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PHOTOS: Discovery of the Historic Great Lakes Schooner Trinidad

Discovery of the Historic Great Lakes Schooner Trinidad On July 15th, 2023, Wisconsin Maritime Historians Brendon Baillod and Bob Jaeck located the intact remains of the 156 year old schooner Trinidad in nearly 300 feet of water off Algoma, Wisconsin as... view photos

PHOTOS: FACTS for Proposed Lake Ontario National Marine Sanctuary

The following facts have been compiled by explorers with combined experience totaling more than 80 years actively researching and discovering shipwrecks in Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River. Lake Ontario: 56 shipwrecks* are estimated to be in the... view photos

PHOTOS: Sir Robert Peel Version 1

According to my research the ship builder was William Parkins. One of the many shipbuilders who engaged in building vessels was William Parkins of Brockville. The first reference the Sir Robert Peel is found in the Kingston Spectator of Thursday, April... view photos

PHOTOS: Violent Loss of the Propeller Challenge

In the Spring of 2021, veteran shipwreck hunters Joe Van Wagnen and Mark Gammage located the remains of the passenger/freight Propeller Challenge in northern Lake Huron. The ship was lost on the return leg of her maiden voyage due to a violent boiler... view photos

PHOTOS: The Tragic Loss of the Hippocampus

This rare, original woodcut engraving has been in my collection for about 20 years. It is an excerpt from Harper’s Weekly, a popular illustrated newspaper, dated September 26th, 1868. It shows an artist’s conception of the haunting final... view photos

PHOTOS: Two Lost Civil War Era Sailing Ships Discovered in Lake Huron

Two longtime friends and shipwreck enthusiasts, Joe Van Wagnen and Mark Gammage have discovered an intact schooner in Lake Huron that sunk less than a month after the Confederate Army fired on Fort Sumter on April 12th, 1861 signaling the start of the... view photos

PHOTOS: Missing 162 Years off Little Sable Point: The Schooner Garden City

Missing 162 Years off Little Sable Point: The Schooner Garden City The wreck of the Garden City presents historians with some challenges. Numerous sources state that the Garden City went ashore at Little Sable Point in October of 1858 and was... view photos

PHOTOS: The Harrowing Loss of the Schooner Jo Vilas

At one time the Great Lakes were the only major “freeway” in the midwest. Thousands of vessels once brought settlers, freight and merchandise through this vast inland waterway. It is consequently, not surprising that accidents were very... view photos

PHOTOS: The Tragic Loss of the Western Resereve

The Western Reserve was a 301 ft., 2392 gt. steel freight steamer launched in 1890 at Cleveland, OH by Globe Shipbuilding. She was the first major steel freighter built for use on the Lakes. When she came out, her builders thought that her construction... view photos

PHOTOS: The Mysterious Disappearance of the brig Robert Willis

The Mystery of Captain McLean, the Mormons and the Medicine Man by Brendon Baillod [This article originally appeared in Inland Seas, the journal of the Great Lakes Historical Society] Captain Murdick McLean was one of Lake Superior’s best-known... view photos

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Shipwrecks of Lake Ontario - A Journey of Discovery Book

The National Museum of the Great Lakes is excited to announce the release of a new book titled Shipwrecks of Lake Ontario: A Journey of Discovery. This book contains stories of long lost shipwrecks and the journeys of the underwater explorers who found them, written by Jim Kennard with paintings by Roland Stevens and underwater imagery by Roger Pawlowski.

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Legend of the Lake - New Discovery Edition Book

The recent discovery of the wreck of the British warship Ontario, “the Holy Grail” of Great Lakes shipwrecks, solves several mysteries that have puzzled historians since the ship sank more than two centuries ago. Now, for the first time, the whole tragic story of the Ontario can finally be told.