Thunder Bay lies in a perilous swath of northern Lake Huron off the Michigan coast. The lake has devoured many vessels and their crews. Divers have found most, but the Ironton gravesite long eluded shipwreck hunters. Officials with Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary admitted Wednesday that they solved the mystery several years ago.
One blustery night in September 1894, the 191-foot cargo vessel Ironton collided with a grain hauler. Both ships sank. Ironton’s captain and six sailors scrambled into a lifeboat. But before they could detach from the ship, the boat was dragged to the bottom. Only two crewmen survived.
A team of historians, underwater archaeologists, and technicians located the wreckage in 2019. They deployed remote-controlled cameras to scan and document it. Officials kept the find secret until now—to prevent divers from disturbing the site before video and photo documentation is finished.
Sanctuary officials plan to reveal the location in coming months. They may also place a buoy at the wreckage site.
Video footage shows Ironton sitting upright on the lake bottom, hundreds of feet down. The wreck is “remarkably preserved” by the cold, fresh water—like many other Great Lakes shipwrecks, says Superintendent Jeff Gray. No human remains were seen.
“Archaeologists study things to learn about the past. But it’s not really things that we’re studying; it’s people,” Gray says. “And that lifeboat . . . really connects you to the site and reminds you of how powerful the lakes are and what it must have been like to work on them and lose people on them.”
The search and inspections involved several organizations, including Ocean Exploration Trust, founded by Robert Ballard. An underwater archaeologist, Ballard also located the sunken wreckage of Titanic.
“The Ironton is yet another piece of the puzzle of [the area’s] fascinating place in America’s history of trade,” Ballard says. He adds that the Thunder Bay sanctuary “continues to reveal lost chapters of maritime history.”
Nearly 200 shipwrecks are believed to rest within or nearby the boundaries of the sanctuary, which includes some 4,300 square miles of northwestern Lake Huron.
Several factors made the area a “shipwreck alley” for more than two centuries. These include numerous vessels hauling cargo and passengers between bustling port cities such as Chicago, Detroit, and Cleveland.
“Busy intersections are where most accidents happen,” Gray says.
Plus, the weather was infamously unstable—dense fog, sudden storms. Islands and submerged reefs lurked in the water.
It took modern navigation and weather forecasting tools to reduce the danger, says Stephanie Gandulla, the sanctuary’s resource protection coordinator.
Video shows Ironton as largely intact. Its masts point skyward. Rigging and ropes remain on deck. A robotic camera also showed the lifeboat tethered to the ship’s stern. It’s touching proof of witness accounts from 128 years ago.
The sanctuary awaits federal and state permits to place a buoy at the site. Divers could attach their boats to the floating device and head down to explore the long-lost craft.
“Then we get to share it with the rest of the world,” Gray says, “and try to protect it so our grandkids can enjoy these sites the same way that we do today.”
(The bow of Ironton sits at the bottom of Lake Huron off Michigan’s east coast. Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary via AP)
