A Ship That Sunk 132 Years Ago Was Discovered In Lake Superior
A historic all-steel cargo ship that broke speed records as it sailed across the Great Lakes has been found more than a century after it sank.
The Western Reserve was one of the first of its kind to cruise the Great Lakes. The 318-foot freighter came 20 years before the Titanic and broke the record for carrying the largest load of coal to Milwaukee at the time. It was supposed to be among the safest ships around.
However, it went down 132 years ago, in August 1892, during a summer cruise for millionaire and shipping magnate Peter G. Minch and his family, the owner of the boat.
The freighter departed from Cleveland, Ohio, and was headed to Two Harbors, Minnesota. As it entered Lake Superior’s Whitefish Bay between Michigan and Canada, they were struck by a storm.
Since there was no cargo aboard the vessel, it was floating high in the water and ended up cracking in half. The voyage killed 27 people, including the Minch family. The only survivor was Harry W. Stewart, a wheelsman who swam a mile to shore after his lifeboat capsized.
The Western Reserve’s resting place remained hidden from researchers until last summer, when a crew from the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society discovered the wreck.
It was located 600 feet deep off the coast of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The find was announced at the annual Ghost Ships Festival in Manitowoc, Wisconsin.
“Every shipwreck has its own story, but some are just that much more tragic,” said Bruce Lynn, the society’s executive director.
“It is hard to imagine that Peter Minch would have foreseen any trouble when he invited his wife, two young children, and sister-in-law with her daughter aboard the Western Reserve for a summer cruise up the lakes. It just reinforces how dangerous the Great Lakes can be any time of year.”
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The discovery of the Western Reserve came after a two-year search. Researchers used sonar to detect the wreckage.
A remotely operated vehicle confirmed that the wreck was the Western Reserve. It lay about 600 feet deep and was broken in two around 60 miles northwest of Whitefish Point in Lake Superior.
The ship’s bell has remained intact, and many details, like the paint, can still be seen. One of the main clues that indicated the wreck was the Western Reserve was a portside running light that matched the only artifact recovered from the ship—a starboard running light that now sits in the National Museum of Great Lakes in Toledo, Ohio.
Since the 1700s, the Great Lakes have claimed 6,000 ships and taken the lives of 30,000 people. The most famous shipwreck is the Edmund Fitzgerald, a cargo ship that got caught in a storm in November 1975.
It went down off Whitefish Point, just 100 miles from where the Western Reserve sank. The 29 people aboard all died.
Whitefish Bay is notorious for its dangers and is now known as Lake Superior’s Shipwreck Coast. It is estimated that more than 200 ships have sunk in that area.
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