Door County Advocate (Sturgeon Bay, WI), 26 Jul 1906

The Madonna In Trouble. The schooner Madonna, Capt. Ole Christianson, got into trouble Saturday while coming out of Jackson harbor, having sprung a leak. She had just completed taking on a full cargo of wood, bound for an up-lake port, and when it became evident that the leak was a serious one Capt. Christianson signaled to the tug Stewart Edwards, Capt. Chas. McDonald, to take him back into the harbor. The pumps were meanwhile kept going, but it was found impossible to discover the source of the trouble, and as a last resort the deck-load was thrown back on the pier. The wind being fair it was determined to run to this port, a successful bargain for the balance of the cargo having been made with a dealer here by telephone.

A strong northwesterly wind carried the Madonna up Green bay in handsome style, and it was found as she listed to port under the great pressure that the water came into her less rapidly, and during one of these intervals Captain Christianson was fortunate enough to ascertain the cause of all the trouble. He found that there was a good sized opening on the starboard side about amidships and a foot or two below the surface. Having provided himself with a wad of plyable material the skipper set to work to push the stopper into the hole, which he finally succeeded in doing, having been swung over the side by means of a whip. When this had been accomplished there was no further need of working the pumps, and she arrived here about 10 o'clock that evening, having made the run in five hours or thereabouts.

After taking off the cargo the Madonna was placed in dock for repairs and a general over-hauling below the water line, and Capt. Christianson thinks on the whole that he has come out of his mishap pretty luckily after all. On leaving the dock the Madonna will at once go back to Washington Island to load wood, of which there is enough on the banking ground to keep the craft busy for the remainder of the season.

It was found after the Madonna had been placed on the boxes at the ship yard that the hole punched into the port side resulted from an iron bolt that projected from one of the stringers of the pier at Jackson harbor. The schooner got away today after having received minor repairs below the water line.