Draft:The Boat (Milwaukee)

Submission declined on 3 April 2025 by Dan arndt (talk).

This submission's references do not show that the subject qualifies for a Wikipedia article—that is, they do not show significant coverage (not just passing mentions) about the subject in published, reliable, secondary sources that are independent of the subject (see the guidelines on the notability of events). Before any resubmission, additional references meeting these criteria should be added (see technical help and learn about mistakes to avoid when addressing this issue). If no additional references exist, the subject is not suitable for Wikipedia.

If you would like to continue working on the submission, click on the "Edit" tab at the top of the window.
If you have not resolved the issues listed above, your draft will be declined again and potentially deleted.
If you need extra help, please ask us a question at the AfC Help Desk or get live help from experienced editors.
Please do not remove reviewer comments or this notice until the submission is accepted.

Where to get help

If you need help editing or submitting your draft, please ask us a question at the AfC Help Desk or get live help from experienced editors. These venues are only for help with editing and the submission process, not to get reviews.
If you need feedback on your draft, or if the review is taking a lot of time, you can try asking for help on the talk page of a relevant WikiProject. Some WikiProjects are more active than others so a speedy reply is not guaranteed.

How to improve a draft

Wikipedia:Contributing to Wikipedia – a basic overview on how to edit Wikipedia.
Help:Wikitext – how to use the markup
Help:Referencing for beginners – how to include references
Wikipedia:Article development – how to develop your article
Wikipedia:Writing better articles – how to improve your article
Wikipedia:Verifiability – make sure your article includes reliable third-party sources

You can also browse Wikipedia:Featured articles and Wikipedia:Good articles to find examples of Wikipedia's best writing on topics similar to your proposed article.

Improving your odds of a speedy review

To improve your odds of a faster review, tag your draft with relevant WikiProject tags using the button below. This will let reviewers know a new draft has been submitted in their area of interest. For instance, if you wrote about a female astronomer, you would want to add the Biography, Astronomy, and Women scientists tags.

Add tags to your draft

Editor resources

Easy tools: Citation bot (help) | Advanced: Fix bare URLs

Declined by Dan arndt 2 months ago. Last edited by Dan arndt 2 months ago. Reviewer: Inform author.

Resubmit

Please note that if the issues are not fixed, the draft will be declined again.

The Boat (Milwaukee) "The Boat", as it is referred to by many residents of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is a 33 foot, blue and white, Chris-Craft Roamer that that washed ashore on October 13, 2024. The Boat has since gained a rather cult following within the city and has appeared in a music video and on a t-shirt.

Location The boat is located between McKinley Marina and Bradford Beach on Lake Michigan. The Boat's approximate location is 43.05650 degrees North, 87.87766 degrees west. The boat is visible on google maps as "The Minnow".

Background The Boat is owned by a Mississippi couple, Richard and Sherdy Wells. The two purchased the boat in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, a city North of Milwaukee, and planned to take it back to Mississippi by route of the Mississippi River. The Wells ran out of gas during a storm on October 13, 2024 and have since been unable to remove the boat. Jerry's Salvage company attempted to tow the boat on both November 16th and December 30th, unsuccessfully. The Coast Guard did not deem the stranded boat an environmental hazard and stated that they are not currently charging anyone at the time.

Significance Since its initial appearance in October, The Boat has attracted the attention of curious Milwaukee Residents. Within a month of the boat washing ashore, it was "tagged" by local artists Therd and Emork. The tag reads "ALIENS" in yellow and black font. Another early addition to the boat was a sticker which read "I Closed Walksi's", referring to the popular Milwaukee Bar, Walski's. In the following months the boat has since been covered in graffiti and an art installation. The installation was done by Dave Watkins and is a wooden anchor, attached to the boat, which reads “Knot Moving” on one side and “Beach Please” on the other.

In Popular Culture The boat is featured as a backdrop in the music video “Reality vs. TV” by Milwaukee Artist RealityTV. It was discussed in an interview between Matt Wild from Milwaukee Record and Alex Crow, a “Morning Edition” host from Wisconsin Public Radio. The Roaring Dans wrote a song entitled “The SS Milwaukee”, about the boat. The boat is visited often by residents of the city and consistently reported on by Milwaukee Record. In addition, Milwaukee Record created a t-shirt featuring artwork of The Boat.

References

Wild, M. (2025, March 14). 5 months of the Milwaukee Boat. Milwaukee Record https://milwaukeerecord.com/city-life/5-months-of-the-milwaukee-boat/

Van Ergen, J. (2025, January 3). 'There's nothing else we could do': Stranded Lake Michigan boat could be stuck for months. JS Online. https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/2025/01/03/stranded-lake-michigan-boat-likely-stuck-until-spring-due-to-weather/77355116007/