Northerner was an American-built schooner built by the well-known shipwright John Oades in Clayton, New York, in 1850. The ship had an overall length of 81.13 feet, a beam of 18.60 feet, a depth hold of 7.60 feet, and a registered tonnage of 77.33 tons. It was constructed with a single deck and had two masts.

Northerner began its career on Lake Ontario, carrying goods to towns along the lake’s American and Canadian shores. Its final years were spent on Lake Michigan, ferrying lumber between small and large ports. 

On November 28, 1868, Northerner’s hull was damaged during loading. While being towed to Milwaukee for repairs the next day, the ship filled with water, capsized, and sank off Port Ulao with a cargo of cordwood in its hold. The ship’s crew were rescued, but the ship itself was abandoned on the lakebed. Today it rests upright and largely intact, 135 feet beneath the surface of Lake Michigan, and is one of many shipwrecks in the Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary.

Originally discovered by divers in the early 1970s, the Wisconsin Historical Society’s Maritime Preservation and Archaeology Program officially recorded the location of Northerner in 2009. The following year, the ship was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as an archaeological site. In 2021, divers and maritime archaeologists from NOAA captured imagery for the first 3D photogrammetry model of the Northerner site. The sanctuary installed a permanent mooring system at the site in 2024. The mooring helps prevent anchor and grappling damage from visiting dive boats and enhances public accessibility by making the site easier to locate and safer to dive.

In 2025, maritime archaeologists and engineers supported by NOAA Ocean Exploration revisited the wreck during the Exploring the Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary at Scale project. They reimaged the site while testing new technology — a Saab Sabertooth hybrid autonomous underwater vehicle/remotely operated vehicle equipped with a Voyis Observer Pro imaging system — and techniques for exploring deepwater shipwrecks.

The Exploring the Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary at Scale team collected 1,670 still images of Northerner. Images were stitched together in Agisoft Metashape and uploaded to Construkted Reality.

Site Name: Northerner

Type: Shipwreck

Date Vessel Built: March 12, 1850

Date Vessel Sank: November 29, 1868

Hull Material: Wood

Official Number: 18176

Location: Lake Michigan

Depth: 135 feet

Vessel Length: 81.1 feet

Vessel Beam: 18.6 feet

Expedition Number: n/a

Expedition Name: Exploring the Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary at Scale

HROV Dive Number: 1

HROV Dive Date: August 4, 2025

HROV Used: Saab Sabertooth hybrid autonomous underwater vehicle/remotely operated vehicle

Camera Information: Voyis Observer Pro imaging system

Video or Stills: Stills

Software: Agisoft Metashape

Number of Images Used/Format: 1,670/JPG

Orthomosaic Views Available: No

Images Available: No

Animations Available: No

Available File Exports/Location/POC: archaeology.oceanexploration@noaa.gov

Link to NOAA Ocean Exploration Project Page: TBD

Developer: Hibbard Inshore

Credit: Model courtesy of Hibbard Inshore/NOAA.

  • N. Virginia, USA