A
Wisconsin
angler made the
find of a lifetime during a fishing excursion at Lake
Michigan
When he discovered an ancient sunken ship.
Christopher Thuss, aged 25 from Two Rivers, was fishing in Lake Michigan near the city of Manitowoc amidst foggy weather on Tuesday when he spotted some debris submerged in nine feet of water close to a breakwater, according to reports by the Associated Press.
The Wisconsin Historical Society’s maritime archaeologist, Tamara Thomsen, later verified that Truss had unexpectedly stumbled upon the wreckage of the J.C. Ames.
‘
Such findings are invariably quite thrilling.
Because it enables a fragment of forgotten history to emerge once more. The artifact remained undiscovered for over a century before randomly catching our attention again,” Thomsen stated in a release.
‘We appreciate Chris Thuss for spotting the wreckage and reporting it, allowing us to share this narrative with the Wisconsin communities who should be acknowledged as part of this history.’
The organization stated that based on the book ‘Green Bay Workhorses: The Nau Tug Line,’ the Rand and Burger shipbuilding firm located in Manitowoc constructed the J.C. Ames in 1881 to facilitate the transportation of timber.
The tug was among the biggest and strongest on the Great Lakes, equipped with a 670-horsepower engine.
The centuries-old tug had various uses apart from towing timber; it also ferried railroad cars. Eventually, it fell into disrepair and was sunk in 1923.
Deliberately sinking a vessel involves intentionally submerging it—typically through puncturing its hull or activating sea valves—which was commonly done back then once ships were deemed past their prime, as Thomsen explained.
According to the Maritime Archaeologist, the vessel had been submerged in the sandy depths of the lake for several decades until storms this past winter seemingly exposed it.
Thomsen noted that the absence of quagga mussels on the vessel suggests it was only recently affected.
Historians are still finding shipwrecks and crashed aircraft in the Great Lakes before quaggas mussels can deteriorate them.
Over the past three decades, quaggas have emerged as the predominant invasive species in the lower lakes, colonizing wooden shipwrecks and submerged aircraft with such dense clusters that they ultimately cause the destruction of these structures.
Zebra mussels are regarded as ‘undesirable’ due to their status as an invasive species that disturb ecological systems, result in financial losses, and pose risks to public health, states the document.
USGS
.
They have the potential to block water pipelines, modify food chains, and even taint potable water supplies.
This remarkable discovery by Thuss occurs just months after shipwreck hunters from Wisconsin found a 131-year-old wreckage in Lake Michigan. The vessel sank due to a violent storm and sadly lost the captain’s dog as well.
The schooner Margaret A. Muir was discovered near the shores of Algoma, Wisconsin, on May 12, 2024, just as members of the Wisconsin Underwater Archaeology Association were about to call it quits for the day after almost removing their sonar from the water.
press release
said.
“I was aware that she would be submerged around 50 feet deep, knowing her hull had ruptured. I understood she was lying flat, which meant she’d be more challenging to locate,” explained Brendon Baillod, who was part of the search team.
Fox 6 Milwaukee.
Thompsen, who was at the time a part of the Wisconsin Historical Society, mentioned that all parts of the vessel were discovered, along with the individual belongings of the crew members lost in the wreckage.
The 130-foot triple-masted schooner was scheduled to arrive at South Chicago coming from Bay City, Michigan, but it became stranded during a severe storm characterized by 50 mph gusts around 5 am on September 30, 1893.
Read more
