Milwaukee abandoned boat: Deep Thought removed from lakefront

Milwaukee's abandoned boat is finally gone

After a full day of work, Deep Thought -- the boat that had been abandoned at Milwaukee's lakefront since October -- was towed away on Tuesday.

MILWAUKEE - Deep Thought, the boat that had been abandoned at Milwaukee's lakefront since October, was towed away down Lincoln Memorial Drive on Tuesday night, May 6.

Boat finally gone

Timeline:

All City Towing spent all day – from morning until night – working to remove the now-infamous boat.

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"I'm sure you saw we ran into a lot of trouble," said Jeff Piller from All City Towing. "I'm going to say I feel like there's a little bit of Great Lakes curse here because we even had some equipment failures right from the beginning, and it was off to a little bit of a slow start."

Once the boat was pulled out of the water, cables dragged it across the rocks and onto land. A crane hoisted the vessel onto a flatbed truck, where it was secured and then pulled onto Lincoln Memorial Drive.

Initial efforts to take the boat away hit an early snag, though. The tow truck had barely traveled down the road when tire trouble struck, prompting a delay as crews worked to make sure they were safe to proceed.

"The boat is extremely heavy, way heavier than we ever imagined," Piller said earlier in the day. He estimated the boat weighed close to 75,000 with all the mud that flowed into it.

Eventually, they headed south on Lincoln Memorial Drive and across the Hoan Bridge to a tow lot around 8:15 p.m. It arrived there roughly an hour later.

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Throughout the extraction process, all of Lincoln Memorial Drive was shut down to traffic from Lafayette Hill Road to Water Tower Road.

Photo gallery: Deep Thought's removal

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Removal of abandoned boat on Milwaukee's lakefront

What they're saying:

News crews, cameras and dozens of people gathered just south of Bradford Beach hoping to catch a glimpse of the hours-long effort.

"I never thought I'd see anything like this in my entire life," said Pam Bautch. "I just wish I could take all these guys, the workers, out to dinner or something."

"Community is something we do. It's not something that just exists," said Michael Mirer, an assistant professor of communication at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. "Other cities don't have abandoned boats that everyone cares about it. And also, you know, it's a thing that's kind of safe ground to talk about – something that we can all really enjoy together."

Months of work

Timeline:

Deep Thought's removal was months in the making. The boat washed ashore between Bradford and McKinley beaches in October after it ran out of gas.

In November, Jerry Guyer and his crew with Pirates Cove Diving made their first of many attempts to dislodge Deep Thought without luck.

Photo gallery: Deep Thought

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"Deep Thought" boat abandoned at Milwaukee lakefront (October 2024)

Milwaukee County was officially deemed responsible for the boat's removal. There were then renewed attempts to get it out, and a pontoon platform ended up getting stuck with Deep Thought in the process.

Just last week, Milwaukee County decided to tackle the boat from land with help from a towing company. That ultimately proved to be successful on Tuesday.

Editor's note: FOX6 News previously reported the tires popped. The driver later clarified the tires were not flat but carried a lot of weight, causing concerns.