Gaby
The Great Lakes in North America, including Lake Michigan, hold many secrets from the past. One of those secrets was uncovered by Tim Wallack, a resident of Peshtigo, Wisconsin, and his six-year-old daughter, Henley.
Their fishing trip will be etched in their memories forever. While fishing in about ten feet of water, their sonar picked up something unusual. The anglers initially thought it was an octopus, but they were wrong. What they found were the remnants of a three-masted sailing ship built in the mid-19th century that sank in a deadly fire in 1871. That blaze, started when railroad workers were clearing land for tracks, killed about 1,500 people.
Experts from the Wisconsin Historical Society say the 121-foot wooden vessel is the George L. Newman.
What experts revealed
The shipwreck lay literally under the noses of fishermen and researchers exploring the lake’s depths.
The Wisconsin Historical Society posted about the discovery on Facebook and said it has already surveyed the area where the wreck was found. Initial assessments of the wreckage indicate it belongs to the barquentine George L. Newman, but specialists are continuing work to confirm the ship’s identity.
As the society’s experts explained, on October 8, 1871, the barquentine, loaded with lumber, tried to navigate through the thick smoke from the fire that engulfed Peshtigo. The ship ran aground on the southeastern edge of Green Island, and a lighthouse keeper rescued its crew. Before the vessel was abandoned, buried in sand, and ultimately forgotten, the crew tried to save what they could.
Marine archaeologist Tamara Thomsen of the Wisconsin Historical Society says the wreck is significant because it is linked to the devastating Peshtigo fire. That blaze consumed about 1.5 million acres, and within an hour it reduced much of Peshtigo to ashes, the Daily Mail reported.
Three months ago, divers found a schooner that sank in 1881 in Lake Michigan, along with belongings from the crew. Historians estimate more than 6,000 ships have sunk in the Great Lakes since the 1600s. These waters attract many divers and underwater archaeologists.
