IrontonThe late 19th century shipwreck is located in NOAA’s Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary.
1894, called the Schooner Ironton collided with a Great Lakes freighter called Ohio The infamous “Shipwreck Alley” on Lake Huron. OhioThe wreckage was discovered in 2017 by an expedition sponsored by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary. Now the same team has announced the discovery of her 191-foot shipwreck. Ironton Nearly 130 years after its sinking, it is so well preserved in the frigid waters of the Great Lakes that its three masts are still standing and rigged. That discovery could help solve an open question about the ship’s last hours.
schooner-like barge Ironton Towed by steamboats, it was part of a fleet that helped transport wheat, coal, corn, timber, and iron ore throughout the Great Lakes region. September 26, 1984 at 12:30 am, Ironton and another schooner, moonlightwas being towed empty across Lake Huron by a steamer Charles J. Kershaw When the steamer’s engine fails. The weather was stormy and strong winds brought her two schooners dangerously close to the stuck steamer. fear of conflict, moonlightcrew cut of Irontontow line, setting Ironton drifting.
Captain Peter Girard and his crew attempted to regain control of the ship, but were blown onto a head-on collision course with the ship by the wind. Ohio, was carrying 1,000 tons of grain. According to surviving crewman William Woolley, he was too dark to spot the ship. Ohio until it’s too late, and Ironton Attacked the steamer on the starboard bow, punching a 12 foot wide hole in the hull. Ohiohull.
Ocean Exploration Trust/NOAA
Ohio It sank quickly, but the 16 crew members escaped in lifeboats and were rescued by nearby ships. IrontonThe crew of the was not so lucky. The barge had drifted too far to be seen from the rescue ship. The crew boarded the lifeboat when the schooner sank, but all were dragged down with the ship as none remembered to untie the ropes securing the lifeboat. Another survivor, William Parry, managed to surface and grabbed the sailor’s bag. He noticed Woolly nearby clinging to her crate and swam over. Eventually, they were rescued by a passing steamship, but Girard and his four other crewmen died.
In 2017, researchers at the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary teamed up with NOAA’s Office of Oceanographic Research to search for about 100 shipwrecks that may have sunk somewhere in the reserve. They used unmanned aerial systems and autonomous underwater vehicles to do sonar scanning, among other tools.That’s how they found the wreckage Ohiotogether Choctawa 267-foot steel semi-whaleback steamer that collided with a cargo ship wakonda She sank in heavy fog and sank on 12 July 1915. Both ships’ rigging and almost all of her deck hardware remained intact.
-
Ironton With its three masts standing and attached to a spar, it lies hundreds of feet below the surface and is wonderfully preserved by the cool, fresh water of Lake Huron. An anchor remains attached to the bow of the sunken schooner barge.
NOAA/ Undersea Vehicle Program UNCW
-
wooden bowsprit Ironton Reach the clear blue waters of Lake Huron.
NOAA / Undersea Vehicle Program at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington
-
Lifeboat moored Irontontough.
NOAA / Undersea Vehicle Program at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington
one time Ohio Once discovered, the team further investigated the weather and wind conditions on the fateful night of the double sinking to narrow down the search area. IrontonThey partnered with renowned explorer Robert Ballard and the Ocean Exploration Trust to map the area in 2019. titanicand the wreckage of the battleship Bismarck and USS Yorktown Finally, on the last day of the expedition, we captured a sonar image from the lakebed that clearly shows the wreck.
That sonar image didn’t have enough detail to identify the wreck. IrontonSo the team decided to capture video of the wreck with a remotely operated vehicle (ROV).The footage confirmed what they discovered IrontonA deep water mooring buoy will be installed at the site to allow divers to safely visit the wreck.
“This discovery shows how we can use the past to create a better future,” said Jeff Gray, director of the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary. Not only have we found pristine shipwrecks that have been missing for over a century, but we are also learning about one of our nation’s most important natural resources, the Great Lakes, as we continue to map the Thunder Bay National Ocean. A sanctuary, this research will ultimately lead to more discoveries about the Great Lakes and their unique collection of submerged shipwrecks.”
Image from NOAA/Undersea Vehicles Program UNCW
