Great Lakes shipwrecks

Well, there's always the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald :-)

I know that Lake Erie has some 1,400 wrecks in what is relatively shallow water, and very few people hunt them (water's too cold from what I hear).
 

I hope you get a response to this one because I've been looking for the same info. I'm contacting divers and checking on this but so far not much.

There's a fellow on ebay selling DVD type videos of Great Lakes wrecks. I've seen them all and they're pretty nice.

Good luck with your search.
 

I've read that Lake Michigan is a virtual ship graveyard, but have never heard what kind of ships are down there.
 

Fighter59 said:
I've read that Lake Michigan is a virtual ship graveyard, but have never heard what kind of ships are down there.
Click to expand...

Most of my attention has been on the big shipwrecks worldwide. I really haven't paid too much attention to the Great Lakes. My information so far tells me we're talking mostly smaller ships of the 20th to 19th century hauling coal and practical merchandise. Not too many Spanish galleons loaded with pieces of eight? ;D

Seriously, I think the Great Lakes hold some of the most interesting treasures yet. Well, at least from a Michigan historical perspective.

I know of one wreck (I'm not saying where or what) that was found and the salvors are making big money selling bottles of cognac, perfume, and all sorts of drygoods (ca. 1880's). Treasure comes in many forms.

If I were up to it, I'd search the Great Lakes. There's treasure of a type there and it's a heck of a lot easier to find that the ocean wrecks. But diving them, now that's another matter.
 

lost treasures online just had some intresting stories about the great lakes and lost treasures. so they are out there, but many more of the wrecks were cargo ships. he mentioned about a ship transporting gold from canada that went down
 

In lake Superior on the north shore is a small island called Michipicoten Island. Its close to my hometown, and we did a camping trip there once. I remember seeing three or more wrecked vessels along the shoreline, two in a bay, visible from our campsite. Our campsite was located on the south side of the island, where there were a few small buildings still around, (from a small port or homesite?). I'd bet a ka-jillion dollars no-bodys detected there yet! I believe the Island is about 40 km from mainland.

Do a guided canoe or kayak trip there via www.naturallysuperioradventures.com

Another useless fact: Michipicoten island is the only island on the planet, that has a lake, that has an island with a lake in it.
 

To all you sweat water searchers.

I know I have posted this once before but here it is again.

There was a man in Cleveland, Ohio who specializes in shipwrecks in the Great Lakes. His name
is Walter Remek (sp?). I once met with the man and was overwhelmed with the information he
had on shipwrecks. His entire house was filled with files containing shipwrecks. This was in the
early 1960's. About a year ago I seen his name mentioned somewhere but I can't remember where.

There also was a treasure diver named Dick Race who worked for Motorola and had a search
boat named "Neptune". He is dead now but you might want to check out where his files went
following his death.

I used to live in Chicago and did alot of shipwreck hunting.

Dinkydick
 

A former brother in law dove a wreck off of Milwaukee Wisconsin about 25 years ago. He retrieved more than one 125 lb. case of axe heads. He was getting $10.00 apiece for them, and they were 125 yrs. old at the time, brand new and in perfect condition. Talk to the diving cubs in any city along the lake, they will put you in touch with all sorts of divers.

BTW, and it was stated in another post, YOU CANNOT DIVE THE EDMUND FITZGERALD. Look for people in superior and Duluth who have worked on the Edm. Fitz., they can tell you a lot about it. I saw many pics and heard a lot of such stories on visits there, cafe's, antique stores, motels, etc.
 

The real treasure in Lake Michigan is lots and lots of World War II airplanes.The Navy had 2 training carriers on Lake Michigan and many planes were lost.The Lake being cold ,fresh water the majority of planes that have been recovered so far are in remarkable condition.However,the Navy now claims that they still own all airplanes they have ever owned no matter the circumstances in which they abandoned them,so thats,that. on the bottom they stay.the pity of this position is that the introduction of Zebra mussles is rapidly destroying these planes but the navy would rather they rot on the bottom than allow private salvage of them. :'(
 

I am a diver in MN, I regularly dive the lake superior shipwrecks and since we have not had the problem with zebra mussels all of these wrecks are in pristine condition. In fact they are the best preserved wrecks in the great lakes. Taking anything from any of the lake superior shipwrecks is forbidden by law and highly illegal. The fines if you are caught are in the thousands. Not to mention that you are destroying the wrecks for other divers and people to enjoy. I am not sure about regulations in the other great lakes but i would think they are the same. I am also fascinated by treasure, but unlike the saltwater wrecks these freshwater wrecks are preserved in an incredibly pristine condition. Some of the wrecks look like they could have sunk just a year ago. When people try to salvage things from wrecks they do irreparable damage to the wrecks themselves that is far more destructive than any "treasures" you may recover from these freshwater wrecks. I am not opposed to salvage of wrecks that have broken down and all that is left is the cargo, if it's legal to do so. But to in some way damage an intact shipwreck to salvage whats inside is downright unconscionable. If you are interested in diving great lakes shipwrecks you can visit the great lakes shipwreck preservation societies website at www.glsps.org
 

A fellow I worked with about 35 years ago, found a ships propeller, about 8 feet in dia.
He cut a small notch from it with a hacksaw, and had it tested. It was a Nickle Bronze prop., and worth quite a bit at a scrap yard.. The only problem was, it was a few tons, connected to a 20' steel shaft, and actually sitting off the shore of a Indian reservation. Back then, it would have been possible to salvage it, but this fellow had neither the money, equipment, or the knowledge for the job..The rest of the ship had been salvaged for the steel during the war, but for some reason they missed the propeller.. It was ripped right out of the hull in the primary collision with the shoal, and was quite a ways from the wreck itself. Now, if any attempt was made, the government or the 1st nations would be on your ass... Just goes to show, not all is obvious treasure until you check it out..
 

I live about 1/2 mile off the shore of lake erie and have done many training/rescue dives in the lake. There are a ton of shipwrecks out there, but I have never dove any. This summer I plan to find a couple of them. There is a great book, that shows pics and tells the story of each. The author lives down the street from me.

If I make it out this summer I post some pics

http://www.eriewrecks.com/

Good Luck
 

Some guy pititioned for salvors rights to a sailing vessel recently. They think it is the holly grail of all ship wrecks, the Griffon, the first sailing ship on the great lakes. The Government steped in and said it is theirs. I guess he gave up because I haven't heard anything lately.
 

If someone found LaSalles Griffon, there was probably just a pile of ballast stones left, and the Archies didn't want anyone screwing with the find.. The Griffon was 'supposed' to be carrying a fortune, but then again, weren't they all!
 

GunFarce said:
If someone found LaSalles Griffon, there was probably just a pile of ballast stones left, and the Archies didn't want anyone screwing with the find.. The Griffon was 'supposed' to be carrying a fortune, but then again, weren't they all!
Click to expand...

gunfarce,

I don't know to much about sunken ships, but would the water have an effect on the detioreration of a ship. I think that most ships in the great lakes are pretty much intact because of the fresh water.
 

There in better shape than the one in the ocean, but anything thats been down for 300 years is going to be in rough shape.. One of the nicest wrecks found in the last 20 or so years was the Arabia near Tobermory.. But it went down in the 1800's not the1700's, and as the story goes, it was carrying a cargo of corn, and sprung a leak.. the corn got fatter and heavier, the ship got lower and lower, until 'bloop' it was gone... I'm pretty sure the fish would have eaten all the corn by now..ha..
 

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