This is the American lake, more dangerous than the oceans, where the remains of a 130-year-old ship were found
Built in 1890, Western Reserve was considered one of the safest ships afloat. Two years later it met a tragic end, and its remains have finally been found.
The Great Lakes are truly massive covering an area greater than the United Kingdom. The system of lakes has always provided an important corridor for maritime travel, but the waters of the Great Lakes can be treacherous and unforgiving.
The Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum estimates that there are 6,000 ships that have met a tragic fate, along with 30,000 souls, traversing the five large bodies of water. Many have never been located and hunting for them in the cold, deep waters is difficult. But every now and then determined researchers come across a lost shipwreck as happened recently.
The Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society announced that its researchers have discovered the remains of the Western Reserve. When it was built in 1890, it was considered a state-of-the-art vessel and one of the safest afloat due to its all-steel haul. The 300-foot steamer was built to break cargo shipping records and called “the inland greyhound” by one newspaper at the time.
However, on 30 August, 1892, the Western Reserve was caught in a gale during the night and the ship broke in two before it sank to the bottom.
The US lake that “never gives up her dead”
The biggest, deepest and coldest of the five Great Lakes is Lake Superior, which the Chippewa called “Gitche Gumee” or the “great sea.” It has a surface area of 31,700 square miles and is a reservoir of 10% of the world’s freshwater.
There are an estimated 500 to 600 shipwrecks lying at the bottom of Lake Superior, some 200 of which are in an area between Munising, Michigan, and Whitefish Point known as ‘Lake Superior’s Shipwreck Coast’. The Western Reserve was discovered roughly 60 miles northwest of Whitefish Point in 600 feet of water.
“Every shipwreck has its own story, but some are just that much more tragic,” said GLSHS Executive Director Bruce Lynn in a press release. The vessel’s owner was shipping magnate Captain Peter Minch, who was on board that fateful night along with his wife, two young children, sister-in-law and her daughter. He had brought them along for a summer cruise through Lake Huron enroute to Two Harbors, Minnesota.
There was only one survivor of the tragedy who lived to tell the tale, wheelsman Harry Stewart.
Another famous Lake Superior shipwreck in November 1975 inspired the song ‘Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald’ by Canadian singer/songwriter Gordon Lightfoot. The 700-foot ore carrier fully loaded disappeared without even making a distress call, taking all 29 crew members as well.
“The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down of the big lake they called “Gitche Gumee,” the song’s lyrics begin. “The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead when the skies of November turn gloomy.”
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