The Ironton’s fate appears especially terrible, even for the Thunder Bay region, a treacherous region of northern Lake Huron off the coast of Michigan that has consumed several ships. On a windy night in September 1894, a cargo ship measuring 191 feet (58 meters) long collided with a grain carrier, sinking both. The captain of the Ironton and six crew members climbed into a lifeboat, but they were unable to separate it from the ship before it was dragged to the bottom. Only two crew members were alive. Shipwreck searchers had a hard time finding the burial.
The riddle has now been cleared up, according to officials at Alpena, Michigan’s Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary on Wednesday. Prior to the announcement, The Associated Press was given information on the finding.
Superintendent Jeff Gray told the AP that a group of technicians, underwater archaeologists, and historians discovered the debris in 2019 and used remote-controlled cameras to scan and record it. The sanctuary intends to announce the location in the upcoming months and is thinking about installing a mooring buoy there. To avoid divers from harming the site until video and picture documentation is complete, officials have kept the discovery a secret.
The Ironton is seen in video footage resting upright hundreds of feet below the surface of the lake, having been “remarkably preserved” by the cold, pure water, similar to many other Great Lakes shipwrecks, according to Gray.
Nobody’s remains were discovered. The lifeboat is still attached to the larger vessel, nevertheless, which is a touching corroboration of the testimonies of the witnesses from 128 years ago.
“Archaeologists investigate objects to understand the past. We are actually researching people, not objects, according to Gray. Also, “that lifeboat truly brings you closer to the location and serves as a reminder of the strength of the lakes and what it must have been like to work on them and lose people on them.”
Many groups participated in the search and inspections, including the Ocean Exploration Trust, which Robert Ballard created after discovering the Titanic and the German battleship Bismarck’s buried debris.
Ballard stated, “We hope this finding contributes to an aspect of closure for the extended families of those lost on the Ironton, and the communities touched by its loss. The Thunder Bay refuge “continues to uncover forgotten chapters of maritime history,” while the Ironton “is yet another piece of the puzzle of Alpena’s intriguing significance in America’s history of trade.”
The sanctuary, which encompasses 4,300 square miles (11,137 square kilometers) of northwest Lake Huron and the Great Lakes Maritime History Museum in Alpena, is said to be home to close to 200 shipwrecks that are either within or close to its limits.
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According to Stephanie Gandulla, the sanctuary’s resource conservation coordinator, the region was known as “shipwreck alley” for more than two centuries before improved navigation and weather predictions made the area less dangerous.
The Great Lakes trade was active in the late 1800s. Between thriving port towns like Chicago, Detroit, and Cleveland, thousands of schooners, or sailing ships, and hundreds of steamers transported merchandise and passengers.
The sanctuary area resembled a cloverleaf on a coastal highway. Boats passed across the neighboring Straits of Mackinac on their way to and from Lake Huron and Lake Michigan. Others traveled north to Lake Superior, transporting iron ore from mines in Minnesota and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to steel factories. The upbound and downbound cargo kind of crossed each other there, according to Gray. “Most accidents occur at busy crossroads.”
The weather was famously erratic, with heavy fog and unexpected storms. There were islands and underwater reefs. On that tragic night, a steam-powered ship was towing the Ironton and another schooner barge, the Moonlight, north from Ashtabula, Ohio, on Lake Erie. At the time, this was a typical procedure, similar to how a train engine tows freight cars on a track. They were headed towards Marquette, a lakefront port.
On the morning of September 26, at about 12:30 a.m., the steamer capsized in rough Lake Huron seas. After their tow lines were cut, the Ironton and the Moonlight drifted apart, with the Ironton crew raising sail and starting its engine. Around 10 miles (16 km) off Presque Isle, Michigan, it strayed off course and collided with Ohio, a freighter carrying 1,000 tons of grain.
The buoy, which can be anchored by up to 3,000 pounds (1,360 kilograms) of weight, will be placed on the lake floor once the sanctuary receives the necessary federal and state licenses. Divers might rig their boats up to the floating structure and descend to investigate the long-lost vessel.
Then, Gray said, “we get to share it with the rest of the world and work to preserve it so our grandchildren may take pleasure in these locations as we do now.”
