The G. A. Kohler

A 1933 hurricane pushed the G. A. Kohler, a four-masted schooner from Baltimore, ashore just north of Cape Hatteras. The wreck remained on the coast until World War II, when the wooden ship was burned in an effort to recover scrap iron from her hull. The image of the intact ship was made sometime between the wreck and 1945.
<img src='https://blogs.lib.unc.edu/ncm/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2007/11/kohler_together.jpg' alt='kohler_together.jpg' align="center" vspace="8" hspace="14"
The color image, which comes from a postcard in the Durwood Barbour Collection, is not dated but is thought to have been created in the 1950s or 1960s.

kohler_keel.jpg

12 thoughts on “The G. A. Kohler”

  1. The black-and-white photograph is from a 5×7 inch negative in the Wootten-Moulton Collection in the North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives.

  2. Is that Baltimore Ship image available to be purchased as a print. A friend of mine owns a seafood restaurant in Baltimore and I think this image would look great on the wall.He loves these old “schooners”.

  3. Are you interested in additional pre-burning images of the Kohler? I have been helping a friend scan & edit old family pictures, and in the same batch of pictures there are shots of the Hatteras Light, and a picture of her father standing by a firmly beached large ship, hull intact, masts gone. Looking at the B&W picture above, I’m virtually certain that the shipwreck is the Kohler.

  4. This was my greatgrandfather’s ship. I have a 12′ beam from the ship that was used as a mantle over our fireplace. His house in Yoe, PA is still being used where he raised his 12 grandchildren, my grandmother one of the six girls, being Gladys Marie Kohler. We still live in my grandmother’s house only 1 1/2 miles from George Kohler’s home.

  5. Is this the same shipwreck that was featured on the History channel?

    They were digitally mapping the ship remains in an effort to build an accurate 3D digital model. One of the issues they had to deal with was only having a low tide every 43 years that would let them scan enough of the ship to be able to build the model.

    It’s a shame that war has to destroy our world. Anyway cool story.

  6. Re posting by Kim Raub,

    I recently became aware of the story of the G.A. Kohler shipwreck. You mentioned that the ship belonged to your great grandfather. I am very intrigued, because the name Kohler and our family name Kolmer are often thought to be of the same root, and our family first arrived from Germany in the Baltimore-Frederick vicinity. Additionally, the name George is very common in my family. My great grandfather was named George A. (August) L. (Leonard) Kolmer. Do you happen to know the middle name of the G.A. Kohler?

  7. The foundations of my great grandfather and grandfathers houses in Avon, NC were built with timbers from this shipwreck.

  8. I am very interested in learning more about G. A. Kohler, the ship, what was on board and info about the folks who used the wood as foundations for their homes. I work at the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum in Hatteras.

  9. My name is Marsha Kohler from Newark Ohio and we just recently learned about the George A. Kohler shipwreck from a friend on vacation. I am interested in any information to see if our side of the Kohler’s are any relation. Our grandfather’s family was originally from PA. His name was Lawrence.
    I would like to hear more about the shipwreck – where is the best site to get the information??

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