Shipwreck Alley

Sailors called the area around Alpena, Michigan “Shipwreck Alley.” Frequent fog and heavy storms lured many schooners seeking refuge from hurricane force winds and 30-foot waves into this shallow harbor. From the 1850’s up to the middle of the 20th century more than 200 ships went down here. Lake Michigan’s cold, fresh water has preserved them. The U. S. Government has declared this bay a National Underwater Sanctuary. An excellent museum recounts the last moments of vessels lost here, and glass-bottom boats take visitors to view the wrecks.

Our boat took us first to see the wreckage of the largest schooner-barge on the Great Lakes, originally dubbed the George Hadley. Two deaths during its construction convinced sailors that it was jinxed. The owner was not able to hire a crew, so he sent the new ship to be refitted, repainted and renamed the William P. Rand. He hired a crew who took it out on its maiden voyage. Battered by a storm, the exhausted sailors couldn’t bail the leaking ship fast enough, and she went down in 18 feet of water in 1917.

Our boat went next to the wreck of the good ship Shamrock. Originally designed in the 19th century as a two-masted sailing vessel, the owner found it could not keep pace with the new iron steamships newly appearing on the lakes. On the sly, he paid an outfitter to install a steam engine and a large propeller. The wooden ship could not stand the stress created by its new power plant. It literally shook the timbers of the hull apart (ever heard the phrase “shiver my timbers?”), and the ship started leaking badly. Again, the sailors could not keep her afloat and she sank in the shoals in the bay.

If a shipwreck could be reached, invariably it was stripped of cargo, rigging, metal or anything else that could be reused. Looters consider the propeller to be a special prize since it is expensive and can be readily reused. Surprisingly, the Shamrock still retains her oversized propeller and her iron engine. One reason they were never salvaged is that their addition was never reported to the authorities. Neither her construction records nor her logbook indicate anything except that she was a 2-masted sailing ship.

After our trip out to the wrecks, we returned to the museum for an excellent film and lecture about how the local NOAA lab and the Alpena Public Schools have entered into a partnership to educate children about their great lakes. Now there are eighteen underwater sanctuaries in the world extending from here to American Samoa. Alpena was the first, and from today’s presentation I daresay it’s one of the best.En savoir plus