Almost a century and a half after sinking, explorers have found the wreckage of the steamship Milwaukee “remarkably intact" in Lake Michigan.
Explorers from the Michigan Shipwreck Research Association shared the news over the weekend, noting that they were able to find the ship thanks to clues from old newspaper clippings.
The association shared that the Milwaukee sank after colliding with another vessel in 1886, and it was found 360 feet below the water’s surface.
The researchers reportedly found the ship wreckage in June 2023, and using side-scan sonar, they were able to survey the wreck entirely with a remote operated vehicle. They then announced the discovery at the association’s annual film festival.
The Milwaukee is said to have been a 135-foot vessel with three decks, two used for freight and one for passengers. However, after the Wall Street panic of 1873, like many Great Lakes ships, the Milwaukee was repurposed to accommodate more cargo, like packaged goods and raw materials, the association shared.
In 1883, the ship was bought by businessman Lyman Gates Mason of Muskegon to be used as a transportation vessel for his Chicago-based lumber company. While the ship was altered, there were no photographs taken to provide details.
Valerie van Heest, the explorer who helped create the search grid for the ship, shared that she was able to locate the area where it sank thanks to an account from a July 9, 1886, newspaper article on the ship’s demise.
“It was newspaper accounts of the sinking that provided the clues we needed to locate the shipwreck,” van Heest said.
The association shared that the crash occurred after smoke from wildfires burning in Wisconsin covered the lake, leaving both captains blind. While protocol called for the men to slow down and follow a certain set of actions, neither did, resulting in the collision of the Milwaukee with the Hickox.
“Pandemonium broke out on the Milwaukee. The captain went below deck and saw water pouring in,” the shipwreck association said.
Two hours after the crash, the Milwaukee sank to its final resting place at the bottom of Lake Michigan, while everyone aboard made it safely to the Hickok, which survived the crash.
Because the newspaper accounts were so descriptive in detailing the final hours of the Milwaukee, explorer Neel Zoss, who spotted the wreck on the sonar, said it took them little time to locate it.
“News accounts of the accident, as well as the study of water currents, led us to the Milwaukee after only two days searching,” Zoss said.