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by Douglas Skip Mintline (Author)
From 1878-1968, over 70 lake captains called Bay View, Wisconsin their home. Surrounded on three sides by water (the Kinnickinnic River, the Port of Milwaukee, and Lake Michigan), Bay View has a stunning and remarkable maritime history. Yet this history has hardly been reported - until now.
This 650-page book, being released in individual Volumes, is the culmination of 10 years of work. Just the research and source documentation totals 60 pages and is in 9-point font, single-spaced. Nearly all of it would not have been possible without the online digital revolution that allowed for keyword searching, impossible just ten years ago.
Bay View's 71 lake captains lived in 117 different homes and captained 195 different ships while they lived here. They captained everything from fishing boats to tugboats, to two and three-masted schooners, to the earliest steamships to the huge cargo ships we see on the lakes today. Their sailing adventures on the Lakes easily match those of the great sea captains of the world's oceans.
The captains' families were also very important to them, and these families are also discussed in this book. Several of their children reached great heights in their chosen careers. One captain's wife, Johanna Brotch, was Bay View's only female ship owner. Her house at 515 East Lincoln Avenue, recognized with a state historic marker, is now the headquarters of The Historic Bay View Lake Captains Society, the sponsor of this book and accompanying website (www.historicbayviewlakecaptainssociety.com) and YouTube channel (Bay View: Town of Lake CAPTAINS!).
Join us now on the voyage that is this book, "Bay View: Town of Lake CAPTAINS!" All profits are to be used to erect a plaque containing all of the captains' names in the center of the highest concentration of Bay View's lake captains (northwest Bay View) and on the street that contained the most lake captains homes in history: East Lincoln Avenue. Also planned for next to this plaque is a sculpture of a ship's dog mascot with a Bay View connection that saved many lives (to be the first sculpture in Bay View), and a historic marker for The Historic Bay View Lake Captains District which will be the first of its kind in the USA. Should we fail in this endeavor, then all monies will be donated to the SS City of Milwaukee museum ship in Manistee, Michigan, that was once captained by at least two and likely three different Bay View lake captains.
So welcome aboard, anchor's aweigh, and fair winds and following seas! We're happy to have you with us, and we hope you enjoy this fabulous, first-ever, one-of-a-kind book on Bay View's great and substantial maritime history!
