JOYS (Shipwreck)
- Address: 500 ft. W of Sunset Park
The steam barge Joys rests in 10 feet of water, 500 feet west of Sunset Park in the waters of Sturgeon Bay. Constructed in 1884 and sunk in 1898, barges like the Joys fueled development of the cities of Milwaukee, Chicago, Manistee and Michigan City by hauling in lumber, iron, and stone from Menominee. Generally, little historical documentation exists on steam barge construction and operation. Much of our understanding of this vessel type lies on the lakebed and comes from archaeological data recovered from wreck sites like the Joys. The Joys meets the registration requirements for Criteria D at the state level as described in the Multiple Property Documentation Great Lakes Ship-wrecks of Wisconsin (Cooper and Kriesa 1989). The Joys wreck site was documented in 2005. Although little cultural artifacts remain, the Joys' broken and opened hull has produced important archaeological data on steam barge construction and use, and possessed a vast potential to yield additional important archaeological information.
Though history can seldom be used to accuse someone of a crime, historical hindsight suggests the burning of the Joys may involve insurance fraud. Several details regarding the fire are at odds. First, the vessel owners appeared to be having a hard time turning a profit at the time of loss. The lumber industry had peaked in 1892, and since that time lumber production rapidly declined, rendering a large portion of the steam barge fleet idle. The excess transportation capacity certainly gave the Joys' owners a reason to decommission the vessel.
Other suspicious aspects of the fire are evident in the statements given by Captain Connelly to the Door County Advocate. First, Connelly allegedly was the first to notice the fire even though his quarters were forward and farthest away. He also claims that, as soon as he saw the fire, he immediately threw on his clothes and ran to give the alarm. Secondly, the fire spread so fast that most of the crew lost everything including money, jewelry, and clothing. Connelly, however, claimed that he had time to grab the ship's papers, books, and accounts, which were also located forward and farthest from the fire, but later were mysteriously lost. Finally, the captain claimed that he had no idea whether or not the Joys carried any fire insurance, claiming that James Sheriffs, "looked after the chartering, insurance, and other details incidental to her management" (Door County Advocate 1898). It seems odd that Connelly, who owned a fourth of the ship, did not know if Joys carried fire insurance.
One other point warrants consideration: the Joys was destroyed by fire on the last trip of the season right before undergoing an extensive and expensive scheduled rebuild at the Sturgeon Bay dry dock (Door County Advocate 1898). It could be theorized that Connelly and Sheriffs wanted to burn the Joys before they needed to finance an expensive rebuild. Alternatively, the fire may have also been the result of the owners' lack of income - financial hardship could have forced the owners to skimp on routine maintenance expenses, leaving the ship vulnerable to accidental fire. - NRHP, 11 October 2007