Lost Yooper
September 3rd, 2002, 12:52 PM
It's not every day that I'm able to dive a newly discovered shipwreck. A few weeks ago, a shipwreck was discovered in the Straits of Mackinaw during a search and recovery mission in the Straits. Perhaps a mile east of the bridge lays on old wooden schooner barge carrying coal in 120' of water. Though still unidentified, I suspect it's the Dolphin. There are only a few schooners known to gone down (undiscovered) in the Straits area that were carrying coal.
A group of us (some who frequent Scuba Board) were already scheduled to dive together this past weekend, and we learned the whereabouts of the wreck Saturday morning. Upon reaching the wreck, it was evident that it was a small schooner barge sitting upright and mostly intact. We began our swim towards the bow, which was devastatingly collapsed. It was clear that this ship was involved in a major collision. It was also clear upon entering the wreck that the cargo (coal) had shifted forward causing the wreck to nose dive and strike bow first into the limestone bottom causing even more damage.
The windlass was still on the deck, and the anchors were among the collision damage. Upon swimming around the wreck, there were many dead eyes to see, the capstan was intact, and even the ships wheel was laying on the deck. The cabins were blown off during the sinking, which was common for the wrecks up here. The rudder was intact as well, and some damage can be seen on the hull at the stern of the ship. I suspect it sustained that little bit of damage when the stern hit the bottom. Then we swam along the bottom looking for any interesting artifacts, and saw one of the ships massive masts lying parallel to the ship. With a few dead eyes, and what remained of the crow's nest, the mast was a very interesting part of the dive for me.
Other than the zebra mussels that cover the wreck, the ship looked much like it did when it went down. Visibility was superb at about 50' or so. Current was nonexistent and the bottom temperature was 52F. The wreck does lie in the shipping channel, which makes it curious as to how it remained undiscovered for so long. I'm looking forward to going back to this wreck.
I'll abbreviate the rest of the trip. We followed that dive with a dive to the William H. Barnum which is a wooden propeller resting upright and mostly intact in 70' of water east of the bridge. It had been several years since I visited this wreck, and I enjoyed diving it again. On Sunday, we headed out for the premier wreck in the Straits (IMO), the Eber Ward. The Eber Ward is another wooden wreck that was propeller driven, and it rest upright and intact in 140' of water a few miles west of the bridge. It has three decks to explore, anchors, propeller, rudder, engine, and much more. I never get tired of diving this wreck. Following that dive, we headed over to the most famous wreck in the Straits, the steel freighter Cedarville. I chose to sit the dive out, as I just don't care to dive the Cedarville much (and I needed to work on my tan :mean: ). The wreck is buoyed in three places: the bow, the collision (about amidships), and the stern. We tied onto the bow this time. This is a huge 550' long freighter that rests almost upside down in 110' of water (you can hit the hull at 35') a few miles east of the bridge. Jeff took my rig with doubles for a test spin again (he tried them earlier this year at the Straits) and, other than a bit of unfamiliarity, seem to like the wing and harness system. The surface current was very bad and I understand visibility was rather poor on the wreck.
All in all, the weekend was perfect. The sun was out and the water was beautiful. The highlight for me was diving a newly discovered shipwreck and hanging out with other divers. This same group and I will be diving together again next week in Whitefish Bay. If anything particularly interesting occurs, perhaps I'll write a little something up.
Mike:mean:
A group of us (some who frequent Scuba Board) were already scheduled to dive together this past weekend, and we learned the whereabouts of the wreck Saturday morning. Upon reaching the wreck, it was evident that it was a small schooner barge sitting upright and mostly intact. We began our swim towards the bow, which was devastatingly collapsed. It was clear that this ship was involved in a major collision. It was also clear upon entering the wreck that the cargo (coal) had shifted forward causing the wreck to nose dive and strike bow first into the limestone bottom causing even more damage.
The windlass was still on the deck, and the anchors were among the collision damage. Upon swimming around the wreck, there were many dead eyes to see, the capstan was intact, and even the ships wheel was laying on the deck. The cabins were blown off during the sinking, which was common for the wrecks up here. The rudder was intact as well, and some damage can be seen on the hull at the stern of the ship. I suspect it sustained that little bit of damage when the stern hit the bottom. Then we swam along the bottom looking for any interesting artifacts, and saw one of the ships massive masts lying parallel to the ship. With a few dead eyes, and what remained of the crow's nest, the mast was a very interesting part of the dive for me.
Other than the zebra mussels that cover the wreck, the ship looked much like it did when it went down. Visibility was superb at about 50' or so. Current was nonexistent and the bottom temperature was 52F. The wreck does lie in the shipping channel, which makes it curious as to how it remained undiscovered for so long. I'm looking forward to going back to this wreck.
I'll abbreviate the rest of the trip. We followed that dive with a dive to the William H. Barnum which is a wooden propeller resting upright and mostly intact in 70' of water east of the bridge. It had been several years since I visited this wreck, and I enjoyed diving it again. On Sunday, we headed out for the premier wreck in the Straits (IMO), the Eber Ward. The Eber Ward is another wooden wreck that was propeller driven, and it rest upright and intact in 140' of water a few miles west of the bridge. It has three decks to explore, anchors, propeller, rudder, engine, and much more. I never get tired of diving this wreck. Following that dive, we headed over to the most famous wreck in the Straits, the steel freighter Cedarville. I chose to sit the dive out, as I just don't care to dive the Cedarville much (and I needed to work on my tan :mean: ). The wreck is buoyed in three places: the bow, the collision (about amidships), and the stern. We tied onto the bow this time. This is a huge 550' long freighter that rests almost upside down in 110' of water (you can hit the hull at 35') a few miles east of the bridge. Jeff took my rig with doubles for a test spin again (he tried them earlier this year at the Straits) and, other than a bit of unfamiliarity, seem to like the wing and harness system. The surface current was very bad and I understand visibility was rather poor on the wreck.
All in all, the weekend was perfect. The sun was out and the water was beautiful. The highlight for me was diving a newly discovered shipwreck and hanging out with other divers. This same group and I will be diving together again next week in Whitefish Bay. If anything particularly interesting occurs, perhaps I'll write a little something up.
Mike:mean: