Shipwreck found off Saugatuck could be 180 years old

MLive.com (Grand Rapids, Michigan): Shipwreck found off Saugatuck could be 180 years old
SAUGATUCK — A Holland-based shipwreck group is eager to begin uncovering the story behind a 60-foot-long sloop found at the bottom of Lake Michigan after as many as 180 years under water.

The single-masted ship dates back as far as the 1830s. It was discovered by Michigan Shipwreck Research Associates last year in collaboration with author Clive Cussler and his sonar operator, Ralph Wilbanks, of the National Underwater and Marine Agency.

The group was searching for the remnants of Northwest Airlines Flight 2501, a crash that killed 58 people when the plane went into Lake Michigan in 1950.

“Sometimes, when you’re looking for one thing, you come across another,” shipwreck researcher Craig Rich said of the discovery.

Details of the finding are beginning to emerge as the research group prepares for its annual show, “Mysteries and Histories Beneath the Inland Seas,” planned for 7 p.m. April 16 at the Knickerbocker Theatre in downtown Holland.

The ship is in fairly good shape and was found upright in about 250 feet of water, between Saugatuck and South Haven.

It’s among a handful of shipwrecks Cussler has located in cooperation with Michigan Shipwreck Research Associates.

“It’s fascinating stuff,” the 79-year-old said from his Arizona home. “It’s not the Titanic or anything like that. But it is rather historic just for the era in which it sank.”

The ship likely was moving goods across the lake — possibly to or from Chicago — when it went down, Rich said. Likely the oldest shipwreck discovered by Michigan Shipwreck Research Associates, it is historically significant because of its age and construction, he said.

Saugatuck historian and author Kit Lane said although the ship’s discovery won’t have a huge bearing on history, it is an interesting find.

“It’s still fun to have one more piece of history put together, and it’s an interesting puzzle that they’ll probably have to puzzle over for a while,” she said.

Rich said the group hopes to identify the ship by the summer and begin researching its story.

“If we can put a name to it, we’ll figure out what the story is and, if not, it’ll be a mystery wreck — one we won’t be able to solve,” he said.