The mystery of the deadly 1894 Lake Huron shipwreck has finally been solved, confirming 'powerful, tragic story.'
In this image taken from video provided by the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary, the bowsprit of the Ironton is seen in Lake Huron off Michigan's east coast in a June 2021 photo. Now, the mystery has been solved, officials with Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary in Alpena, Michigan, said Wednesday. The Associated Press obtained details of the discovery ahead of the announcement.
"Archaeologists study things to learn about the past. But it's not really things that we're studying; it's people," Gray said."And that lifeboat ... really connects you to the site and reminds you of how powerful the lakes are and what it must have been like to work on them and lose people on them." Several factors made the area a"shipwreck alley" for more than two centuries, until modern navigation and weather forecasting reduced the danger, said Stephanie Gandulla, the sanctuary's resource protection coordinator.
The steamer broke down in heavy Lake Huron seas around 12:30 a.m. the morning of Sept. 26. The Ironton and the Moonlight disconnected their tow lines and drifted apart, with the Ironton crew setting sails and firing up its engine. It veered off course and ran into the Ohio, a freighter loaded with 1,000 tons of flour, about 10 miles off Presque Isle, Michigan.
Staffers with the sanctuary, part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, took a sonar survey in the area of the Ironton-Ohio collision in 2017. They detected two images on the lake bed, one later identified as the Ohio. The other was a more recent shipwreck.
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