Dozens of Shipwreck Discoveries Anticipated in New Marine Sanctuary


A federal designation could help yield 3-D models that are useful for finding, studying and conserving vessels on the bed of Lake Michigan

November 11, 2021

Gray blotches poke up from the murky depths of Lake Michigan in an image on maritime archaeologist Tamara Thomsen’s computer screen. These are the remains of the SS Wisconsin, an steel-hulled steamer that sank in 1929 off Kenosha, Wis., after a storm engulfed the vessel during a routine passage between Chicago and Milwaukee.

The shipwreck of the SS Wisconsin is one of hundreds believed to be lurking in Lake Michigan’s depths (which reach a maximum of 923 feet), says Thomsen, who works with the Wisconsin Historical Society’s Maritime Preservation and Archaeology Program. Little is known about most of these sunken craft, and diving to study them can be dangerous and expensive. But in June the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration designated a 962-square-mile section of the lake north of where the SS Wisconsin rests as the Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary. The move could take Thomsen and others a giant step closer to exploring the region’s underwater artifacts in unprecedented detail—and to bringing its unique and often overlooked maritime history into much sharper focus.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/a...ine-sanctuary/