Newly Discovered Shipwreck

[KC_Sundancer]

On August 24, 2012 side scan sonar imaging was being done of Munising Bay by my daughter Melissa and I and an image of what appeared to be a shipwreck was found. After a bit of research no record was found of a wreck in this part of the Alger Underwater Preserve. On September 1, 2012 we coordinated a scuba dive and took our Classic 27 Sundancer out to confirm the find. Myself, daughter and a friend went down to investigate. It appears to be an old wooden barge with estimated measurements of 40 feet wide by 60 feet long. Though some upper timber appears to be missing it maintains its complete shape rising about 5 feet off the bottom with no apparent cargo. It’s exciting to be the first divers to visit this site and to have a new wreck that can be added to the preserve. Afterwards we had brief discussion of the find with the founder of the underwater preserve who thought it may have been used for hauling between Grand Island and the Mainland. With more dives and research to follow we hope to explore in detail what is down there and find out about where this wreck really came from. Exciting stuff.

Melissa and Tony diving

Image from the side scan sonar

 

[alwhite00]

That's really cool, Nice pictures. Congrats on the find. how deep of water is it in?

LK

 

[KC_Sundancer]

That's really cool, Nice pictures. Congrats on the find. how deep of water is it in?

LK

Thanks - 60 feet deep - it will be a great dive site for intermediate divers.

 

[MonacoMike]

Very cool. MM

 

[Gofirstclass]

Nice find. I've never looked at a side scan image before. Would you please explain what we're seeing on there?

 

[markrinker]

Exciting stuff! My wife, son, daughter and I just dove on the America and Cox wrecksites near Isle Royale this summer. Very fun stuff.

Q: What brand of sidescan sonar are you using? How hard is it for a novice to learn and interpret the images?

 

[OldSkool]

What a great experience to share with your daughter. Life does begin where land ends!

 

[KC_Sundancer]

Exciting stuff! My wife, son, daughter and I just dove on the America and Cox wrecksites near Isle Royale this summer. Very fun stuff.

Q: What brand of sidescan sonar are you using? How hard is it for a novice to learn and interpret the images?

Thanks everyone - very exciting, especially having the daughter involved from day 1. We dove again on it and measured it to be 81 feet 6 inches long by 24 feet 6 inches wide and it lays in a Northerly direction of 320 degrees. It may be a scow but we need to look closer for a centerboard area to determine.

Isle Royale - cool. We have a 10 day trip planned for next summer heading there from home (Munising) we can't wait, relaxing, fishing and diving.

We are using a Lowrance HDS10 Gen 2 with their latest HD Structure Scan.

The image is basically split into (2) views, port and starboard sides. The center line is the boat at the surface. The dark areas are from the boat to the bottom of the lake straight down. The remaining images to the port and starboard sides are what is seen from the center line out. Basically what you would see of you were standing on the side of your boat looking down and out. In the picture I posted we made three passes over the wreck with the blurred area of the scan being where we turned around.

Fun stuff.

 

[matthewmiller01]

Can I borrow it? I lost my anchor last year and want to go back and find it. :grin:

Seriously, very cool.

 

[nauti-me]

Wow that is awesome. I have thought about adding the structure scan to my Lowrance's just to see what we can find out there. I am primarily fishing, but we do have a few wrecks nearby that we snorkel. I am presently looking for a water proof camera that I can use to photograph these wrecks. I am not sold on the point and shoot cameras that advertise waterproof to 6 meters etc, and a housing for my SLR is just way to much money. What camera or system are you using?
Cheers...Jake

 

[jason78]

That is really cool. I have been thinking about adding the Structure Scan to my HDS7 as well but i don't think my lake will have much to see. You should send an email to Lorwance, they might want to do a story about it.

 

[Getaway]

Very cool KC. You don't have zebra muscles in Superior?

 

[bigblockcutlass]

I see you bought your HDS-10 unit. It will be alots of fun. Amazing you found a new wreck.

Dan

 

[KC_Sundancer]

Very cool KC. You don't have zebra muscles in Superior?

No zebra muscles up here. According to the "fish and wildlife" people the water has very low calcium which keeps there too shells soft to survive.
Lucky there.

 

[KC_Sundancer]

Wow that is awesome. What camera or system are you using?
Cheers...Jake

Thanks - diver photograph is a screen shot off my computer from a paused video taken with my "GoPro" Hero2 camera. Right now my "GoPro" has underwater videos looking cloudier than they really are because the stock housing lense blurs the image under water. They now have a flat lens housing available that clears up the problem - my next investment. I have been happy with it for both pictures and video in and out of the water. Here are a few links to videos shot with it:

http://www.midwestconnection.com/images/misc/boat/forum/GOPR0311.MP4

http://www.midwestconnection.com/images/misc/boat/forum/GOPR0082.MP4

http://www.midwestconnection.com/images/misc/boat/forum/GOPR0468.MP4

The still wreck photo was taken with my friend digital he had bought a housing for, an expensive set-up.

 

[Discovery]

Rhetorical question, but who doesn't want to explore Superior? It's name implies it all. KC_Sundancer, you found a piece of missing history. Congratulations. Hope you have a great picture from the find and enlarge it, frame it, and have a place to hang it.

 

[KC_Sundancer]

Rhetorical question, but who doesn't want to explore Superior? It's name implies it all. KC_Sundancer, you found a piece of missing history. Congratulations. Hope you have a great picture from the find and enlarge it, frame it, and have a place to hang it.

Thanks - exploring anywhere underwater can be interesting - so much unknown. For sure with the picture, right along side the newspaper article about the find. Scrap booked away for the kids and family history too.