Looking for name of wreck

[Sideband]

Hello everyone. I have heard of a shallow wreck (I think) in Lake Michigan but I don't know the name of it. If I remember right it had a/some old model Ts on the deck of it and it was in something like 45 feet of water.

I'm very close to my OW cert., just have the OW dives left. A diving club I am looking to join requires 2 dives with 2 different club members to join and I thought that if this wreck was close, I'm in the chicago area, and in the depth I'm thinking that it would be a really cool place to do one of the dives. Not having a dry suit and not being AOW yet it seemed to be a perfect dive site with something interesting to see without great depth and although it won't be warm it won't be as cold as even a 60' dive. Any ideas on what wreck this is? Any reasons I should rule it out or better yet, any reasons I should make every effort to dive it?
Joe

 

[ScubaFishee]

I can think of two car ferrys in Lake Michigan.

One is the Straits of Mackinac, sank last April (?) as a recreational dive site in Lake Michigan in about 80 feet of water off Evanston. I'm not sure how far it is to the deck.

The other is the SS Milwaukee, a 325 foot car ferry that sank in Lake Michigan off from Whitefish Bay. She lies in about 130 feet of water, with a distance of about 90 ft to the deck.

I haven't had the opportunity yet to dive either site, so I can't provide you with any first hand info and I don't know if either still holds cargo.

Maybe others can provide more info.

 

[Sideband]

Thanks ScubaFishee. Hopefully neither of those are the one I'm thinking of as they are both too deep. Oh well. I'll let this post float for a while and see if anyone else chimes in. As many wrecks as there is in that lake I would be really surprised if anyone knew them all. I'll keep looking myself in the mean time.
Thanks again.
Joe

 

[SwimJim]

Ok, do you know roughly where the wreck is. Is it in the Chicago area? In Lake Michigan there are a few thousand wrecks, so if you could narrow the search a bit you might have more success.

Jim

 

[Sideband]

Hehe.. I know there are a bunch of them and it is a big lake.
I think it was in the Chicago area. I'm trying to remember who I heard talking about it but my brain is not cooperating.

I really don't want anyone to go out of their way to research this. I just thought someone might know it off the top of their head. I know my details are a bit on the fuzzy side. I'd be open to any wrecks in the Chicago area that were in the 45 foot range though if there are any.
Thanks for at least trying and responding.

Joe

 

[MikeFerrara]

The Wisconsin has several cars IN a cargo hold. They're 1929 vehicles but I don't think they're model T's. The cars are partially coverd with junk but if you know what you're looking for you can see them from the outside (barely). It's pretty nast in there so don't go in unless you know what you're doing. The wreck is off wakeegan.

100 ft to the deck and 130 ft to the bottom.

 

[MikeFerrara]

There are lots of wrecks in the Chicago area in the 30 - 50 foot depth range. For the most part these wrecks are beat up pretty bad but they're still worth seeing.

 

[Oldpirate]

I am not familiar with anything that interesting, that shallow. The SENATOR sank in a collision with the steamer MARQUETTE, October 31, 1929, in fog twenty miles northeast of Port Washington, WI. Seven lives were lost and fifteen crewmen were rescued by the fish tug DELOS H. SMITH, and three by the MARQUETTE. The vessel was bound from Milwaukee, WI, for Detroit, MI, with cargo of 241 Nash automobiles.

I am not sure whether this wreck has ever been found. Perhaps some of our Wisconsin friends know more about it that we do here on the "sunset" coast in Michigan.

 

[SDAnderson]

Hello everyone. I have heard of a shallow wreck (I think) in Lake Michigan but I don't know the name of it. If I remember right it had a/some old model Ts on the deck of it and it was in something like 45 feet of water.

I'm very close to my OW cert., just have the OW dives left. A diving club I am looking to join requires 2 dives with 2 different club members to join and I thought that if this wreck was close, I'm in the chicago area, and in the depth I'm thinking that it would be a really cool place to do one of the dives. Not having a dry suit and not being AOW yet it seemed to be a perfect dive site with something interesting to see without great depth and although it won't be warm it won't be as cold as even a 60' dive. Any ideas on what wreck this is? Any reasons I should rule it out or better yet, any reasons I should make every effort to dive it?
Joe

I think Mike has probably identified the wreck you're thinking of - the Wisconsin sits in about 100 - 130 feet of water about 5 miles offshore between Waukegan and Kenosha and has some 1920 era cars in one of the holds. I don't know of any other wrecks in the area with autos in/on them. Fast currents, reduced vis and deep water mean that this dive isn't suitable for new divers - it's at the edge of recreational, anyway, and over the past couple of years the wreck has really started to collapse so going inside is an increasingly scary proposition.

A list of some SW Lake Michigan wrecks:
Milwaukee-ish:http://www.nordicdiver.com/milwaukeearea.htm
Waukegan-ish: http://www.captaindales.com/enterprise_marine.htm#4
Chicago-ish: http://www.divechicago.com/sites.html

What club are you looking to join?

 

[Paco]

All busted up but worth diving on is the Niagra outside of Port Washington, WI. Considered one of the most tragic transportation disasters on the great lakes, around 100 lives were lost. The wreck lies less than a mile off shore in only 40' of water. A charter op out of West Bend, WI (Diver's Delight) takes divers there quite regularly. The ship was an 1800's paddle wheeler. The boiler lies around 300' norteast of the wreck.