All along Wisconsin’s 820 miles of Great Lakes shoreline, storms could mean the difference between profit and financial ruin, survival and terrifying death. This lifesaving medal reminds us of the risks that sailors and Wisconsin’s maritime communities have routinely faced since the early 19th century. It documents the personal bravery, dedication, and ingenuity of those who rescued their fellows from disaster. This lifesaving medal was awarded to one of the volunteers involved in saving the sailors aboard the barque, a three-masted ship, Tanner in 1875.

The Wreck of the Tanner

Bound for Buffalo with a full cargo of wheat, the Tanner left Chicago on the afternoon of September 9, 1875. A powerful storm off of Milwaukee stripped away most of the ship’s sails and left her unable to maneuver. The Tanner dropped anchor in Milwaukee’s outer harbor. As a gale from the northeast followed the squall, a tug boat went to her aid. Three times the tug attempted to tow her to safety between the long piers forming the entrance to Milwaukee’s inner harbor. Three times the tug failed and the crew aboard the Tanner were forced to drop anchor and wait.

The storm only grew worse in the night, pushing the Tanner southeast toward the remaining piers from the harbor’s original entrance. The boat struck the piers around 4AM, breaking the keel and sinking the boat to her deck in 20 feet of water. Another rescue attempt in the morning failed. But some watermen on shore were looking on and devised an elaborate plan to rescue the crew. The six rescuers managed to position a scow as a breakwater that allowed the sailors to jump to safety in relatively calm waters. All six rescuers, all volunteers, were awarded lifesaving medals for their bravery from the U.S. Lifesaving Service.

The wreck and rescue of the Tanner was credited with bringing a professional lifesaving service to Milwaukee. This wasn’t strictly true as plans were already underway but the wreck did emphasize the need for fully equipped lifesaving stations along Wisconsin’s lakeshore.

Written by David Driscoll. Special thanks to Tamara Thomsen, underwater archaeologist with the Wisconsin Historical Society’s Maritime Preservation Program.

The Lifesaving Medal: A Wisconsin 101 Story

Explore more of this history with this video from Wisconsin 101’s YouTube channel.

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This object has been featured on WPR's Wisconsin Life!

Awarded to six Milwaukee rescue boat volunteers in 1875, this medal is a reminder of the history of risk and heroism along Wisconsin’s shores.

Listen below to the segment from Wisconsin Public Radio’s Wisconsin Life.

Transcript

Erika Janik:
Wisconsin has more than 800 miles of Great Lake shoreline. Since the early 19th century, Wisconsin’s maritime communities have routinely faced storms that could destroy businesses, towns, and lives. Wisconsin Historical Museum curator Dave Driscoll brings us the story of a lifesaving medal given for bravery in the face of disaster.

Dave Driscoll:
This is a silver medal. It’s about two and a half inches in diameter. Around the border, it says ‘Lifesaving Medal of the Second Class, United States of America.’ The back side says, ‘In testimony of heroic deeds in saving life from the perils of the sea.’ And then inscribed in the center of it is “N.A. Peterson, Wreck of the barque Tanner, Lake Michigan, September 9, 1875.’

N.A. Peterson was a ship captain who happened to be in Milwaukee. He lived in Milwaukee, but he was in Milwaukee on the night of the storm and participated in a rescue that saved the lives of eight crew members of the barque Tanner. The ship left Chicago on the evening of September 9, had a full cargo of grain, and it was heading towards Buffalo, New York. The accounts say that a squall kind of came in and knocked out a couple of its sails, and that was followed by a storm shortly thereafter, but the loss of the sails meant that the ship could not navigate when the storm arrived. It happened to be off of Milwaukee when the storm hit later that evening, folks on shore realized that the Tanner was in trouble, and there were a couple of steam tugboats that tried, on three separate occasions to connect to the Tanner and pull her to safety. And either the ropes weren’t strong enough, or the winds were too high, or in any case, at a certain point, they kind of gave up, and the ship dropped anchor in the outer harbor and just hoped for the best. A group of, you might call them watermen, the people connected with shipping or ship building, kind of put their heads together and figured out a fairly ingenious rescue method. And as a result, all six of the sailors all received life saving medals second class, which was the second such incident after the medals were instituted in 1874.

I was surprised that this happened in Milwaukee. You know, I was expecting Door County or, you know, Lake Superior, Edmund Fitzgerald sort of thing. So I guess it, it struck me that, you know, how close to shore, all this nautical stuff, how closely connected sort of Lake and shore are, in many cases, it kind of addresses the issue of of heroism. And that’s something that doesn’t show up in museum collections in an obvious way, very often, I think often with with objects, you learn about a lot of the functional things, but in this case, you know life saving, putting your life in danger in order to save someone else’s, that level of meaning and emotional content is much higher there, and I think, easier to access. It just reminds us how much Wisconsin has depended on the lakes for commerce, for sustenance, for news, for immigrants. There have been many, many people who have earned their livelihoods from the lakes, and it wasn’t always easy and it wasn’t always safe.

Erika Janik:
This story was part of Wisconsin 101 a collaborative effort to share Wisconsin story and objects. Wisconsin Life is a co-production of Wisconsin Public Radio and Wisconsin Public Television, in partnership with the Wisconsin Humanities Council. Additional support comes from Lowell and Mary Peterson of Appleton. Find more Wisconsin Life on our website, wisconsinlife.org and on Facebook. I’m Erika Janik.