape and size. There are several different types of anchors on display in Milwaukee, and you will see two types of these on this tour, learn a bit about anchor nomenclature, and discover the histories of the ships from which they were recovered. Please be respectful when approaching this first anchor. We have spoken to the security guards at the gate. The general public is welcome to look at the anchor, but the rest of the grounds are off limits. The coordinates of the first anchor are: 43° 03.119’ N 087° 53.146’ W This is a wood stock anchor, a type that was commonly used on Great Lakes sailing ships as early as 1800. The stocks were generally made of two pieces of timber (most commonly oak) and then joined together with bolts (wood or iron) and iron bands. Set at a right angle to the flukes, the purpose of the stock is to force the flukes to dig into the lake bottom. This anchor was recovered from the famous “Christmas Tree Ship” Rouse Simmons. The Rouse Simmons was lost in a gale off Two Rivers, Wisconsin, along with her crew of 16 men while bringing Christmas trees to Chicago from Thompson, Michigan, on 23 November, 1912. Read the interpretive panel adjacent to the anchor to find the first clue. Take the year this anchor was donated and subtract the number of years Rouse Simmons sailed on the Great Lakes to decipher the coordinates to the second anchor. (Year this anchor was donated) – ( Number of years Rouse Simmons sailed on the Great Lakes)= ABCD 4C° DA.DCA’ N 087° 54.DAD’ W The second anchor is a Federal or Navy stockless anchor. These anchors were most common on steel-hulled ships and were rarely used on wooden ships. Because they do not have a stock, (the large cross-piece at the top of the anchor) they do not have to be hauled onto the deck of a ship to be stowed. Instead, they were simply pulled into a ship’s hawse pipe, or the hole where the anchor chain enters the ship’s hull. This anchor was recovered from the shipwreck of the railroad car ferry Milwaukee that was lost in a storm with the 46 or 47 men who were aboard on 24 October 1929. Of the men aboard the ship at the time of her loss, only 21 were ever found. The car ferry Milwaukee was operated by the Grand Trunk Railroad and connected Grand Haven, Michigan to Milwaukee allowing railroads to avoid the bottleneck of Chicago. If you look carefully at the anchor you will see writing stamped into its flukes. You will see the year of the patent for this type of anchor, and the weight of the anchor. Additionally, you will find the name of the ironworks that forged the anchor. Use this text to answer the following question to find the third waypoint. This anchor was forged at which ironworks? _ _ _ _ _ L 2 3 4 5 6 WP° E9.LLP’ N 087° EP. 8L9’ W The final anchor is also a wood stock anchor. You can see that the anchor’s stock has been replaced with fresh wood. When wood is removed from the water and not taken through a conservation process to stabilize it, it rots when the cellular structure of the wood collapses as it dries out. Conservation is expensive and time consuming, that is why it is best to leave wooden artifacts like this anchor underwater where they stay hydrated and stable for many generations to come. This anchor has also lost its provenience. Provenience is important to historical objects like this and gives them greater value by associating them with their history. We know from the plaque that this anchor was brought up from the bottom somewhere near Bayview. There are three known shipwrecks in this area, and many others wait to be discovered. Alternatively, this anchor could have simply been lost when a vessel was waiting out a storm and has no association with a shipwreck at all. To find the final cache, find the weight stamped into this anchor’s crown and subtract 302 = FGH 4H° 5G.F84’ N 087° 5H.GF3’ W This cache was placed as a partnership with Wisconsin Historical Society, the Wisconsin Maritime Museum, and Milwaukee County Parks through the National Park Service’s Maritime Heritage Grant. A Geocache Placement Notification Form has been submitted to Milwaukee County Parks. We hope you enjoyed learning about anchors in Milwaukee. To learn more about Wisconsin’s maritime heritage please visit our other geocaches in the Milwaukee area and throughout the state, or visit wisconsinshipwrecks.org and maritimetrails.org!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Nqqrq n zntarg va ubcrf gung vg jbhyq fgnl chg.
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