On a clear-cut day , the muddy waters of Lake Michigan seem to open up , and a humankind of shipwrecks below the surface is discover . Out of an estimated 6000 maritime catastrophe on the Great Lakes , Lake Michigan play host to 1500 shipwrecks . ( To this sidereal day , Great Lakes Department of Commerce remains a grave business ; the lakes are unpredictable , massive , and unforgiving . ) Here are just eight of the famous shipwrecks that can be found at the bottom of the lake .
1.LADY ELGIN
The sinking of theLady Elginon September 8 , 1860 resulted in the most open water deaths in the account of the Great Lakes . During a potent gale , the 252 - human foot wooden hulled steamer was rammed by a much smaller watercraft , the 129 - base schoonerAugusta , at a speed of 11 knots . Though theAugusta ’s 2nd checkmate had reportedly spot theLady Elginhalf an time of day before the collision , the schooner did not correct its class until just 10 minute before shock .
The captain of theAugustasailed away , consider that his schooner had in fact keep up more damage than the stalwart steamer clam , andaccording to the shop clerk of theLady Elgin , at the moment of impact there was medicine and dancing in the advancing cabin . But theAugustahad torn a gob in the porthole side of theLady Elgin . Fifty cow in the payload postponement were pushed over the side for buoy up the ship , while convenience and other profound items were actuate in an endeavour to bring in the gash pull up stakes by theAugustaabove the water point . A lifeboat was lowered , but not batten , and it floated away before passengers could board it .
All told , over 300 people lost their lives in the calamity . As a result , a law was passed a few years latermandating that all ship spoil the Great Lakes must have running light . The crash of theLady Elginwas largely forgotten until the mid-1970s , when a shipwreck partisan namedHarry Zychbegan searching for it , and discovered the wreck in 1989 . Today , the majority of the shipwreck lies several miles off the Illinois coast in four main wreckage website , which can be explore by the public , with permission from Zych .
2. SSCARL D. BRADLEY
Between 1927 and 1949 , the 639 - footSSCarl D. Bradleywas the largest ship on the Great Lakes . As the “ Queen of the Lakes ” ( the terminus used for the longest ship on the lakes ) , it was an technology marvel — the big and prospicient self - offload freighter of its era . TheCarl Bradleyserved as an iceboat as well as a merchantman used to cart limestone from Lake Superior and Lake Huron to Lake Michigan ’s deepwater ports . In 1957 , theCarl Bradleycollided with another ship , the MVWhite Rose , on the St. Clair River , result in damage to the hull .
This structural terms is say to have contributed to the catastrophe that betide the ship and its crew in 1958 . On the evening of November 18 , theCarl Bradleywas return from a delivery in Gary , Indiana , heading northerly in upper Lake Michigan , when amassive gale - force stormhit . With winds attain up to 65 miles per hour , and wave up to 20 foot tall , the storm battered the massive freighter until around 5:30 p.m. , when the hull begin crock up in two . Despite three radio calls of Mayday before the power lines were sever , theCarl Bradleywent down before a rescue attempt could be mounted . Only two out of its 35 crewmen survived .
In 1959 , the wreck of theBradleywas discover using sonar engineering by the Army Corps of Engineers , seat 360 metrical foot under the water . The uncovering did little to answer the motion of on the button how the huge ship sunk . The two subsister of the shipwreck lay claim that they witness the ship break in two , but the sonar mental imagery did not confirm this claim . It was n’t until 1997 that this claim was affirm . Two maritime writers and adventurers took a submersible down to take in the wreck , bringing with them one of the survivors , Watchman Frank Mays . They were greet by two freestanding piece of the ship , lodged upright in the clay , 90 feet apart .
3. THEALPENA
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TheAlpenawas a Great Lakes steamboat that conveyed hoi polloi and supplies throughout the Midwest beginning in 1866 . The ship was notable for its twin 24 - foot side wheels and partly visible engine . No one cognise where the ship ’s final resting place actually is , but if the crash is ever located , these distinctive features will help name it .
Weather shape on Lake Michigan are notoriously irregular , and it was a sudden violent storm that would come to be send for “ The Big Blow ” thatsunk theAlpenain 1880 ( not to be confused with another “ Big Blow ” on the lake in 1913 ) . When the ship left Grand Haven , Michigan October 15 at 10 p.m. laden with passengers and a cargo of orchard apple tree , en route to Chicago 108 miles away , the atmospheric condition was arrant — serene and cheery , with temperature ranging from 60 to 70 degree . Once the vessel was afoot , the work party noted a change in the winds , show a possible storm . The steamer ’s seasoned captain plain figured that theAlpenawould accomplish Chicago before the worst of it hit . A few hours later , he was proven fatally faulty .
By 3 a.m. , the temperature had omit to below zero and gale - force winds along with snow and trash began hammering the lake . TheAlpenawas reportedly spot at break of the day struggling in storm - tossed wave . The next time she was sight , the ship had capsized . Only after the tempest slake was the extent of the devastation clear : The long-neck clam had been buffet so mischievously by the storm that the ship ’s wreckage , as well as the eubstance of its victims , were spread across 70 miles of beach .
Over 90 ships conk down during “ The Big Blow ” on Lake Michigan . TheAlpenaleft no subsister and no trace of its present whereabouts .
4. SSAPPOMATTOX
One of the largest wooden ships ever constructed for use of goods and services on the Great Lakes , theSSAppomattoxmeasured 319 feet , feature a stout hull and had a massivetriple enlargement steam engine . The ship hale iron ore and coal to interface all over the Midwest until a stroke of unsound lot befell her on the nighttime of November 2 , 1905 . Loaded with a full cargo cargo deck of coal off the coast of Wisconsin , the huge wooden steamer was blind by smog from the interfering interface of Milwaukee . As a result , theAppomattoxran aground . Despite two weeks of effort to liberate her , the ship remain stuck and eventually abandoned . Today , theAppomattoxsits in 15 to 20 foot of water system , 150 thou out from the beach in Shorewood , Wisconsin , near Milwaukee , and remains remarkably intact . The shipwreck is apopular dive siteand a living admonisher of the perils of shipping on Lake Michigan .
5.ROUSE SIMMONS
The schoonerRouse Simmonsis one of the most fabled shipwrecks in the history of Lake Michigan commerce . The 123.5 - foot ship was christened in 1868 , a point in the history of Great Lakes shipping when canvass were still the dominant form of king , before long to be eclipse by steamers . TheRouse Simmonsspent several decades traveling the Lakes in the service of striking Midwestern baseball bat barons . After geezerhood of crisscrossing the parlous Great Lakes waterways , the schooner was in desperate need of fixture at the twist of the century , by which point theRouse Simmonshad joined about two 12 other ships in haul Christmas trees from Michigan to Chicago during the holiday season . TheRouse Simmonsremains the best - remembered of these “ Christmas tree ships . ” The gregarious captain Herman Schuenemann would betray tree off his deck in the port of Chicago , to the delight of countless families . On Friday , November 22 , 1912 , the schooner will the dock at Thompson , Michigan , carry grand of Christmas Tree in its storage area and on its deck .
What happened when this Christmas tree ship left port is not just known . What is bonk is that a powerful November gale caused the ship to give , possibly due to its poor precondition and labored warhead . None of the crew survived , and Christmas trees continued to wash up on the shore of Lake Michigan in the follow weeks . The departure of theRouse Simmonsheralded the ending of the schooner epoch on Lake Michigan . The ship has spawned numerous fable and ghost stories , and its bequest is celebrated every December , when the Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw make a ceremonial running from Michigan to Chicago to pitch Christmas tree to the less golden .
For geezerhood , the location of the wreck remained a closed book . In fact , its find in 1971 was an accident . A local aqualung diver namedGordon Kent Bellrichardwas using echo sounder to research the bottom of Lake Michigan near Two Rivers , Wisconsin for the wreck of theVernon , a huge steamer that sink in 1887 . rather , he came upon the three - mastedRouse Simmons , resting well - preserved in the mud in 172 feet of piss . The shipwreck had parry searchers and diver for decades and can now be explored six miles northeast of Rawley Point , Wisconsin .
6. SSANNA C. MINCH
The SSAnna C. Minchwas a 380 - metrical foot steel long-neck clam make in 1903 in Cleveland , Ohio . The steamer clam fell victim to one of the worst winter storms in the history of Lake Michigan and the Midwest as a whole — theArmistice Day Blizzard , which took place on November 11 , 1940 and claimed three bottom , including theAnna Minch . The storm brought winds of at least 80 miles per hour along with 20 - foot wave on the Lake . One theory is that theAnna Minchcollided with theWilliam B. Davock , another ship that afterwards sunk or may have just sunk in the storm . Rescue attempts continued for three day but , nevertheless , theAnna Minchwent down with all hands . The monolithic soft-shell clam split in two , and dwell in the water of Lake Michigan to this twenty-four hour period , serving as a democratic dive site . The two sections of the ship seat close together , one and a half mile south of Pentwater , Michigan in about 35 to 45 feet of water supply .
7.L.R. DOTY
TheL.R. Doty , a 291 - foot long-neck clam , first set sail around the Great Lakes in 1893 . She was one of the last wooden steamship to see service on the Great Lakes , as steel had become the industry standard for new vessels . The vessel had a steel - reinforced hull , which was rat A1 * , the highest possible course for a Lake vas , by insurance policy association the Inland Lloyds . In gain , she had a monolithic and potent engine , but she did not have electricity or innovative communication technology . In spite of its sturdiness , theL.R. Dotywas no match for the furious storm of October 25 , 1898 . Ships all over the lake were smashed , the Chicago boardwalk was destroyed , and the Milwaukee breakwall was broken . TheDotybroke up , taking down its entire crew and lading . The ship remain the turgid wooden shipwreck unaccounted for in Lake Michigan until it was finallydiscoveredin 2010 , 112 years after go down .
8.NIAGARA
TheNiagarawas built in 1846 in Buffalo , New York for avail on the Great Lakes transporting both rider and goods . The massive side - wheel around steamboat was considered one of the finest steamers of its era . On September 24 , 1856 , at around 6:00 p.m. , the steamshipcaught firein the area of the locomotive room . The exact causa of the attack is uncertain , but the prevailing theory is that some flammable cargo down in the hold was the cause . Many rider and gang were able-bodied to jumpstart overboard and were later rescue by nearby ship ; however , out of the 300 passengers on board , 60 decease and the entire loading was lose to the Lake . A will to the treacherous nature of Lake Michigan , theNiagarasank only a mile from shore , as the Captain made a dire run for ironic land . The wreck is another populardive site , with the volume of the wreck lie in 55 foot of water near Belgium , Wisconsin , but it can be dangerous;two diversalmost died a yoke year ago exploring it .
