Even for the Thunder Bay area, a part of northern Lake Huron that has gobbled up large numbers of ships, the Ironton’s fate seems particularly cruel.
One stormy September night in 1894, the 191-foot cargo ship collided with a grain carrier, sinking both vessels. The Ironton’s captain and six sailors managed to get into a lifeboat, but were unable to untie it in time and were swept to the bottom of the lake with the boat. Only two crew members survived.
The crash site had been difficult for wreck hunters to locate. Now the mystery has finally been solved, members of the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary in Alpena, Michigan said Wednesday.
A team of historians, underwater archaeologists and other specialists located the wreck site in 2019 and deployed remote-controlled cameras to scan the site and document everything.
The group plans to reveal the exact location in the coming months and a buoy would be attached to it. Until now, authorities have kept the wreck site secret to prevent divers from disturbing the remains before completing documentation of the wreck.
Video footage shows the Ironton resting on the bottom of the lake hundreds of feet from the surface “extremely well preserved” by cold temperatures and fresh water, Superintendent Jeff Gray said.
No human remains have been identified so far, but the lifeboat is still tied to the ship, as witnesses confirmed 128 years ago.
It is believed that there are more than 200 shipwrecks at the bottom of this sector of Lake Huron. In the 19th century, the Great Lakes were heavily traveled by ships to trade various products and to transport passengers between Chicago, Detroit and Cleveland.
They were found in Egypt.