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Long Way Down, Long Time Back: After 130 years, the resting place of the lost wreck of the Atlanta was revealed this week by the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. The 172-foot schooner-barge was found in 650 feet of water in Lake Superior 35 miles off Deer Park, Mich. The Atlanta was one of multiple vessels identified by a very profitable summer season of shipwreck hunting on board the RV David Boyd. “More than 2,500 miles of Lake Superior were mapped in the summer of 2021 by Marine Sonic Technology in partnership with the GLSHS using Side Scan Sonar-Marine Sonic Technology,” the society wrote in its announcement of the find. The society’s director of marine operations and captain of the Boyd, Darryl Ertel, said of the wreck, “No one has to ask where the Atlanta is anymore.” The Atlanta sank on May 4, 1891, when it and the steamer towing it, the Wilhelm, got caught in a northwest gale. The towline snapped, and with no sails, the Atlanta was adrift in the Lake storm. The crew made it into the
lifeboats and, after several hours rowing, to within sight of the Crisp Point Life-Saving Station. Sadly, while attempting to land, the small boat overturned and only two survived. “The survivors said all three masts broke off during the storm, and video from an ROV (Remote Operated Vehicle) proves, all three masts broke off flush with the deck and are nowhere to be found,” notes the society press release. “Because of its time in the frigid depths of Lake Superior, the Atlanta is a wonderfully preserved shipwreck. ‘It is rare that we find a shipwreck that so clearly announces what it is and the name-board of the Atlanta really stands out,’” Bruce Lynn, executive director of the GLSHS, said. ‘“It is truly ornate, and still beautiful after 130 years on the bottom of Lake Superior.”’
Going Up?: February should have been the last month of decline for the water levels on Lake Superior, but only the lion or lamb of March will tell whether the Big Lake starts on its spring upward swing, reports the International Lake Superior Board of Control and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the monthly water level update this week. Lake Superior’s water levels remained below the seasonal long-term average at the end of February after dropping 0.8
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