Since the Fitz overshadows and dilutes everything, I will share an event that is more tragic and far more devastating in our 300 years of Great Lakes history.
http://www.freep.com/story/news/2015/11/09/shipwreck-hunter-finds-ghost-great-storm-1913/75332346/
I am glad to say that after 5 long years of surveying and finding close to a dozen other wrecks, that our team has discovered the long lost Hydrus. It was a perfect calm day on July 3rd that after 2 hours on duty, I was at the helm and Dave Trotter on the side scan that I noticed an object on the bottom dart up close to 50 ft then back down to 230. I feared that we were coming up on an uncharted ridge which we would undoubtedly slam our side scan fish in.. Luckily the object dropped back to the normal depth. I told the crew to get the camera rolling because I knew a wreck had been found, but never in my wildest dreams did I think I would find the one I was hunting. Close to 45 seconds later the side scan returned an image that had me in shock as this wreck was not a 2 masted schooner or lost wooden steamer, but close to a 450' straight deck bulk carrier. As some of you who had seen the video put out from the Free Press, a few explicit comments were made as we knew exactly what we had found. A week later 5 deep divers including myself grappled into and dove onto the wreck. As we dropped down onto the wreck, we saw that not only was she upright unlike so many other victims of the Storm of 1913, but that she was broken in two in the middle of hatch 4. As we swam around the small pilothouse, we dropped to the lake floor to the bow. We noticed that the port side anchor was missing and also noticed that the bow had a 45 degree port list, while after the break she sat roughly on an even keel. As we worked our way to the stern we saw at least 3 major cracks along the deck along with her spar deck sagging along with the support columns and beams underneath were either broke or sagging. We were shocked to see that the aft cabin was completely destroyed and wiped clean of venalators, masts, davits, and the emergency steering wheel. We dropped down into the broken skylights to see that the galley and other rooms were completely demolished. A few dives later we managed to see the encrusted name Hydrus on the condenser of the triple expansion engine. We later dropped below the fantail and saw that the rudder had a medium to port turn while the propeller and buckets were undamaged. We located the collapsed stack to the starboard side which is a mystery since everything is leaning to port.
As we put together all the video, we believe we have an idea of how the Hydrus sank. As the Hydrus made her way down the lake, she took massive waves over the stern that damaged the superstructure and interior cabins. This would have sent massive amounts of water into the engine room. Sometime during the storm the Hydrus lost power (the chadburn on the bridge read STAND-BY), and Captain Lowe ordered the port anchor dropped in attempt to put the bow into the seas. The 35-40ft seas snapped the anchor and the Hydrus swung westward into the troughs of the sea. Due to her heavy iron ore cargo, the Hydrus bulled through the seas instead of rolling with them which sent the waves crashing down on the deck and pilothouse, also demolishing the cabins inside and collapsing the roof. It is unknown weather the cracks formed while she was underway, rolling in the troughs, or bottom impact, but she was taking on water. Somehow the forward crew made it across the spar deck and managed to launch the lifeboat where they later met their fate. While the crew abandoned ship, the Hydrus sank bow first with a port list and impacted the floor of Lake Huron hard enough to break her back and possibly damaging the spar deck. While exploring the bow section we noticed that the foot of the stem is severely bent. We also noticed that the forward liferaft is still attached to the bridge behind the pilothouse. This I think is the story. I hoped you all enjoyed
Jared
http://www.freep.com/story/news/2015/11/09/shipwreck-hunter-finds-ghost-great-storm-1913/75332346/
I am glad to say that after 5 long years of surveying and finding close to a dozen other wrecks, that our team has discovered the long lost Hydrus. It was a perfect calm day on July 3rd that after 2 hours on duty, I was at the helm and Dave Trotter on the side scan that I noticed an object on the bottom dart up close to 50 ft then back down to 230. I feared that we were coming up on an uncharted ridge which we would undoubtedly slam our side scan fish in.. Luckily the object dropped back to the normal depth. I told the crew to get the camera rolling because I knew a wreck had been found, but never in my wildest dreams did I think I would find the one I was hunting. Close to 45 seconds later the side scan returned an image that had me in shock as this wreck was not a 2 masted schooner or lost wooden steamer, but close to a 450' straight deck bulk carrier. As some of you who had seen the video put out from the Free Press, a few explicit comments were made as we knew exactly what we had found. A week later 5 deep divers including myself grappled into and dove onto the wreck. As we dropped down onto the wreck, we saw that not only was she upright unlike so many other victims of the Storm of 1913, but that she was broken in two in the middle of hatch 4. As we swam around the small pilothouse, we dropped to the lake floor to the bow. We noticed that the port side anchor was missing and also noticed that the bow had a 45 degree port list, while after the break she sat roughly on an even keel. As we worked our way to the stern we saw at least 3 major cracks along the deck along with her spar deck sagging along with the support columns and beams underneath were either broke or sagging. We were shocked to see that the aft cabin was completely destroyed and wiped clean of venalators, masts, davits, and the emergency steering wheel. We dropped down into the broken skylights to see that the galley and other rooms were completely demolished. A few dives later we managed to see the encrusted name Hydrus on the condenser of the triple expansion engine. We later dropped below the fantail and saw that the rudder had a medium to port turn while the propeller and buckets were undamaged. We located the collapsed stack to the starboard side which is a mystery since everything is leaning to port.
As we put together all the video, we believe we have an idea of how the Hydrus sank. As the Hydrus made her way down the lake, she took massive waves over the stern that damaged the superstructure and interior cabins. This would have sent massive amounts of water into the engine room. Sometime during the storm the Hydrus lost power (the chadburn on the bridge read STAND-BY), and Captain Lowe ordered the port anchor dropped in attempt to put the bow into the seas. The 35-40ft seas snapped the anchor and the Hydrus swung westward into the troughs of the sea. Due to her heavy iron ore cargo, the Hydrus bulled through the seas instead of rolling with them which sent the waves crashing down on the deck and pilothouse, also demolishing the cabins inside and collapsing the roof. It is unknown weather the cracks formed while she was underway, rolling in the troughs, or bottom impact, but she was taking on water. Somehow the forward crew made it across the spar deck and managed to launch the lifeboat where they later met their fate. While the crew abandoned ship, the Hydrus sank bow first with a port list and impacted the floor of Lake Huron hard enough to break her back and possibly damaging the spar deck. While exploring the bow section we noticed that the foot of the stem is severely bent. We also noticed that the forward liferaft is still attached to the bridge behind the pilothouse. This I think is the story. I hoped you all enjoyed
Jared
