Name: Hundreds of shipwreck artifacts, worth about $1.5M, may be donated to Racine Heritage Museum
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Hundreds of shipwreck artifacts, worth about $1.5M, may be donated to Racine Heritage Museum

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Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter.Please subscribe to keep reading. You can cancel at any time.Loading&amp;hellp;{{title}}{{description}}{{banner}}(renews at {{format_dollars}}{{start_price}}{{format_cents}}/month + tax){{tagline}}{{special_title}}{{html}}You are the owner of this article.You have permission to edit this article.© 2022 Lee EnterprisesShare ThisHundreds of shipwreck artifacts, worth about $1.5M, may be donated to Racine Heritage MuseumShare thisA display of a typical hard hat diving suit at the Lockwood Pioneer Scuba Diving Museum in Loves Park, Ill., is pictured here.Capt. Dan Johnson of the Loves Park (Ill.) Scuba Team, holds what he believes is John Harms' diving helmet. The name of Harms, a Racine police officer killed on duty in 1918, was added to the Racine County law enforcement memorial at Hantschel Park, 54000 Byrd Ave., in May 2008. Johnson says he thinks Harms was the first diver in Racine.&nbsp;Artifacts from the Kate Kelly shipwreck shown (underneath a misspelled placard) at the Lockwood Pioneer Scuba Diving Museum in Loves Park, Ill.&nbsp;The Kate Kelly was a 126-foot schooner ship that sank in May 1895 off the coast of Wind Point.&nbsp;RACINE — “Captain” Dan Johnson, a shipwreck hunter, was just a diving apprentice in 1978 when he decided to enter the waters of Lake Michigan in Racine in search for the Kate Kelly.The Kate Kelly was a 126-foot schooner ship that sank in May 1895 off the coast of Wind Point. According to , the Kate Kelly sank during “a vicious spring storm (that had) exploded across Lake Michigan.”Three summers after Johnson’s first dive, in 1981, he discovered the Kate Kelly. “It was my first shipwreck I discovered,” said Johnson, 66.Now, Johnson is in talks with the Racine Heritage Museum to donate the Kate Kelly artifacts, along with other artifacts related to shipwrecks in the Racine side of Lake Michigan, totaling up to a value of over $1.5 million.“We’re very excited,” said Christopher R. Paulson, executive director of the . “The opportunity to share (the collection) with our constituency is a welcome one.”The artifacts are currently with Johnson at the in Loves Park, Ill.Legacy of James E. Lockwood Jr.Johnson will donate hundreds of artifacts, he said, including the “self-contained breathing apparatus” invented by James E. Lockwood Jr. at least five years prior to .Lockwood Jr. . The Lockwood family began the Lockwood Scholarship Fund, designated to benefit graduates of Park High School, in 1983. Lockwood Park on Graceland Boulevard in Racine was renamed to honor the Lockwood family.Lockwood Jr. and Johnson were close friends late in Lockwood Jr.’s life. Johnson named his scuba equipment company, Lockwood Scuba Equipment, after Lockwood Jr.“Jim was quite a guy, and he hanged with the elite divers of the world,” Johnson said.More artifacts to be seenOther artifacts include the hard hat diving equipment of John Harms, . Johnson believes Harms “was one of the first hard hat divers on this side of the lake.”Johnson has also housed artifacts from shipwrecks of the SS Milwaukee, SS Wisconsin, Prince Williams, Dredge 906 and Vernon.Johnson said he is giving away the collection because he’s retiring. Johnson was the founder of Loves Park Scuba in Loves Park back in 1984. He collected artifacts each time he went diving.“It’s been a wonderful run,” Johnson said. “It’s not about the money that you make, it’s about the lifestyle.”Where the collection would reside is still open for now, Paulson said.Johnson said he would love to see the collection at as a first choice, or the .Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter.A display of a typical hard hat diving suit at the Lockwood Pioneer Scuba Diving Museum in Loves Park, Ill., is pictured here.Capt. Dan Johnson of the Loves Park (Ill.) Scuba Team, holds what he believes is John Harms' diving helmet. The name of Harms, a Racine police officer killed on duty in 1918, was added to the Racine County law enforcement memorial at Hantschel Park, 54000 Byrd Ave., in May 2008. Johnson says he thinks Harms was the first diver in Racine.&nbsp;Artifacts from the Kate Kelly shipwreck shown (underneath a misspelled placard) at the Lockwood Pioneer Scuba Diving Museum in Loves Park, Ill.&nbsp;The Kate Kelly was a 126-foot schooner ship that sank in May 1895 off the coast of Wind Point.&nbsp;Lockwood Jr.{{title}}{{summary}}You don't have any notifications.Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device.Topics

Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter.Please subscribe to keep reading. You can cancel at any time.Loading&amp;hellp;{{title}}{{description}}{{banner}}(renews at {{format_dollars}}{{start_price}}{{format_cents}}/month + tax){{tagline}}{{special_title}}{{html}}You are the owner of this article.You have permission to edit this article.© 2022 Lee EnterprisesShare ThisHundreds of shipwreck artifacts, worth about $1.5M, may be donated to Racine Heritage MuseumShare thisA display of a typical hard hat diving suit at the Lockwood Pioneer Scuba Diving Museum in Loves Park, Ill., is pictured...

Hundreds of shipwreck artifacts, worth about $1.5M, may be donated to Racine Heritage Museum

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