 The Milwaukee Fireboat #23 was located in 72 ft of water off Milwaukee in 2005 by local charter captain Jerry Guyer. She lies very near the present day site of the wreck of the Prinz Willem. Fireboat #23 was built at Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin in 1896 by the yard of Ribeoldt & Wolter as the August F. Janssen. She was built at a cost of $32,800 and slid down the ways on November 14, 1896. She measured 100.5 x 24.7 x 10.2 ft. and 133 gross tons. Her official number was 130711 and she was named after Assistant Fire Chief August F. Janssen, who had been killed at the Davidson Theater fire of  1894. She was put into service on April 1, 1897 and saw duty in several riverfront fires.
In 1901, her name was changed to No. 23 M.F.D and she became a fixture at her moorings near the Cherry Street Bridge and at the Menomine River Dock. During her long career, she saved many buildings, grain elevators and commercial vessels. She served alongside her sister fireboat No. 17 M.F.D, which was very similar in appearance as well as fireboats Cataract, No 15 and No. 29. The fireboats were numbered for the engine company that manned them, not chronologically, thus the No. 23 M.F.D was manned by Engine  Company 23.
The No. 23 was showing her age by the 1920s and was stripped of her major equipment in December of 1922. Her machinery and pumps were sold for junk and she was scuttled in Lake Michigan on July 27, 1923.
2007 GLSRF, Inc. and WUAA are working together to site map the wreck. 2007 was a great success with a large number of divers attending the process. Join the GLSRF & WUAA team in 2008, sign up at the WUAA web site http://www.mailbag.com/users/wuaa/
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| GLSRF Project Field Notes |
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| GLSRF Field Work Calendar |
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Become a Volunteer!
GLSRF welcomes outside assistance from qualified volunteers.
CLICK HERE If you are a diver, a Great Lakes shipwreck buff or just
someone who wants to lend us a hand during Ghost ships.
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