Today we are going to tell you the story of a lost ship in the depths of the Michigan Lake. Why? Because, thanks to an accidental discovery, this story has resurfaced. In July, Matt Olson, Wisconsin tour operator, was checking satellite images of the area when he noticed a strange spot in shallow waters near Rowleys Bay. What he found turned out to be the remains of the wooden Frank D. Barker, which sank in 1887.
We heard about many findings, but this one seems pretty cool, doesn’t it? So, let’s find out more about this story.
A ship detected from space
Olson, owner of Door County Adventure Rafting, tends to use satellite images to find interesting places for his excursions. This time, a change in the water color caught his attention and he found out it was a shipwreck.
The Wisconsin Historical Society started an investigation. We have to say this wasn’t rare because in the Door County waters is known for having more than 250 ships sunk due to strong winds, fog, and rocky coasts. However, each finding adds a new piece to the region’s maritime puzzle.
Its story
The Frank D. Barker was a wooden ship built in 1867 by shipbuilder Simon G. Johnson in Clayton, New York. At 137 feet long, it was a “canaller,” a vessel designed specifically to sail the Great Lakes and pass through the Welland Canal, which allowed ships to bypass Niagara Falls.
This ship carried grain from Milwaukee and Chicago to the east and in its journeys back home it used to carry coal from the Erie Lake, essential fuel for plants and households of the Midwest.
The 1887 shipwreck
In September of 1887, the Frank D. Barker sailed the Manistee (Michigan) to Escanaba (Michigan) to pick up iron ore. However, the bad weather and fog made the ship change course, ending up in a rocky formation of Spider Island in Door County.
Between 1887 and 1888 people tried to refloat the ship on 5 occasions, but it was for nothing. In the end, the crew and the owners decided to abandon it. The most interesting part? At that moment, the loss was worth $8,000 which equals more than 250,000 of current dollars.
How does the wreck look like today?
Olson’s discovery showed the ship’s hull bottom surprisingly intact, although the sides were split open and flattened . The wreck rests in shallow waters, about 20 feet deep.
Tamara Thomsen, maritime archaeologist of the Wisconsin Historical Society, led several dives to confirm the identity of the ship. “What’s really cool about this wreck is that the whole thing is there,” she explained. “It is almost like you could put the pieces back together in your mind.”
Importance of this finding
The Frank D. Barker discovery is more than finding a wreck, it preserves part of maritime history. Each wreck tells how commerce, technology, and life was in the Great Lakes in the 19th century.
For Olson, this finding was so personal because he took his 6-year-old son snorkeling for the first time to this place. “To think that my son’s first time ever snorkeling was on a shipwreck, and being one of the first people to see this ship in over 130 years—that’s pretty exciting,” he said.
As you can see, the story of this wreck shows that history is never truly gone, it is everywhere and in hidden places waiting to be found that will later be useful for us to better understand the past. Isn’t it amazing how a wreck could be so meaningful and show us many things about the past?