Thaindian News

June 25, 2010 (Pen Men at Work): A steamship, which sank in a brutal Lake Michigan storm, has been discovered after almost 112 years. It was found off the Milwaukee-area shoreline. According to the divers, the vessel remained intact in the cold fresh water.

Brendon Baillod is the president of the Wisconsin Underwater Archaeology Association. He said that the 300-foot-long L.R. Doty was the biggest wooden ship that remained unaccounted for.

Baillod said, “This is the biggest ship ever I have been involved with. The experience was exciting.”

In October 1898, the Doty came under a violent storm when it was shipping a cargo of corn from South Chicago to Ontario, Canada, informed Bailod.

The snow, hailstones and the heavy winds whipped up the waves up to 30 feet. At that time, the ship was only five years old so it could handle the weather with its steel arches.

But the huge ship was pulling a small schooner, which failed to fight the storm and its towline got snapped, Baillod said. While helping the schooner, the Dooty sank probably killing its 17 crew members and the ship’s cats, Dewey and Watson. Baillod spent over 20 years researching the shipwreck as a maritime historian.

In 1991, a Milwaukee fisherman informed the snagging of his nets on an obstacle about 300 feet under water. But it went unnoticed so many years until the diving technology improved to measure that depth.

The ship was found intact and straight, which got settled into the lake’s clay. In fact, the cargo of corn in the ship remained intact. The corpses were also intact there under water, Baillod said. With the help of the new technology, old ship was discovered, this year, he added.