Kewaunee

[Dewit2it]

Has anyone dove around Kewaunee?

I drove through a few days ago and there's some old dock pilings just south of the harbor.  There's a public park right at the start of the pilings on the beach, so it looks like real easy access.  Looks like a lot of algae on the beach, but might not be so bad further out.

Also in the harbor, there's another set of dock pilings and possibly the wreck of the Dickenson some 200 yds away.  The Dickenson had a load of coal, and I did notice a dark patch in the churned up water in the harbor not too far from the end of the dock.  The land along there is being sold for private housing, but there is a public beach by the breakwater that could provide water access.(long swim)

How churned up or mucky is the harbor during summer? 

[scubanut]

I grew up in Kewaunee, did a boat dive out by the mile marker this past summer.  My dad and his buddy launched a hobbie cat from that beach you talked about.  In summer that beach is just solid algea, muck, and goose poop, they had to wade through about 25 feet of it before they got to clean water and then it was only knee deep for for a long ways out.  There is also a serious current coming through that opening between the containment and the north break wall so be careful.  As for the main harbor, that water never get much clearer than about 5-10 feet of visability because of the river.  The inner harbor by Salmon Harbor Marina isn't so bad, but it depends on runoff.  My dads buddy and I have done some search and recovery work for boaters in that marina (lost bimini, rhinestone dog collar, prescription glasses,and a solar cell).  The visibility was about 10-15 feet, but kind of milky dark, not very clear.  We are thinking about diving around the government yard for lost tools and stuff this summer.  Send me an e-mail if your interested.

Chris

[Dewit2it]

That's kinda what I thought viz might be.

[scubanut]

Where is that wreck that you are talking about, the Dickenson, and in what or where did you find out about it?

  From that park if you head south to the end, that is where the old carferry dock was, and the last building is the old coast guard/lifesaving station.  On my marine charts there is a wreck symbol directly west across from the old carferry dock.  They also just dredged the entire working harbor and canal this past Oct./Nov.  That finger of land with all the nice houses on it is called Hathaway Landing.  West of that is the U.S. corp. of engineering property.  That is were we are going to look for "dropped" tools.  I won't be able to answer my listed e-mail now until after the new year so if you want to contact my use scubachris72@live.com.  I'm currently researching a plane that went down off of Kewaunee back in the late 80's that was never found.  It is out there, my dad knows a guy that has seen it from his sailboard, but he isn't giving up the location for some reason.

Chris

[Dewit2it]

The book is Wild Gales and Tattered Sails.  The Florence Dickenson went aground aprox 200 yds from the north pier and broke up.  The book said one crewmember made it to an abandoned pier piling and was later rescued.  Wind was out of the east at the time.  The Emerald went aground close by in the same storm but was later salvaged and returned to service.  If the north pier is the same as back in 1886,(?) she went down inside of the current north breakwater.  Coal washed up on the beach for a year or so after the wreck.  The book also says that the harbor was choked with wreckage, so the keel may be all that's left, if it didn't get dredged out.  The Dickenson was a 180' schooner barge.

My charts are updated to 2005, and don't show anything, but there was a wreck abandoned in the river from the book.  The Engineers should know about it, or whether or not they hit timbers when dredging.