Anonymous Donor Will Fund Boat Removal

Mayor Cavalier Johnson (left) and Jerry Guyer (right) observe Deep Thought aka S.S. Minnow. Photo taken April 23, 2025 by Graham Kilmer.

An anonymous donor has stepped forward to bankroll the removal of the boat — yes, that one — on Milwaukee’s lakeshore.

Deep Thought, aka the S.S. Minnow, has become such an eyesore for some that a wealthy benefactor has agreed to fund its removal.

Mayor Cavalier Johnson told media gathered near the boat Wednesday morning that in recent weeks the secretive donor approached him about removing the boat in the “spirit of collaboration”

“[The lakefront] is a point of pride for our community, and to have a nuisance like this on the beach is not a good look for Milwaukee, especially considering all the things that happen on the lakefront any given summer,” Johnson said. “So I was very, very pleased that this anonymous donor stepped forward and worked with us in order to make sure that, again, we eliminate this nuisance.”

The announcement comes less than a week after area county supervisor Sheldon Wasserman announced he was prodding the county to remove the boat and asking the county’s attorney’s to explore a legal strategy for going after the owners for payment. The supervisor called it an “eyesore” and said it was “unacceptable that a privately owned boat has been left to rot on public land.”

Long before Johnson arrived to announce the good news, Jerry Guyer, owner of Silo Marina, was on the scene with his crew, making another attempt at removing the boat. Guyer and his team hope to break the suction between the sand and the hull, drain the water from the ship and yank it out with a barge.

“I’m just trying to finish what we started,” Guyer told Urban Milwaukee.

Guyer, a maritime salvage professional and scuba veteran, began working on salvaging the boat not long after it ran aground between McKinley and Bradford Beach on Milwaukee’s public lakeshore. The owners Richard and Sherry Wells, of Mississippi, beached Deep Thought in October after running out of gas looking for McKinley Marina.

Since then the boat has attracted attention, becoming a minor local attraction dubbed as the S.S. Minnow and a canvas for graffiti, the imagery and message painted on the boat changing near daily. Recently, more destructive types have taken interest, ripping off the top of the boat.

In all his years of salvage, Guyer has never had one attract so much attention, he said. As he uttered these words, though, his plan to remove the boat and put an end to the public curiosity was being set in motion. Compressed air was being pumped into the sand beneath Deep Thought, intended to break the suction that has formed between the sandy lakebed and the hull. A small barge carrying pumps and heavy anchors was being brought over from the marina. The pumps would, hopefully, drain the boat of the water in its hull. The anchors would, hopefully, hold the barge in place while Guyer’s crew winched the boat out of the sand, bringing the bow around so it pointed east toward open water. Then it would simply be a matter of dragging it out.

But is the hull intact? “That’s the million dollar question,” Guyer said.

In any case, they are prepared for a damaged and leaking hull.

The physics that have confounded previous attempts to remove the boat aren’t easily observable from the shore. The suction, the tons of water and potentially tons of sand that have washed into the boat make it impossible to simply pull the boat out. There aren’t cranes in Milwaukee capable of lifting boats out of the water when they are full of water, Guyer told media. “That’s how heavy all that water is inside.”

Wednesday was the fifth time Guyer and his crew had been on site working to salvage the boat. Altogether, he’s spent approximately $25,000. Payment is never guaranteed in the salvage business, he said. The anonymous donor is good news, and Guyer hopes the funding will cover “a good portion” of the salvage costs. “We can’t be too fussy,” he said. “Anything is better than nothing.”

If everything goes according to plan, Guyer’s crew will be ferrying the boat down the Milwaukee River and toward his marina by the end of the day. If not, they’ll be back again on Thursday, he said.

Not everyone will be happy to see the boat go. A vigil for the boat is planned for Wednesday night. As Guyer’s crew worked to remove the boat Wednesday morning, they tromped over a plea scratched into the sand: Do Not Remove.

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