Routine fishing on Lake Michigan led a father and daughter duo to discover a shipwreck over 150 years old.
Tim Wollack and his daughter Henley were fishing in Green Bay near Green Island, Wisconsin when they made the discovery, according to a statement from the Wisconsin Historical Society (WHS). At first, six-year-old Henley thought they had found the “Green Bay Octopus,” but eventually learned it was a sunken ship.
After investigating his findings, Wollack believed he had found a shipwreck Erie L. Hackley of 1882. Then, after working with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, they discovered that the wreck was from a barkentine ship called George L. Newman.
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George L. Newman was sailing the lake on the evening of Oct. 8, 1871, with cargo from the town of Little Suamico when it was engulfed in thick smoke from the Great Peshtigo Fire — the deadliest fire in U.S. history, the WHS post explained. According to the National Weather Service, more than 1,200 people died in the fire.
The three-masted wooden vessel (which was 122 feet long) was abandoned by its crew and left in eight to 10 feet of water before it ran aground on the southeast side of Green Island, according to a WHS Facebook update.
The ship’s crew survived the Great Peshigo Fire of 1871.
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
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The crew sought shelter in a nearby lighthouse and rescued everything they could from the ship when it was safe to do so, according to the WHS, which added that George L. Newman it was eventually covered in sand and forgotten until the Wollacks went fishing this summer.
“I don’t know how to top it,” Tim told Fox channel WLUK-TV of the surprise discovery he and his daughter made. “I guess we’ll just have to fish more and see if we can find any more wrecks.”
Tamara Thomsen, a marine archaeologist at WHS who worked to identify the wreck, told a local newspaper that the discovery was “even more special” because it was linked to a historic fire.
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education