Columbus’ Fleet Comes to Manitowoc in 1913
This postcard view of Columbus’ fleet in Manitowoc on September 6, 1913 was sent by H. George Schuette of Manitowoc to the Wisconsin State Historical Museum.
Courtesy Wisconsin Historical Society
On Wednesday, September 3, 1913, the Manitowoc Daily Herald announced replicas of Christopher Columbus’s ships (the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria) would arrive at Manitowoc the next day. Headlines in bold lettering read, ‘The Caravels are Coming, Don’t Fail to See Them.’
The reproductions were built in the navy yards of Cadiz and Barcelona, Spain, from plans prepared by a special commission of naval architects and archaeologists, appointed by the government of Spain. The sailing ships were shown at the World’s Columbian Exposition, also known as the Chicago World’s Fair, in 1893, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Columbus’s arrival in the New World in 1492. After the World’s fair closed, the square-rigged galleons were given in trust to the South Park Board for the school children of Chicago, where they remained at anchorage in the Jackson Park lagoon for the next twenty years.
On August 31, 1913, the three vessels, towed by the tug Duncan City, left Chicago en route to the Panama-Pacific International Exposition at San Francisco in 1915 to celebrate the completion of the Panama Canal. The long voyage would require the vessels to go through the Great Lakes, the Welland Canal and the St. Lawrence River to the Atlantic Ocean, down along the Florida coast to the West Indies and through the Panama Canal to California, stopping at many cities and ports along the way.
After leaving Chicago, Columbus’ fleet stopped at Racine, Sheboygan and Manitowoc in Wisconsin. Due to rough weather on Lake Michigan, the boats were late in leaving Racine and arriving at Sheboygan and Manitowoc.
The three ships, decorated with flags and banners, arrived at Manitowoc on Saturday morning, September 6, 1913, at 9:30 a.m. and docked in the Manitowoc River at the foot of N. Seventh Street. The fleet’s arrival was announced by the blowing of whistles of several manufacturing plants. Mayor Henry Stolze greeted the boats and arranged for orphans from St. Mary’s hospital to go aboard the vessels in the morning.
Large eager crowds visited the boats, which remained in port all day before leaving for Mackinaw, Michigan at 10:00 p.m. An admission fee of 25¢ for adults and 10¢ for children was charged to help defray expenses of the traveling historical and educational exhibit.
Visitors were able to tour the replica cabin used by Columbus, an Italian navigator flying under the Spanish flag, on his trip across the Atlantic Ocean in search of a water route to the East.
Among the relics on board Columbus’s flagship, the Santa Maria, was a reproduced navigation compass, positioned on deck by the wheel, and an original hand-forged anchor, weighing about 2,300 pounds. Cannons, spears, battle axes, bows, arrows, lanterns, cooking utensils and many other items of ‘great historical interest’ were also on display.
One can easily imagine the spectacle of Columbus’s caravels arriving at the Manitowoc harbor 111 years ago and the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for local residents to see and visit the dockside attraction.
Unfortunately, Columbus’ three replica ships never reached San Francisco. During a severe wind and snow storm in November 1913, the Santa Maria was torn from its moorings, while in winter quarters at Erie, Pennsylvania, and driven to a sandbar outside the harbor in Lake Erie, where it was badly damaged.
The Nina and Pinta, battered and worn, returned to Chicago in 1914. The Santa Maria continued eastward and made it to Westerly, Rhode Island, where it was decided the ship would not stand the remainder of the trip. The caravel was towed back to Chicago, where it was welcomed with speeches and patriotic songs in 1918.
The expedition was a financial failure, losing nearly $60,000.
