Tragedy in the Mist

[Music] the Great Lakes superior Michigan Erie Ontario and Huron are vast freshwater scenes gouged out of the earth by the dramatic force of glacial ice the lakes have a rich yet sometimes tragic history over centuries thousands of vessels have plied these waters for exploration transportation and trade many never reach their destinations with at least 10,000 shipwrecks the Great Lakes are a graveyard of ships and sailors in one area of Lake Huron there's a place known for its extreme weather treacherous waters and dense fog the place is Thunder Bay in this special area the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the state of Michigan are preserving the tragedies of these ships the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary and underwater preserve protects over 160 historic shipwrecks join us as we explore lost chapters of America's past [Music] [Music] 19th century ships were not the first vessels to endure the perils of Thunder Bay for 12,000 years native peoples used dugouts and birch bark canoes for fishing hunting gathering and trade they knew that travel on the big waters was dangerous [Music] images of the Thunderbird ketched in ancient stone disks allude to violent thunderstorms mishima shoe the Lake Panther could guide a canoe across dangerous waters but if the spirits of the lake became angry the canoe might never complete its journey these storms turned travelers into memories and voyagers into legends over the millennia the dangers of lake travel have not changed in the 1600s French traders pushed into the area and discovered a wealth of natural resources these traders known as voyagers adapted native birch bark canoes to move supplies and trade goods around the lakes for the next 200 years Europeans American and native peoples negotiated and fought for control of the lakes the struggle ended with America declaring victory over Britain in the war of 1812 although Britain remained in control of Canada the war stabilized the border and began a time when immigrants streamed westward by the tens of thousands between 1830 and 1840 Michigan's population increased Sevenfold the following decade Wisconsin's population exploded from 31,000 to three hundred five thousand great lakes sailing ships and steamboats enabled the westward expansion of the United States the resource-rich region fueled the Industrial Revolution and became one of the busiest shipping centers in the world in the 100 years following the War of 1812 more than 30 thousand ships worked on the Great Lakes [Music] because of its central location in this east/west transportation system Thunder Bay became a busy crossroads of shipping traffic the enormous number of passing ships coupled with violent weather treacherous Shoals fog and inevitable human error resulted in hundreds of accidents sending many ships to the bottom the result is an impressive assemblage of historic shipwrecks that represent virtually every type of watercraft that served the Great Lakes over a period of 150 years it appears the lake only reveals the endings to its stories leaving wrecks scattered on the bottom like played hands in a card game with few clues as to how the game was actually played archeologists and historians have been dealt the task of unraveling these mysteries historical records indicate over 160 wrecks occurred in the area while 70 have been located at least 90 are still awaiting discovery dr. Robert Ballard discoverer of the Titanic and founder of the Institute for exploration along with marine archaeologist and sanctuary manager Jeff gray have brought together a team of scientists and historians to study the wrecks of Thunder Bay using state-of-the-art remotely operated vehicles or ROV x' the team will document the known wrecks and search for undiscovered ones it's really nice about shipwrecks is unlike archeological sites on land where they can be there for generations and generations and thousands and thousands of years they all went down that day so what's aboard the ship is absolutely a pure time capsule it's really wonderful about the Great Lakes unlike a lot of work we've done in saltwater cheese is the Great Lakes because they're freshwater there's no wood fresh water lakes like here in Lake Huron Thunder Bay a beautifully preserved ships early in the 19th century immigrants moved west on side-wheel steamers like dozens of similar craft the 185 foot New Orleans built in 1837 employed innovative technology for passenger travel in spite of the prominent Thunder Bay Island Lighthouse navigation in the area remained hazardous while up bound from Buffalo to Lake Michigan On June 11th 18-49 the New Orleans encountered heavy fall and struck a shoal near Sugar island stranded and vulnerable her passengers and crew managed to escape to Thunder Bay Island the next day heavy seas pounded the vessel to pieces the New Orleans is the oldest vessel found so far in Thunder Bay she provides important information about early steam transportation the collection of sailing craft sunk in Thunder Bay stand out as the quintessential workhorses of their day the standardized vessels carried about 400 tons of cargo and were sailed by crews of six to eight due to their historical significance ships like these are prime targets for investigation by the researchers they prepare the ROV to dive on the first targets on an October night in 1854 the John J Audubon a new two-masted Brigantine was sailing from Cleveland to Chicago she would never reach her destination as she neared Presque Isle north of Thunder Bay a thick fog blanketed the lake drastically limiting visibility without warning the schooner Defiance appeared out of the fog and was struck by the Audubon the collision tore open the Audubon's bow sinking the ship she was loaded with a heavy cargo of railroad iron much of which is still scattered on her deck her wheel rests against the starboard side near the tiller the Defiant suffered critical damage as well sinking less than a mile from the Autobahn her masts are still standing with much of the original rope rigging in place cross trees used by the crew to rig the top soles still stand high on the foremast to distinctive wood stock anchors are fixed to the bow where the crew lashed them a century and a half ago a civil war-era schooner the eb allen also fell victim to a collision in lake huron c'not aureus fog on a cold November day in 1871 the ship was down bound from Chicago with a load of grain the bar canteen newsboy materialized out of the fog and struck the Allan amidships piercing her oak home sending her to the bottom in 1871 over 2,000 vessels like the eb alan sailed the Great Lakes to gather detailed information about the Allens construction and current condition the research team deploys the ROV Argos Argos will make highly accurate photo mosaics of the wreck to document its condition much of her bow is intact with its sturdy windlass and portions of the for rigging the 90-foot depth of this site and the integrity of her remains make the EB Allen of prime attraction for scuba divers charter operators take local and tourist divers out to explore and enjoy these resources sport divers often play an important role in the discovery and preservation of wrecks like the EB Allen in fact many supported the creation of this sanctuary people like charter boat captain Randy Johnson work hard to protect these wrecks for the enjoyment of others I've been out here seven years now as a professional dive charter opera and I'm just tickled to be out here elfin preserved and keeping what we still have and now I'm brand-new people out here and showing them shown on the Rex and I have three sons that are not now diving and being able to come out here and show them what we still have left it is really great they're getting to dive the wrecks that I've been dying for years [Music] in the mid-1800s shipping on the Great Lakes employed both sail and steam powered vessels many of the steam ships carried both passengers in cargo ships like the 200 foot meteor and our sister ship pabich were good examples of about a hundred such craft on the lakes while steaming to their destinations ships sometimes exchanged news by throwing dispatches from one ship to another this practice required the ships to sail perilously close to one another was this dangerous exercise one of the last maneuvers of the Pewabic mystery still surrounds the tragic collision between the two ships around 8 o'clock in the evening on Wednesday August 9th 1865 the Pewabic sailed south past the Thunder Bay Island Lighthouse the ship was coming down from Lake Superior with several hundred tons of copper but it also had on board something like 175 or 80 passengers the two ships were in clear contact with each other they saw each other coming for several miles before they met in the time it took the two vessels to close the six miles between them their courses brought them dangerously close to each other noting this captain McKay on the Pewabic came to the pilothouse and ordered the first mate to put the wheel hard to port it was too late the two ships collided opening a gaping hole in the Pewabic wooden hull immediately the ship began taking on water people jumped to the deck of the meteor others left into the water to get off the stricken vessel a boy traveling aboard with his family remembered the event my father realizing the vessel was sinking ordered the women to jump out into the lake within minutes the Babak Stern rose high in the air pausing briefly before she slipped beneath the surface that night many people died in the icy waters of Thunder Bay legend has it that a young boy John person's son of the Thunder Bay Island lighthouse keeper had watched from shore in horror as the whole event unfolded following in his father's footsteps this boy grew up to become Captain John person's commander of the Thunder Bay Island life-saving station his boyhood memory helped salvers find the site of the pabich in 1895 using their diving bell he visited the wreck I saw her lying on the bottom of the lake the old Pewabic was a green ship lying in a bed of white sand we went from bow to stern and all around her in the diving bell over the years several Salvage attempts were made to recover the Pewabic valuable cargo most of the 267 tons of copper was recovered but with a great cost at least eight divers died during various salvage operations the sanctuary science team is visiting the wreck in an attempt to salvage only facts from this fascinating piece of history damage to large portions of the wreck from the salvage operations make interpreting the site difficult fortunately much of the ship remains intact the POE Avex twin propellers have been still for over a century they're preserved condition allows the researchers to study their distinctive design although there is much to be learned from this wreck in the end the reasons for the Pewabic tragedy will probably remain a mystery another wooden steamer the 236 foot Montana built in 1872 started her career as a package praetor after 30 years of rough service the owners removed the upper deck and transformed her into a lumber carrier fire on old wooden ships like the Montana struck fear in every seaman's mind on September 6 1914 she was bound from Detroit to Canada's Georgian Bay for a load of lumber a fire was discovered in the forward hold the crew battled the blaze in vain with the ship engulfed in flames captain burns gave orders to abandon ship and the 14 crew members took to the lifeboats after burning for several hours the old ship sank her charred remains now rest in sixty five to seventy feet of water [Music] utilizing the long dives made possible by the ROV s the researchers collect large amounts of data on the ship's original construction technology and on her turn-of-the-century refit as a lumber hauler the ship's massive boiler now cold and full of water stands with the door ajar as if waiting for one more shovel of coal the boiler fed the vessels unique three-story high double compound steam engine with high-pressure steam actually consisting of two side by side compound engines this machinery powered the Montana's massive 12-foot propeller [Music] an engineer's wrench still rests among the ship's machinery fire was the demise of many ships in the great lakes often ships lost to fire were very old and poorly maintained but were pushed on by their owners to increase profits on Thanksgiving Day in 1909 the steamer Oscar T Flint was anchored in Thunder Bay for repairs that night the fire started in the cabin the captain awoke in heavy smoke and rushed to evacuate the ship the crew barely escaped scrambling into a yawl vote before the ship went down captain Sinclair later stated this has been my unlucky day but I guess we should be thankful that we escaped with our lives the Flint like many other Great Lakes wrecks has become encrusted with zebra mussels making it difficult to distinguish some of the features of the ship zebra mussels and invasive species now thriving in the Great Lakes cover the wreck and could threaten its preservation the sanctuary staff plan a dive to begin an assessment of the ship with all their tools the scientists fan out over the wreck to begin their documentation work this work will provide data that will begin the assessment of effects that the zebra mussels are having on the wrecks giant steel freighters were introduced at the turn of the century but sailors learned quickly that they were not immune from Lake Huron wrath in November of 1913 one of the worst storms in Great Lakes history descended upon Lake Huron with winds in excess of 80 miles per hour and seas of nearly 30 feet the great storm of 1913 blew unabated for four days sinking 20 vessels and claiming the lives of 248 sailors on November 8th the 504 foot Steel freighter Isaac M Scott was bound from Cleveland to Milwaukee with a crew of 28 her captain could have never guessed the fury he was going to face the Isaac Scott was kind of a mystery ship she disappeared in the middle of the storm and until the reckless phone just a few years ago nobody knew where or why she had she'd gone down she went down with all hands and her reckless phone upside down [Music] we examine the reckon dude her wrecked Stern it apparently rolled over on the surface with a load of seven or eight thousand tons of coal there are 250 men lost in that one event that one storm and most of them right here on my Karen it's really really exciting about Thunder Bay is that there's 90 or so vessels out there just waiting to be discovered and that's what we're trying to do here we're trying to go out here and explore and discover and find these wrecks to be able to retell their stories the team of sanctuary and the Institute for exploration scientists look for undiscovered wrecks by conducting side-scan sonar surveys a sonar device is launched and towed behind the research vessel sending detailed images of the bottom to the control room team scientist Dwight Coleman scrutinizes images looking for signs of a shipwreck after days of Criss crossing the sanctuary the team locates a promising target it's a new wreck we think it looks very much like a wreck of a sonar image so we're gonna go take a look at it about two hours from where about 60 meters water depth and we're heading to the Saladin southeastern corner of the thinker as the research vessel heads to the site the excitement grows about the possibilities of finding an undiscovered wreck with the mystery target over 200 feet beneath the research ship the team deploys both of its ROV x' argus and little hercules argus will serve as the lighting platform for the high-definition cameras on little hercules as the ROV s descend anticipation mounts as cameras reveal the target remains of an old sailing ship fill the screen images show the wreck is severely damaged however large portions of the site are still intact the team is able to determine the ship is a wooden schooner much like the nearby defiance and eb alan but there are no signs of its name what wreck is this why did it sink who were her crew the questions are numerous and unanswered it will fall to the sanctuaries historians and archaeologists to sort out the clues and investigate the circumstances of the vessels loss one of the things we're very interested in is how these vessels sank that there's only one part of the story we're interested in what these vessels did in their lives and what vessels like them did it's often said that we use the vessels that didn't make it to tell the story of those that did as the wreck is surveyed the team discovers an answer to at least one question it appears as though the ship was hauling a load of coal when she sank the collection of shipwrecks that we have is a virtual museum on the bottom of the lake it tells us more than just the technology that was used to build and sail these vessels but it also tells us about the men and women that lived and worked and sometimes died on these vessels it tells us about 150 years of Great Lakes maritime history the importance of preserving these treasures is immense because they can never be replaced when artifacts are removed from them it's like a page being torn from a book the reader will never know the whole story [Music] the shipwrecks of the Great Lakes represent a chapter in the history of the United States the wrecks preserved in Thunder Bay offer us a window into the past a past of great maritime history that reveals who we are as a country the tragedies of these ships and the sailors who walk their decks are a sad element in this history but they left us with a rich historical resource by protecting these treasures the sanctuary is ensuring that these important chapters of American history are preserved [Music] [Music] [Music] Bertie was early one morning we sailed at Green Bay we didn't pour and nowhere to say but she bed was full I live with the crew and we wandered around and we found a bamboo bamboo the plays have to sing in the league's where sailor can go he can make some mistakes the bouncers named at it he wears a tattoo his ugly head is watching you

Channel: AMP

Views: 99,098

Rating: 4.823009 out of 5

Keywords: shipwrecks, Great Lakes shipwrecks, Thurnder Bay Shipwrecks, Underwater shipwrecks, underwater exploration, shipwreck explorations, Your Sanctuary TV

Id: z-NmI7BwnYo

Length: 27min 11sec (1631 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 24 2012