Explorers have discovered the wreckage of a cargo ship which capsized in Lake Superior more than 130 years ago. The Marine Sonic Technology side-scan sonar made the discovery possible.
The Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society (GLSHS) claimed that they initially discovered the remnants of the Western Reserve using sonic technology aboard their research vessel in the summer of 2024.
The Western Reserve was among the first cargo ships built entirely of steel to sail the Great Lakes, CNN reported.
Deployments of remotely operated vehicles verified the shipwreck’s identity, indicating that the ship split in two on August 30, 1892. Only one person survived the tragic incident, which claimed the lives of 27 passengers, including the family of owner Peter Minch, who took his wife and children for a summer joyride.
Known as “the inland greyhound,” the 300-foot (91-meter) cargo vessel was designed to break speed records and was supposedly one of the quickest and safest vessels at the time.
The ship encountered a gale on August 30 as it entered Whitefish Bay on Lake Superior between Michigan and Canada. It bobbed high in the ocean and shattered in two after being hammered by the storm.
According to a Wisconsin Marine Historical Society account of the Western Reserve sinking, the hull of the ship might have been too weak to withstand the storm’s bending and twisting because the maritime steel era had just begun.
Low temperatures, such as those seen in Great Lakes waters, of around 60 degree (16 degree Celsius) in late August may have also caused the steel to become brittle.
Wheelsman Harry W. Stewart was the only survivor, who swam 1.6 kilometres to shore after his lifeboat overturned, the Associated Press reported.
The GLSHS explorers located the Western Reserve off the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in July after the wreckage remained hidden for almost 132 years.
The Western Reserve was a ship with cutting-edge technology, for most of the ships at the time were built of wood, the GLSHS said.
“Considered one of the safest on the lake, new tech, a big, big ship. (The discovery) is another way for us to keep this history alive,” said the society’s executive director, Bruce Lynn.
Thousands of ships have been lost to the Great Lakes since the 1700s, the most famous being the ore carrier Edmund Fitzgerald.
Edmund Fitzgerald went down off Whitefish Point in November 1975 after being caught in a storm about 100 miles (160 kilometres) from the Western Reserve, killing everyone on board.