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Decaying Phoenix Chimney Discovered at the Bottom of Lake Michigan
By Lineke Voltman
WINTERSWIJK – A night walk through the old cemetery of Winterswijk by Joske Meerdink, editor-in-chief of broadcaster Gelderland, was the source of a documentary and a series of podcasts called “The disaster with the Phoenix” from the broadcaster Gelderland, which premiered on Sunday November 20 in the Service Theater Skopein.
November 21 marks the 175th anniversary of the sinking of the Phoenix on Lake Michigan in the United States. It was the time when many Dutch people emigrated to the United States because of poverty in the Netherlands. This also applies to the 300 passengers on board the Phoenix, including 154 Dutch emigrants. Shortly before its final destination, the port of Sheboygan, the ship caught fire and sank. Only 24 emigrants survived the disaster, including ten people from Winterswijk.
Joske: “During my walk, I saw the monument to the fall of the Phoenix in the cemetery, I read the story and it really grabbed me. My first thought was, why am I not aware At home, I researched all the information about the disaster and the idea immediately came to me to make a podcast of it. While I was working on it, I got in touch with the filmmaker and documentary filmmaker Diny van Hoften from Zaltbommel “Joske had already done a lot of research before,” adds Diny, “I thought it was such a great story that I wanted to make a documentary out of it. At the end of July we left for America with cameraman Maarten Schellekens from the Gelderland broadcast to get as many answers as possible to questions such as: maybe Joske’s family was on the boat, the wreckage was was it ever found and why so many Dutch people emigrated to America at this time?
Via YouTube, Joske got in touch with wreck hunter Steve Ravadon, who had previously seen an object lying on the bottom of the lake near the disaster site eight years ago, but dismissed it as a log. of tree. “During our stay, he went looking for it and found the place: the object was still there. Subsequently, divers were deployed and the object was found to be hollow and indeed the Phénix chimney. It is the only remnant of the ship.
Diny: “During our visit to America, we also spoke with the descendants of people who survived the disaster, including Mark and Janice Hesselink, the Foster sisters and Dave Feldkamp. We also spoke with Mary Risseeuw, Phoenix expert, genealogist and historian. In 1997, she ensured that all victims of the Phoenix disaster were named and with Wisconsin Maritime Museum employee Kevin Cullen, who was shocked by the discovery of the chimney.
The first part of the documentary can be seen on Omroep Gelderland on Tuesday November 22 at 5:15 p.m. and will be repeated every hour. Part two will air on Tuesday, November 29.
The first episode of the podcast was on Monday November 21, followed by a new episode every week, which can be listened to on the Gelderland podcast app, but also on other podcast apps.
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