Wreck of 19th century luxury steamer found in Lake Michigan
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as it happens5:26150 year old mystery solved: Wreck of 19th century luxury steamer found in Lake Michigan
SCUBA diver John Janzen still remembers the moment it became clear that the shipwreck in front of him was actually Lac La Belle.
“One of the most distinctive features of the wreck are the arches running along the length of the ship,” Janzen said. as it happens host neil köKSAL.
“We were told to look for those specific arches, and the moment we saw them, we were pretty sure we knew what the ship was.”
Janzen is part of a team led by Illinois shipwreck hunter Paul Ahorn searching for the luxury steamer that sank in a storm off Lake Michigan in 1872.
And in October of 2022 they found it. shipwreck world, A group dedicated to finding historical debris around the world announced the discovery on Friday.
While the discovery occurred years ago, the announcement was delayed because the team wanted to create a 3D model of the ship, but uncooperative weather and scheduling conflicts prevented additional dives into the wreck to obtain more footage.
how did they find it
The discovery ends a search that began 60 years ago. Ahorn, now 80, has been hunting shipwrecks since he was 15.
Their breakthrough came in 2022, when a lead from fellow debris hunter and author Ross Richardson led them to information that narrowed their search area. Although he did not specify what that information was, Richardson said he learned that a commercial fisherman at a “certain location” had caught an object “typical of steam ships of the 1800s.”
With this new information, Ahorn was able to locate the ship using side-scan sonar just two hours after leaving Lake Michigan.
“It’s kind of a game, like solving a puzzle. Sometimes you don’t have many pieces to put a puzzle together, but it worked out and we figured it out right away,” Ahorn said.
What happened to Lac La Belle?
This was not the first time Lac La Belle had gone down.
According to an article published by Shipwreck World, the 217-foot steamer was built in Cleveland in 1864. Two years later, it sank in the St. Clair River after a collision. But the passenger ship was raised and refurbished in 1869.
On the night of October 13, 1872, Lac La Belle left Milwaukee and headed for Grand Haven, Michigan, with 53 passengers and crew aboard and a load of barley, pork, flour, and whiskey.
After two hours water started coming in it. Large waves began crashing, extinguishing her boilers. The passengers and crew boarded the lifeboats and were the first to see the ship sink into a watery grave.
A lifeboat capsized en route, killing eight people. Others were able to make landfall on the Wisconsin coast.
Quagga mussels now cover the exterior of the wreck, but Jensen says that all things considered, the ship is still in good condition.
“It’s sitting upright. It’s in very good condition, with the upper cabin structures and pilot house structure missing,” he said.
He said that one propeller had broken and was lying on the shore of a nearby lake. Divers also found evidence of its cargo inside the wreck.
“It was carrying whiskey and we found several barrels… but unfortunately, they were all falling to pieces,” Janzen said.
great lake wreck
according to Wisconsin Water Library, University of Wisconsin–Madison The Great Lakes are home to 6,000 to 10,000 shipwrecks, most of which are unidentified.
In recent years, there has been an increased interest among shipwreck hunters to explore these sites, as they are concerned that invasive quagga mussels are slowly consuming the shipwrecks.
Janzen said he hopes more shipwrecks will be discovered in the coming years — especially given that his boss, Ahorn, shows no signs of slowing down at age 80.
“He says he has other goals to look at,” Janzen said. “So I hope he calls me again.
As to whether he believes the sailing lore that the twice-sunk Lac La Belle was actually cursed, Janzen is skeptical. He believes that the forces at work were much less mysterious.
“I think what it really boils down to is, the Great Lakes can be a very harsh environment and the lakes are absolutely indifferent to human life and the expense and cost of ships and cargo,” he said.
“The lake is nature in its purest, rawest form and so it can be a very dangerous place and there is no guarantee that you or your vessel will be safe while it is there.”
