Photo Credit - Tamara Thomsen, State Historical Society of Wisconsin
A shipwreck was recently discovered in Lake Michigan by newly appointed Wisconsin Maritime Executive Director Kevin Cullen and other marine scientists Brendon Baillod and Bob Jake from the Wisconsin Underwater Archaeological Association (WUAA).
The ship discovered was the Margaret A. Muir, a 130-foot-long, three-masted schooner built in Manitowoc that carried mainly grain and other cargo throughout the Great Lakes until it sank in Lake Michigan a few miles off the Algoma shore in 1893.
Wisconsin Maritime Director Kevin Cullen tells Seehafer News, “We knew about this wreck, and we wanted to go look for it.”
So, Cullen and the rest of the team waited for the right day where the water wasn’t too rough.
He explained. “A lot of the historical research narrowed down our window of where to look, and then it was a matter of going and looking for it.”
Finding the Muir was a historical treasure for the marine scientists, though for Cullen, discovering this shipwreck is extra special.
“My interest specifically was to go out and find this because of its connection to Manitowoc, and my role here at the museum is to really tell that story of a Manitowoc-built schooner,” he said. “After a few hours of searching it showed up on the screen, and the rest is history.”
Cullen also shared his plans for the images collected.
“I plan to actually incorporate it into our Wisconsin Coasts Exhibit downstairs,” he revealed. “My hope is that we can put this on one of touch screens that has the ROV control, and you can fly the ROV around the wreck site. So, the goal is that we’d be putting this on exhibit with the maritime trails kiosk that documents the wrecks around the state of Wisconsin. So, this is going to be a new addition for sure in the months to come.”
In the meantime, before the Muir exhibit is open, there are numerous other exhibits and galleries to explore at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum in downtown Manitowoc.
