Mayday! U.S. Coast Guard Snaps Photos Of Shipwrecks In Lake Michigan

By Jim Bochnowski in News on Apr 29, 2015 4:20PM

Today, more than 200 million pounds of cargo are shipped through the Great Lakes. While transporting goods by ship is almost entirely safe in modern day, weather conditions used to render Lake Michigan almost impassible. Deep underneath the water are the remains of some of these sacrificed ships, which are usually invisible to the human eye due to the ice that settles over the lake in the winter and sediment that settles during the summer.

That all changed last week when the U.S. Coast Guard was on a routine flyover of Lake Michigan and spotted several of the long-sunken ships. They were just outside of northern Michigan's Sleeping Bear Dunes, which was an important passage for the logging industry and a former shelter area during tumultuous weather.

The photo to the right is one of the James McBride, which measured 121 feet in length. The ship was a cargo freighter that traveled from Nova Scotia to Chicago, the first boat to carry goods from the Atlantic Ocean to a Lake Michigan port. On Oct. 19, 1857 the boat was carrying a shipment of lumber from the Manitou Islands in Michigan to Chicago when it hit a gale, ran ashore and was quickly abandoned. The owner of the boat expressed little concern, saying "the vessel had returned more in profits" than his investment of $4,000.

The photo above is of the Rising Sun, which measured 133 feet in length. The boat frequently traveled to High Island in Michigan to carry potatoes, rutabagas and lumber to Benton Harbor. On Oct. 29, 1917 the ship was caught in a snowstorm and ran aground.

The U.S. Coast Guard was unable to identify these two wrecks pictured above— maybe you can help? If you're searching for more information on shipwrecks in Lake Michigan, click here for a guide to the Manitou Passage Underwater Preserve, which could help you explore for more sunken treasure this summer.