Investigating the calm inside a hurricane
The first major unexplained event to take place within the Lake Michigan Lake Triangle—and one of the most compelling Great Lakes mysteries—was the disappearance of the 17th-century French barque Le Griffon. She went missing in 1679 during her maiden voyage. Exactly what happened to her and the location of the wreck has still to be ascertained.
The freighter SS Edmond Fitzgerald sank in Lake Superior during a storm on November 10, 1975, taking the entire crew of 29 men with her. She remains the largest ship ever to have been lost in the Great Lakes.
A storm claimed the SS Carl D. Bradley and the lives of 33 crew members after the vessel sank in Lake Michigan on November 18, 1958. Structural failure was blamed for the loss.
Another dreadful tragedy was the loss of the PS Lady Elgin. The wooden-hulled sidewheel steamship sank in Lake Michigan on September 8, 1860, after being rammed in a gale by the schooner Augusta. Around 300 passengers and crew lost their lives.
The 1885 wreck of the schooner Sweepstakes lies in shallow water in Big Tub Harbour, Lake Huron. The schooner is one of several wrecks found in the Fathom Five National Marine Park.
The greatest loss of life from a single shipwreck on the Great Lakes occurred in the wake of the SS Eastland's rolling over onto its side while tied to a dock in the Chicago River. The disaster claimed the lives of 844 passengers and crew.
Set off Twelvemile Beach in about 12m (40 ft) of water lies the steel remains of the ocean-going steamer Kiowa. She sank in a gale in 1929.
The appeal of the Twelvemile Beach campground on Lake Superior in Michigan is its proximity to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.
Located at the Whitefish Point Light Station in Michigan, the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum displays numerous artifacts from several wrecks, including those from the Comet, John B. Cowle, Drake, Samuel Mather, and Vienna. The museum is also home to the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society.
The 1904 remains of the bulk steamer Sitka are visible during the summer months along the beach at Au Sable Point.
Other wrecks lying off Pictured Rocks include the wooden steam barge Smith Moore, the freighter Manhattan, the canal schooner Mary M. Scott, and the George, a coal freighter.
Lake Huron is described as the "graveyard of ships" for the 1,200 wrecks recorded in its waters. This historical marker set near Rogers City in Michigan confirms the grim statistic.
The crystalline waters found at Fathom Five National Marine Park allow for wreck exploration above and below the surface of Lake Huron.
The freighter MS Nordmeer ran aground and sank on November 19, 1966, off Thunder Bay Island in Lake Huron. The vessel is now a prime dive site in the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary.
Elsewhere, another iconic wreck is the SS Francisco Morazan. Lost in heavy fog, the vessel sailed onto South Manitou Island shoal in Lake Michigan on November 29, 1960. Her rusty and forlorn-looking hull is easily seen from Sleeping Bear Dunes.
Nearby, half-buried in the sand, are the cracked ribs of the wooden bulk freight steamer Gales Staples, which went down in 1918.
Lake Superior claimed the Canadian freighter SS Emperor after she ran hard aground on Canoe Rocks, on the northeast point of Isle Royale, on June 4, 1947. Fully laden with iron ore, she sank quickly, taking 12 of her crew with her. Twenty-one mariners survived and were picked up by a coast guard cutter, assisted by a flying boat (pictured).
In the eyes of many, the Michigan Triangle remains a fanciful myth. The fact is that, since records began, thousands of vessels have been lost under waves in the Great Lakes. Some of these shipwrecks are notorious for the manner in which they occurred and the number of crew lost.
On August 9, 1841, the steamship Erie caught fire and sank—somewhat ironically—in Lake Erie shortly after departing Buffalo in New York. An estimated 254 passengers and crew were lost, making it one of the deadliest disasters in the history of the Great Lakes.
At St. Ignace, located along Lake Huron, a plaque commemorates the thousands of Great Lakes shipwrecks and the many hundreds of lost sailors. The memorial also acknowledges Michigan's concentration of shipwrecks as underwater state preserves.
Sources: (Wandering Educators) (Ancient Origins) (National Park Service)
See also: The mystery surrounding the missing Malaysia Airlines plane
Fathom Five National Marine Park is a National Marine Conservation Area in the Georgian Bay part of Lake Huron. The park protects and displays shipwrecks and lighthouses, and conserves freshwater ecosystems. Pictured is the wreck of the schooner John Walters, which came to grief in 1883.
Pictured: the bow of the SS Charles S. Price before sinking into Lake Huron after the storm had passed. A similar image appeared on the frontpage of the November 13, 1913 edition of The Detroit News.
The Great Lakes Storm was a winter blizzard fueled by hurricane force winds that devasted the Great Lakes region from November 7 to 10, 1913. One of most destructive natural disasters to hit the lakes in recorded history, the storm killed nearly 300 people and destroyed 19 ships on four of the five Great Lakes, particularly Lake Huron. Another 20 or so vessels were left stranded.
Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary in Lake Huron is adjacent to one of the most treacherous stretches of water within the Great Lakes system. Unpredictable weather, murky fog banks, sudden gales, and rocky shoals has earned the area the ominous moniker "Shipwreck Alley." Pictured is a diver inspecting the wreck of the SS Grecian, which went down on June 15, 1906.
The lakeshore is renowned as a prime shipwreck location and attracts wreck dive enthusiasts from across the region and beyond.
Stretching from Ludington to Manitowoc, down to Benton Harbor, and back to Ludington, the triangle encompasses a vast expanse of water.
Lake Michigan has its very own "Twilight Zone"—an area known as the Lake Michigan Triangle, where a number of disappearances, shipwrecks, and plane crashes have occurred under unexplained circumstances.
The mysterious vanishing of the schooner Thomas Hume in 1891 led to further speculation that the ship was a victim of paranormal phenomena.
Other vessels believed to have fallen victim to the Lake Michigan Triangle curse include the two-masted schooner Rosabelle, found capsized in October 1921 with no sign of the crew. In 1937, the skipper of the coal freighter O.M. McFarland was reported missing, even though he was last heard of locking himself inside his cabin, a berth with portholes too small to climb through. He was never seen again.
Today, the Great Lakes are one of North America's top wreck dive destinations, with the remains of numerous vessels beached or below the surface waiting to be explored.
Click through, set sail, and chart a course through the Great Lakes shipwrecks.
Shipwrecks that remain mysterious to this day
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LIFESTYLE History
North America's five Great Lakes—Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario—have been sailed upon since at least the 17th century. The lakes are notorious for brutally unpredictable weather, dangerous currents, and underwater hazards. Since the 1600s, over 6,000 vessels have fallen victim to this capricious and often treacherous environment, shipwrecks that have claimed as many as 30,000 lives. And while most of these wrecks are accounted for, the fate of others remain a complete mystery. So, what are the most infamous losses, and which lake can claim itself the "graveyard of ships"?
Click through, set sail, and chart a course through the Great Lakes shipwrecks.