Lake Michigan Shipwreck

February 3, 2012

Shipwreck found at Sleeping Bear


Man's discovery probably from ship that sank in 1872


EMPIRE — A piece of a shipwreck that experts believe is from a schooner that sank 140 years ago has washed up along Lake Michigan at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.

The piece of hull was found Sunday by photographer Mark Lindsay, of Kingsley, who was taking a walk through the dunes north of Empire along Michigan's northwestern Lower Peninsula, according to The Grand Rapids Press.

"I just happened upon it," he said. "It was incredible."

Sleeping Bear Dunes historians said the fragment is believed to be from the Jennie and Annie, which went down in the area in 1872. The wooden piece is about 40 feet long and is peppered with twisted metal spikes.

The fragment likely washed up or was uncovered during a storm and it isn't that easy to get to. It's north of North Bar Lake and south of Sleeping Bear Point, about a 40-minute hike west from the Glen Haven trailhead, Lindsay said.

Laura Quackenbush, a museum technician at Sleeping Bear Dunes, said it's one of one of several fragments of the wreck to wash ashore over the years. Other fragments from the ship and others that foundered off the dunes wash ashore once or twice a year.

"It's a very dynamic shoreline," she said. "It's a common occurrence around there."

The fragments are technically owned by the state of Michigan, Quackenbush said. The area where the ship sank is the Manitou Passage, which currently is a state underwater preserve. The wrecks are governed as if they were in a museum.

The Jennie and Annie was one of the wrecks surveyed in 1995 when the Manitou Passage was being readied as an underwater preserve, Quackenbush said.

To see more photos by photographer Mark Lindsay visit him on Facebook.

oh my.

Yeah, less than two hours, I'd say.

It reminds me of another ship discovered not so long ago, but this ship was from the 1840's and it was possible that Caroline's Quiners father could have lost his life there... Maybe it was not safe to take a ship to cross Michigan lake,

Vanesa. ....

Incredible.

Wow!!! That is amazing!

How ironic is it that this ship would come to shore this year....the 100th anniversary of the Titanic sinking.....

Oh my! That's crazy!

Wow! What a find.

That is incredible! I hadn't heard about this. Can you even imagine being the person to just 'happen' upon this?! Thanks for sharing, Rob!

That's amazing!

Rhonda wrote:

How ironic is it that this ship would come to shore this year....the 100th anniversary of the Titanic sinking.....

WOW! I didn't realize that!

Vanesa.

Hi Rob,
I thought this was interesting myself. Wouldn't you love to be able to dive some of the wrecks on the great lakes? Like the Edmund Fitzgerald? The wrecks are preserved very well without all the little organisms that eat everything up, so even the OLD one's look great.

#694 on the "Bucket" list, go diving in the great lakes.

P.S. I like the Beatles pic, hadn't seen that one in a LONG time.

Yeah, I'd love to dive the Great Lakes, Aaron. They say there are over 6,000 ships at the bottom of the lakes... 2500 in Lake Michigan alone! The top prize is LaSalle's The Griffon, which sank in 1679 and was never found.

Oh yeah, the Abbey Road pic. Here's my cousin John at the site in 1980.

Some day maybe I'll take time for the opportunity......
Another AWESOME picture Rob!