Wisconsin dad Tim Wolla, daughter unearth 150-year-old shipwreck during Lake Michigan fishing trip

A Wisconsin father and daughter duo miraculously discovered what’s believed to be a 150-year-old shipwreck that was lost during one of the deadliest wildfires in US history.

Tim Wollak and his 6-year-old daughter, Henley, came across the landmark ship on Lake Michigan as they took their fishing trip near Green Island in Green Bay, Wisc. in August, according to the Wisconsin Historical Society.

As the pair fished on the lake, Wollak’s sonar detector picked up what his daughter believed was a rare Green Bay Octopus.

He posted the sonar photos to his Facebook which eventually caught the eye of the historical society, who believed the father-daughter duo unearthed the 122-foot-long George L. Newman ship.

“The wreck is of a wooden three-masted sailing ship and is in 8 to 10 feet of water. Although the identity of the wreck has yet been confirmed, the location and current available data fits with that of the barkentine GEORGE L. NEWMAN,” Wisconsin Historical Society announced on Facebook.

The George L. Newman had been carrying lumber supplies from Little Suamico on Oct. 8. 1871, when the vessel got lost trying to navigate through thick smoke during the deadly Peshtigo Fire.

The Peshtigo Fire killed over 1,500 people and burned over one million acres in northeastern Wisconsin, according to the Western Fire Chiefs Association.

The large wooden vessel, worth around $8,800, measured about “122 feet long and 26.3 feet in beam with an 11-foot depth of hold,” according to the Wisconsin Historical Society.

The ship was built by Benjamin Flin in Black River, Ohio in 1855.

Wollak and his daughter were thrilled when they found out their sonar detector was behind the surreal discovery.

“I don’t know how we top it,” Tim Wollak said to WLUK. “I told her I’m pretty sure there’s no one else in her school that has ever found a shipwreck that nobody had recorded before….I guess we’ll just have to fish more and see if we can find more shipwrecks.”

Tamara Thomsen, a maritime archaeologist for the Wisconsin Historical Society, reported how the finding of the shipwreck was pretty rare considering there were no other sightings of any others in that area.

“We went back to our database to see if there was anything reported in the area and we didn’t have anything,” Tamara Thomsen stated. “However, in the database we have information on historic losses and this fits the loss location of the George L. Newman.”

The Wisconsin Historical Society said on Facebook the Maritime Preservation and Archaeology Program will conduct a search on the shipwreck in 2024 and evaluate the site for listing on National Register of Historic Places.