Milwaukee Skin Diver Finds Heineken's Beer
Submerged in Wrecked Dutch Freighter
Early last month, Mr. Gerald Thorpe of Milwaukee
wrote to the Heineken's Brewery in Rotterdam to tell
them of an interesting experience he had while skin diving
in Lake Michigan. Mr. Thorpe's letter was forwarded to
us and we in turn asked Mr. Thorpe to write in his own
words a brief story of how he came to find, taste and enjoy
Heineken's Beer that had been in 90 ft. of water for seven
years. Here is Mr. Thorpe's own story:
On October of 1954 the Oranje line passenger-freighter
Prins Willem V left the port of Milwaukee. It was a clear
night. Ahead the lights of another vessel could be seen on
an inbound course. As the vessels approached the Prins
Willem V turned and passed behind the other ship. This
was a serious mistake, as the other ship was a tug boat with
an unlighted barge in tow. As the barge was not lighted
the crew of the "V" did not see her. The barge was pulled
into the Port side of the Willem. A large hole was punched
into number two hold and the engine room was ripped
open. Almost immediately the wounded Willem began to
list to starboard and the engine stopped.
Within an hour the trim motor ship lay on her side, on
the floor of Lake Michigan in 90 feet of water. There was
no loss of life. In fact, hardly anyone got wet.
Since that fateful night no less than three attempts have
been made to raise her. All met with failure.
Also since that time I became a frequent visitor to a
"Sister" ship of the Willem V, the Prins Fredrik Willem.
Whenever the "Fredrik" was in Milwaukee I visited the
ship and became close friends with the crew. As the "Fred
rik" was almost identical to the "V," I learned the room
and floor arrangement.
As a skin diver I had made many visits to the wreck but
never had attempted an inside dive. While visiting a
diving store I found an underwater light, this was just
what I needed. My next dive would be inside of her.
For safety sake my partner, Eugene Schraml, remained
outside the entrance door and held one end of a safety
line. I tied the other end of the line to myself, switched on
the 40,000 candle power light and descended into the hull.
I moved past one door and over to a stairway, down the
stairs to the second floor level, then descended once more
down a corridor to the pantry. My light beam picked out
the white refrigerator door. The room was half full of
debris and silt. I had to be careful not to stir up a cloud of
silt. Slowly I opened the refrigerator door. The beam of
my light (the first light to enter in almost 7 years)showed
the neat rows of bottles.
I unrolled a small cloth bag that I carried in my belt
and proceeded to fill the bag. I was now at a depth of
almost 90 feet. The water temperature was about 39 de
grees F. The rubber suit that I had on protected me from
the cold water, yet I was still able to feel the cold on my
face.
Air bubbles from my breathing apparatus rising in the
small room created a current that carried silt upward, and
soon it was difficult to see even with the light.
I closed the refrigerator door and flashed my light above
me, I could see the white of my life line. I did not need
the life line though, I remembered the interior of the
Fredrik Willem and easily found my way out.
Eugene was waiting for me at the entrance door, he
felt the half full bag and nodded his head in approval.
We went up the line 50 feet to our boat. Upon opening
the bag we discovered that the bottles were that of
HEINEKEN'S beer, and that the caps were intact and the
bottles sealed.
Needless to say that before we reached the shore, four"
miles away, several of the bottles were empty, much to our
great pleasure.
Mfa
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Pictured above is Mr. Gerald Thorpe in his skin diving outfit, holding one
of the bottles of Heineken's that was found in the wreckage of the Prins
Willem V.
