Shipwrecks in the Great Lakes
M I L W A U K E E, Jan. 2 -- Like tourists in an underwater museum, diversin the Great Lakes explore shipwrecks searching for remnants ofclothes, containers of food or even floating human remains.
Divers say it's becoming a popular hobby to journey into thethousands of schooners, steamers and other sunken ships embedded inthe depths of the Great Lakes.
"It's kind of like exploring a haunted house underwater," saidMichael Haynes, who teaches diving lessons in Menomonee Falls."You start to imagine what it was like aboard that ship. You'retouching history."
Although shipwrecks are often associated with oceans, the GreatLakes hold an estimated 6,000 to 10,000 sunken ships. About 1,000Great Lakes shipwrecks have been identified, and about 10 new shipsare discovered annually.
Divers say the five Great Lakes are one of the top places in theworld to see shipwrecks because their frigid freshwater preservesships better than the ocean's corrosive saltwater. The lakes —Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie and Superior — are located inMinnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio,Pennsylvania and New York.
"It's magnificent exploring," Haynes said. "The sport isdefinitely growing."
Lakes as Freeways
More than a century ago, the Great Lakes served as the nation'sfreeways, teeming with ships carrying people and goods throughoutthe Midwest.
Not every ship reached its destination.
Paul Creviere Jr., author of Wild Gales and Tattered Sails,said most Great Lakes wrecks are 19th- and early 20th-centurycommercial ships.
Creviere said storms, fire and human error caused most wrecks.Sometimes, he said, captains intentionally sunk aging ships tocollect insurance money.
He said much of the iron, wood, beer, butter and other cargooften stayed with a ship's wreckage.
"A shipwreck is like a crime scene," Creviere said. "If youknow how to read the clues, you have a drama right in front ofyou."
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