surface of
Lake Huron.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and its partners discovered a nearly intact shipwreck in the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary several hundred feet below the surface.
The three-masted sailing ship Ironton sits upright on the lake floor, with its masts standing upright, according to NOAA, which announced the discovery in early March.
“The discovery illustrates how we can use the past to create a better future,” Jeff Gray, Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary superintendent, said in a statement.
“Using this cutting-edge technology, we have not only located a pristine shipwreck lost for over a century, we are also learning more about one of our nation’s most important natural resources—the Great Lakes,” he continued.
The steamship Charles J. Kershaw, left Ashtabula, Ohio, for Marquette, Mich., with Ironton and Moonlight under tow, according to NOAA’s account. The steamship lost propulsion near Presque Isle Lighthouse on Sept. 26, 1894. Strong winds threatened to push both ships into the steamer.
“To avoid entanglement and a possible collision, Moonlight’s crew cut Ironton›s tow line, detaching the steamer from the schooner barges,” NOAA said in an article about the discovery. “Ironton’s crew found themselves suddenly adrift in the dark and at the mercy of Lake Huron›s wind-blown seas.
“Under the direction of Capt. Peter Girard, they fought to regain control of the ship, firing up the vessel’s auxiliary steam engine to help set the struggling ship’s sails,” the article continued. “Despite their efforts, Ironton, propelled by the wind from astern, veered off course into the path of the southbound steamer Ohio.”
The two vessels collided head on, and five of Ironton’s seven crewmembers went down with the ship after it drifted far away from responding vessels. Ohio’s 16 crewmembers escaped safely.
Researchers in the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary discovered Ohio in a previously unmapped section of the lakebed 300 feet below the surface. Teams used wind and wave data recorded from the night of the collision to plot where Ironton might have sunk. They made an important discovery in June 2021.
“The researchers expanded the search area,” NOAA said. “Persistence and determination were rewarded when the sonar returned an image from the lakebed of an unmistakable shipwreck—and one that matched the description of Ironton.”
The research team later confirmed the find using a remotely operated vessel.
NOAA’s partners in the search for Ironton included the state of Michigan and the Ocean Exploration Trust. The Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping and the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory also contributed to the discovery, along with other organizations.