First is the photo that was taken from the back of the stern posted by user, Lynn Smith, second shows a another angle where cracks in the amidship can be seen in 1938 posted by Cathy Callahan Pensyl and third is the front of the bow in 1926. Photos from https://www.facebook.com/ExitZeroCompany/posts/pfbid0r8P5Tz73DX9bGP6L5JPP1P8kE471QKppfNRE2kmQGB45Y8Fae8yhX5Bc5HkSmkpgl

On this day 118 years ago, the Walter L. Frost went down not far from South Manitou Island in fog. It's not a deep dive, at about 20-25' it's actually better suited to the throngs of summer snorkelers that visit this area to see the above water wreck of the Francisco Morazan, which lies a short swim away. In fact, the Morazan ran over this wreck when it went ashore in a snowstorm in 1960.

#SleepingBearDunes #LakeMichigan #GreatLakes #scubaDiving #GreatLakesShipwreck #WalterFrostWreck #CalKothrade #UnderwaterPhotography #Ikelite #CanonCameras

if you don’t know: The SS La Bourgogne was an French Ocean Liner, in 1898 whilst in thick fog it collided with another ship, they immediately lost each other. But instead of following orders, the French Sailors immediately began to hijack the lifeboats with knives, oars, and their fists. if I am correct, some passengers reported that the French Sailors were killing people to the point it became “Women and Children last.” 13% of the Passengers survived while 40% of the crew lived, only 1 woman survived, all women and children were killed. When they had finally arrived to New York City, Police had to block the civilians from lynching the crew.

Question: Now, it has been over 100 years, and since then the SS La Bourgogne has never been founded. But I wonder, to how deep is it? And why hasn’t it been found?

In post production, raw photos shot underwater can be refined in various ways to bring out clarity and visibility that the human eye does not see while diving. I chose to lighten the images from this dive, as it was extremely dark down there that day, but the visibility is what it is. In this case approximately 140'. To this day, more than a decade later, after the countless dives on so many wrecks in all the Great lakes, I have never encountered visibility like that again. Not even close. As schooner shipwrecks go, she is not in the best condition, not even close to being intact as some others I have seen, but in the end, it is the Christmas Tree Ship, a storied vessel fabled in song, theater, and book, a must dive on every Great Lakes wreck diver's list. At least it was on mine. I doubt I'll ever need to go back.

The shipwreck Rouse Simmons, AKA The Christmas Tree Ship. Lost November, 1912 in storm. All hands lost, approximately 16. Wreck lies in 165' north of Two Rivers, WI, Lake Michigan. Located 1972 by Kent Bellrichard.

*How I calculated 140' vis- The vessel was 124' long, I was at least 15 feet in front of it when I captured the vertical image with the diver on the bow. The transom can still be seen. AMA

The ship formerly known as Deneb and Pireas was a general cargo vessel with a rich history spanning several decades. Built in 1962 in Sweden, it sailed under multiple names and owners before ultimately being abandoned at the Cemitério de Navios, Angola, a fascinating site of maritime relics.

The ship remains at the site, slowly succumbing to natural decay while serving as a silent witness to maritime history.

Sources:

https://openwrecks.org/viewer/lepanto

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/cemiterio-de-navios-the-ship-cemetery

These were images that were taken in 1954 that I haven't found before. As shown the largest looking hull above water is the SS Ashland, the white looking hull behind the General George Gibson, the concrete riverboat which the Ashland was then burned which was the reason why she now no longer looks like that (second image) which caused deterioration to be faster

On April 20, 1909, the wooden steamer EBER WARD struck a heavy ice floe in Lake Michigan and sank. The WARD was grain-laden from Milwaukee to Port Huron and about six miles west of Mackinaw City. She sank in three minutes. It was early morning and unfortunately five of her crew were below asleep and went down with her. The remaining crew of ten or eleven were on deck at the time and made it to the yawl boat. They were rescued by the steamer BENNINGTON.

The Steamer EBER WARD sits quietly in 145 feet of cold water, just five miles west of the Mackinac bridge. Because this is the narrow chokepoint where Lakes Michigan and Huron meet, there can often be a good deal of current through this area. The one time I dove this popular wreck, there was plenty of current moving from starboard to port across the site. It seems that my diving guardian angels, whomever they may be, while always keeping me safe from potentially dangerous situations, enjoy making my dives more difficult than they need be. There was lots of current.

For six straight days we had been humping our heavy tanks and cameras on and off the dive boat, with long walks from our trucks down docks and piers to the charter boat every morning and back again every afternoon. Our evenings were spent squishing air into our afore mentioned tanks from a portable compressor in a small trailer, until the sun went down. All this in preparation for the following day's adventures, where we would battle the elements of wind, sun, water and current in search of incredible shipwreck photos, again.

We had not been eating as healthy as we might have (think lots of grilled red meat) and we had been consuming more beer and bourbon than water...much more. I tell you all this, so you might appreciate my condition when I made my decent down the line to the awaiting EBER WARD, battling the incessant current I kept hoping would disappear nearer the bottom, but never did.

I did manage to snap the best photo of the trip, out of 14 wrecks that week and one of my all-time favorite photos to this day, in the final moments of this dive. I had made my way back to the bow, where the up-line was vibrating violently back and forth through the water, a consequence of the dive boat riding some very large wind-driven waves 110 feet above us. There I noticed two of my buddies inspecting the three anchors which make up one of the best highlights of the wreck. All three anchors are still right where they were the day the ice stove in her bow, putting her on the bottom in ten minutes, taking five of her crew with her. One anchor lies on the deck near the port side, another type hangs from the starboard side, and the third, a small and rare 'mushroom' style anchor remains snugged up tight to the hawsehole on the port bow, about half way to the keel.

#LakeMichigan #GreatLakes #ScubaDiving #GreatLakesShipwreck #EberWard #CalKothrade #UnderwaterPhotography #Ikelite #CanonCameras #StraitsDiving #HistoricalShipwreck

SS Okiya is a Design 1001-TS Wooden Twin-screw cargo ship built by the G.M. Standifer Shipyards, sold to Western Marine & Salvage in 1922. She is one of the WW1 wooden shipwrecks outside of Mallows Bay, her hulk is located off Widewater in the Potomac River at 38.426615158748206, -77.31845019862925 to this day, She was one of the few vessels before the 31 ships to be burned, probably could be one of the untended ships that drifted off the Anchorage and sank.

The two-masted wooden lake schooner Bermuda sank with a load of iron ore in 1870 as a result of a bad storm, taking three of her crew to their death in the middle of the night. Thirteen years later, a salvage company raised her from the bottom, and towed her to Murray Bay where she slipped her chains and straps and once again settled on the bottom. Now she sits upright and intact in less than 30 feet of cold, fresh, Lake Superior water. The wreck is popular with divers, snorkelers, and glass-bottom boat tourists as well. The day these images were shot, we had to wait for a glass bottom boat to leave before we could dive it. The prop wash from the boat constantly maneuvering to stay over the wreck caused a great quantity of sand and silt to kick up off the bottom and become suspended in the water around the Bermuda. While shooting I was upset over the poor visibility, but once I looked at the images on the computer days later, I warmed up to their ghostly mood and now count them as some of my favorite wreck images.

#AlgerUnderwaterPreserve #MunisingMI #ScubaDiving #LakeSuperior #GreatLakesShipwreck #Bermuda#GlassBottomBoat #CalKothrade #UnderwaterPhotography #Ikelite #CanonCameras

On this day 118 years ago, the Walter L. Frost went down not far from South Manitou Island in fog. It's not a deep dive, at about 20-25' it's actually better suited to the throngs of summer snorkelers that visit this area to see the above water wreck of the Francisco Morazan, which lies a short swim away. In fact, the Morazan ran over this wreck when it went ashore in a snowstorm in 1960. The day I shot these images we had pretty good vis, and being that it is so shallow plenty of light and hairy algae to make everything pretty.

#SleepingBearDunes #LakeMichigan #GreatLakes #scubaDiving #GreatLakesShipwreck #WalterFrostWreck #CalKothrade #UnderwaterPhotography #Ikelite #CanonCameras

On January 30, 1881, Milwaukee had been experiencing a fierce snow storm but when the alarm was sounded for what was noticed off shore, hundreds came out to help. This was the day the package and passenger steamer ST. ALBANS was cut through by ice and went down about 16 miles northeast of Milwaukee. Attempts were made to stop the leak but her fires went out and the order to abandon was given. Crew and passengers got into the small boats and safely made shore in Milwaukee. A few suffered frost bite. She had a cargo of flour and livestock enroute from Milwaukee to Ludington.

She had 17 staterooms and during the winter months ran between Milwaukee and Ludington and Manistee. She measured 138 feet in length and 25 feet in beam.

I was pleasantly surprised by the incredible visibility we had my first time diving it, (many times better vis is a byproduct of the deeper wrecks), and we had at least eighty feet of clear Michigan water in addition to lots of natural light. What really made this wreck stand out for me was the massive debris field, flotsam everywhere: wall panels, deck sections, smoke stack, mast, and just general pieces of the ship scattered over a vast expanse of flat, sandy bottom. The ship itself is relatively intact, though the upper cabins and pilot house are no longer in place, quite possibly being the aforementioned debris. The bow section is 'torn' from the rest of the hull and leans slightly over to the starboard side. Her anchors have long since been recovered by ambitious divers from a more liberal time when the taking of wreck items was not only legal, but 'the thing to do'. Her stern section still stands upright displaying a variety of maritime goodies such as the steam engine and boilers that provided the power to turn her prop, a steam driven capstan for hauling in the stern anchor and docking lines, as well as the rudder which is still right where it ought to be, albeit turned slightly to starboard.

#LakeMichigan #GreatLakes #scubaDiving #GreatLakesShipwreck #St.Albans#CalKothrade #UnderwaterPhotography #Ikelite #CanonCameras#MilwaukeeDiving #HistoricalShipwreck

I posted here about a week ago my shots of the MS World Discoverer. well, the wreck diving liveaboard i’m currently on decided to stop by Roderick Bay again, so this time i brought my phone out for better interior shots. enjoy!

Most Great Lakes wreck divers will unfortunately never know the joy of diving a virgin wreck. To be the first person to see something lost to history and the waves for over a century is usually reserved for the hunters. The man in these photos not only found it by sitting on the bow of the boat as the rest of us unwittingly motored over it, but dove it, and documented it 5 minutes later. This was the first of TWO brand new shipwreck discoveries unseen by others until that special day in 2018. This is the schooner Walrus...grounded on Gray's reef in 1868, and destroyed in a storm two days later. She's not one of those deep, dark, scary dives that require mixed gas, but every wreck dive need not be technical to be special. With the human sonar, Steven Wimer II, Hunter Ross Richardson, Lighthouse man Brent Tompkins on that once in a career day in remote northern L. Michigan. Is it greedy to think there may be a few more days like this left in the cards?

Learn more here https://michiganmysteries.com/walrus/

#LakeMichigan #GreatLakes #ScubaDiving #GreatLakesShipwreck#ShipwreckWalrus#CalKothrade #UnderwaterPhotography #Ikelite #CanonCameras#HistoricalShipwreck #Gray'sReef #VirginShipwreck

Hello one and all. So, I am mind blown that I have just discovered the wreck of the MS World Discoverer on online maps. If anyone it interested, it is located at -9.023105, 160.123048. Does anyone else know of any cool wrecks that can be seen on maps? I am very intrigued.

On the night of November 28, 1960, the steamship met her end when she ran aground on South Manitou Island during a blinding snowstorm. Before wrecking, the Morazan left Chicago with 1,118 tons of goods bound for the Netherlands and Germany, including canned chicken, empty shampoo bottles, and toys.

All 12 crew members and the captain's pregnant wife were safely removed from the ship, no lives were lost.

Today, her rusted hull still juts from the water, now protected as part of the Manitou Passage State Underwater Preserve. The wreck is now a haunting, photogenic reminder of the lake's power.

#SleepingBearDunes #ShipwreckMorazan #LakeMichigan #GreatLakes #scubaDiving #GreatLakesShipwreck #FranciscoMorazanWreck #CalKothrade#UnderwaterPhotography #Ikelite #CanonCameras

The 132' long, three masted schooner Thomas Hume sailed into history in May of 1891, when she left Chicago empty, bound Muskegon, Mi. She had just delivered another load of timber, and once in open water, she encountered a sudden squall. Another schooner sailing with her, the Rouse Simmons, turned back to the safety of Chicago's harbor, but the Hume pressed on. That was the last time her crew of seven would be seen again. Vanishing without a single trace, no debris, no bodies, she became the object of wild conjecture and legend until finally found more than a century later by a company looking for other treasures on the bottom of the lake, lost aircraft. The wreck's coordinates were given to the Michigan Shipwreck Research Association, who over the next few years conducted a survey of the site. I and a few of my friends were afforded an dive on the Hume in 2010, before the site had become public knowledge. The artifacts that still remained in the empty hull were numerous, creating a perfect time capsule of late 19^thcentury maritime life on the Great Lakes. The wreck sits in 150 feet of water, in the middle of Lake Michigan, 20 miles due east of Chicago, IL.

#LakeMichigan #Shipwreck #GreatLakesHistory #ScubaDiving #IllinoisHistory #ThomasHume #GreatLakesShipwreck #CalKothrade #ChicagoDiving #Schooner #Ikelite #CanonCamera #UnderwaterPhotography

The wreck of the Wisconsin lies upright and intact in 130 feet of cold Lake Michigan water off the shores of Kenosha, WI. The 210 foot long steel hulled packet and passenger freighter was built in 1881 in Wyandotte, Michigan. During a bad storm on October, 29, 1929, with pumps unable to keep up with the inrushing water, the engine room eventually flooded, thus killing power to the now doomed vessel. Heroic efforts by the Coast Guard and nearby ships saved many of the 68 souls on board, but 9 crew lost their lives in the ordeal. The wreck is a favorite of advanced and technical divers, and still offers penetration opportunities to the aptly trained.

#LakeMichigan #Shipwreck #GreatLakesHistory #ScubaDiving #WisconsinHistory #ShipwreckWisconsin #GreatLakesShipwreck #CalKothrade #KenoshaDiving #Steamer #Ikelite #CanonCamera #UnderwaterPhotography

A great dive and an impressive find by shipwreck hunter Ross Richardson, the 200' wooden steamer Westmoreland was a virgin wreck when Ross found her in 2010. This steamer and her hogging arches had been on the bottom of northern Lake Michigan a full ten years when Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. It rests in 170’ of cold, fresh Lake Michigan water, upright and intact, albeit sans upper decks. Seventeen souls escaped with their lives into the snowy December night, while another seventeen did not. The vessel was reportedly carrying gold Double Eagle coins, government payroll destined for the troops at the garrison on Mackinaw Island, and barrels of 'high wines', most likely brandy or whiskey. For this reason it is known as Lake Michigan's treasure ship. Ross found neither over the course of several dives, and neither have I. The artwork depicts her in 2010, as Ross was doing his discovery dive. It is archaeologically accurate, and was painted digitally by hand using photos and video provided to me. This is NOT AI. The artwork was created for the cover of Ross's book detailing the discovery.
#Shipwreck#GreatLakes #History #GreatLakesShipwreck #UnderwaterPhotography #CalKothrade #Scubadiving #HistoricalShipwreck # Westmoreland #Ikelite #CanonCameras #TechnicalDiving #WreckDiving

Filmed in 2012.

The C-53 Felipe Xicotencatl was originally built in 1944 as a US Navy fleet tugboat, but was later sold to the Mexican Navy who used it as a gunboat. In June of 2000, the vessel was intentionally sunk off the coast of Cozumel, Mexico, to create an artificial reef and encourage marine biodiversity. Today the 184' ship sits upright on a white sandy bottom at a depth of 80 feet, making it a highly visited and very accessible site for divers.

My dive model Amanda was great, and we accomplished everything we had set out to do on that shoot. Though admittedly the main priority was nailing the Titanic pose. That photo really took off on pinterest after a dive travel site used it without my permission for advertising trips.

#Shipwreck #CozumelDiving #ScubaDiving #CaribbeanShipwreck #CalKothrade #Ikelite #CanonCamera #UnderwaterPhotography #C-53 #Cozumel #WreckDiving #C53Wreck #ArtificialReef #MarineLife #MexicanNavy

Shipwreck- Prins Willem V

On october 14th, 1954, the Dutch freighter Prins Willem V sank 3.5 miles east of Milwaukee's main harbor entrance. She was leaving Milwaukee bound for one last stop in Canada before returning to Europe, full of goods from the heartland. In the darkness, she struck a barge full of bunker fuel that was being towed by a tug with several hundred yards of steel cable between them. She went to the bottom in 90 minutes. All 30 souls aboard got off without incident save for an injured USCG serviceman from the rescuing cutter 'Hollyhock'. 'Willie' landed on her starboard side (more or less) in 85' of water. This vessel is possibly the most dived wreck in the Great Lakes, and remains an incredible dive time after time, for beginners and tech divers alike. It sank twice in it's life, was once owned for a short time by Nazi Germany during the war, and has changed ownership more times AFTER it sank than some ships do all the years they float! She was 258' long, 40' wide, and was powered by a five cylinder diesel.

This image is a hand-stitched, 55 image mosaic using hi-resolution stills shot with a DSLR. All stills were shot in a single dive on a sunny Saturday morning except for a few images I had to go back two months later in order to complete the project.

#Shipwreck #GreatLakes #History #GreatLakesShipwreck #UnderwaterPhotography #CalKothrade #Scubadiving #HistoricalShipwreck #Willie #PrinsWillemV #MilwaukeeShipwreck #FreighterShipwreck #LakeMichiganDiving #PhotoMosaic #Ikelite #CanonCamera