The Search

In May 1998, with David Trotter at the controls of the side scan, the team set out on the Quest.  Mr. Trotter uses a Klein brand side scan sonar. A towing unit, called a “fish” rides beneath the boat about 50 feet off the lake bottom. It sends electrical impulses to a unit stationed on board the search vessel, which prints out on paper, any objects that form a relief off the lake bottom. The object would appear white, and the shadow of the object, a black mass. Unfortunately, during the 10-day search, no shipwrecks or other anomalies turned up, just smooth flat sand bottom. The team would not give up, however, and pursued additional public funding for another season of searching in the spring of 1999. May of 1999 turned up more flat sand bottom.  The pursuit continued undaunted, and more coverage was made in 2000. In three seasons of searching, the team covered about 70 square miles of bottomlands, which amounted to over 70% of their established search area.  At this point, their hopes of finding the Chicora had diminished.  

One of the team members, curious about the search and rescue operations of the coast guard, considered the application of their resources to this historic problem. After numerous phone calls, he connected with Arthur Allen from the Coast Guard Research and Development Center based in Groton, Connecticut. Mr. Allen had been developing drift trajectory software applications, which tracked the drift of objects in the water based on winds and currents. To date, much of his work was theoretical, and the search and hopeful discovery of a lost shipwreck may lend credence to his theories.  To utilize his software programs, accurate weather information would be needed from precisely the days surrounding the loss of the ship. 

Mr. Allen sent the team to his colleague, David Schwab, an oceanographer at The Great Lakes Environment Research Lab (a division of NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Schwab’s work entails hydrodynamic modeling using computer-based models that simulate and predict the 3-D structures of the currents, temperatures, water level and sentiment transport in the Great Lakes. Together Allen and Schwab could provide information that the team could use to track backwards to the wreck by plotting the sites where the wreckage was found along shore, back to where the actual sinking took place. The involvement of governmental agencies in the search for a lost historic shipwreck is also unprecedented in any avocational search efforts.

To assist Schwab in gathering historic weather records, the team contacted the National Climactic Data Center a division of NOAA, in Asheville, North Carolina, to attempt to locate official weather records from October 1895.

With the establishment of the National Weather Service in 1870, as the official agency to track the weather, various field offices had been established around the record weather on an hourly basis, day in and day out, year in and year out. The team turned up copies of hand written logs, archived by NCDC, as prepared by agents in Chicago, Milwaukee and Sault Ste.  Marie, Michigan. These logs recorded wind, wave and current action of the lake in the month of October 1895. 

Schwab drafted computer models that would simulate the currents and wind patterns, as they would have developed during that time. Mr. Allen, was able to use these models to develop scenarios of where the debris from the ship would have to have broken away to arrive on shore where reported. The assumption was that during the catastrophic moment of a ship sinking, portions of the ship and loose objects would break away and begin drifting. The computer simulated the drift of pieces of wreckage as reported found in 1895.  By running numerous scenarios, Mr. Allen was able to create an area of strong likely hood where the wreck would be found. While this area represented over 100 square miles, the team felt much more hopeful about a possible discovery. The new area was, however, much farther off shore in deep water, and a bit farther north than had previously been assumed. 

As the team laid out the new search area on a Lake map and cross-referenced that to other shipwreck research they had developed, it became obvious that several other vessels may have gone down within the search area of the Chicora.  The 197-foot long wooden side-wheel steamer Alpena foundered in a storm in 1880 and all of the almost 80 passengers and crew perished. Some wreckage and a cargo of apples washed ashore in Holland, which could suggest her remains lie off Holland within the search area.

The steel hulled whaleback self-unloader Andaste could also be a possibility as she foundered in a storm in 1929 while on route between Grand Haven and Chicago. Likewise, the Healy C. Akeley, a wooden bulk freighter, 230 feet long, was returning from Chicago to Buffalo in building seas. She took the disabled tug “Protector” in tow, but had to cut her loose when the Akeley lost its rudder. She anchored, but fell into a trough in the waves and sunk killing 6 of her 18-member crew. The survivors reported she had gone down 15 miles off Holland, also within the search area. With those other possible shipwrecks in mind, the team agreed to continue the pursuit of the Chicora.

To order a DVD documentary about the discovery of the H. C. Akeley, please visit the MSRA store.

The Discovery

In May 2001 the fourth season of searching began.  On the fourth day a large target plotted out on the side scan paper at GPS location 42.39.525 x 86.31.700. Additional passes and “views” confirmed their hopes, a large shipwreck had been discovered in nearly 300 feet of water off Saugatuck Michigan. Was it the Chicora?  The team ran additional passes the following day and developed the best possible imagery of the ship. Scale and condition could be determined from the scans. The wreck was between 210 and 235 feet long, intact and sitting upright on the bottom. They were able to immediately rule out the wreck of the Alpena. The prominent side-wheels of the Alpena would have been visible on the side scan images if this were the Alpena.

In considering the remaining possible ships, the team added two additional vessels to their consideration, due to their sizes being similar to this wreck, although their purported positions of sinking were not near Saugatuck. New reports, especially from that long ago, were not always accurate, and the team wanted to consider all options. The 209-foot long wooden passenger and freight ship, Hennepin, was caught in a storm in August, 1927 and was reported to have sunk a few miles off South Haven, 15 miles south of the newly discovered wreck. The Michigan, a 204-foot long iron hull bulk freighter was trapped in an ice flow in 1885 for almost 40 days and sank due to hull damage. 

 Based on the size of the target, any one of the five ships could have been a possibility. Visual images of the wreck would need to be obtained to confirm its identity. The team contacted State authorities to inform them of the discovery, and discuss documentation of the wreck. All abandoned shipwrecks on Michigan bottomlands officially belong to the State of Michigan, so their involvement was encouraged.  The State was interested in obtaining video documentation of the vessel in its newfound condition for archaeological purposes, and proposed that team members, who had by then formed Michigan Shipwreck Research Associates contact Guy Meadows at the University of Michigan to discuss the use of the State owner Remote Operated Vehicle referred to as M-ROVER. While diving at this depth was a possibility for highly trained technical divers, the State and MSRA preferred to obtain remote video documentation of the site, so that the “evidence” would not be altered. They encourage MSRA to pursue the project independently 

Documentation

Unfortunately M-ROVER was not immediately available, but a date in October was scheduled. In the mean time, an affiliate of MSRA, who is an engineer, developed a drop camera, in order to capture some video of the wreck. With no independent propulsion like an ROV, the camera moves only as the boat moves and is all but impossible to direct.  The team lowered the camera to the Lake bottom, where it immediately encountered the hull at 275 feet deep and captured the first images of the wreck. With the topside crew pulling upwards on the line, the camera traveled up the side of the vessel. The hull was of obvious wood construction, with a series of rub rails and a side opening. After only 1.5 minutes at the site, the camera had some operating difficulties and the operation was aborted.  These few minutes of video were important, however, because it allowed the team to rule out 2 other ships. 

The whale back Andaste’s hull was formed in steel and the Michigan had an iron clad hull.  Clearly this wreck had a wooden hull.  At that point there remained only three options—Chicora, Hennepin or Akeley. The team became more confident that they had discovered the Chicora.  The Akeley had 12 survivors who were quoted in some of the historical newspaper accounts that they had seen their ship going down 15 miles off Holland—nearly 20 miles north of this wreck.  The Hennepin, whose whole crew survived, reported their ship to have sunk off South Haven, 20 miles south of this wreck. It made sense to believe people who had actually lived through the wreckings. But more images would be necessary to be certain. 

The team made contacts around the Midwest in an attempt to locate another remote operated vehicle for this project. As budget had been expended on the search activity- finding a source at no cost was the objective. The team made contact with a commercial marine salver in Chicago who donated the use of a Remote operated vehicle and operator. The team hoped to propel it near the location of where the name board might remain. One month after the discovery, the ROV was brought out to the site, but had severe technical difficulties once it reached the bottom, and the operation was scrapped.  

MSRA’s team began developing its own drop camera. They ordered a camera and housing and the team customized it for this work. In September, they brought it out to the site and successfully captured over 3 hours of footage. Since the camera could not, however, be controlled, only independent images of ship’s features were captured, which did not show the relationship of features to one another.  The team compared the footage to the detailed construction drawings obtained of the Chicora, and all of the features seen in the video could be matched to what was known of the Chicora, but they would wait for the M-ROVER operation until October as scheduled. Unfortunately, a week of very high winds caused the cancellation of the M-ROVER, with rescheduling for June 2002. 

With winter weather fast approaching and precluding any further site, the team decided to make the first public announcement of the discovery for the benefit of those who had supported the project. While the team indicated a high probability of the ship being the Chicora, more images would be necessary to make a confirmation. The team spent the winter months learning as much about the Chicora, Akeley, and Hennepin as possible to assist once documentation would begin in the spring. In March 2002, MSRA was awarded a grant from the Great Lakes Shipwreck Research Associates to document the shipwreck and present the findings of its documentation and history. 

In late May 2002, MSRA learned that the M-ROVER had been called to the pacific on official business and would once again be postponed, this time until the fall of 2002. 

MSRA as well as state representatives were anxious to positively ID this wreck and document the remains and therefore discussed another option not previously considered viable; the use of technical divers.  At 275 feet and using a special mixture of mixed gas to offset the adverse physiological effects of the depth, a dive was certainly possible, but limited bottom time reduced the amount of viable information that could be obtained. In addition, the bulkiness of necessary equipment would hamper the ability to film the dive well. Despite this, technical divers joined MSRA’s team in an effort to finally make a positive identification. 

Wearing nearly 300 lbs of equipment and utilizing a total of 7 air tanks, it takes about 3 minutes to get to the bottom.  At a depth of 275 feet, a diver is only allowed 7 minutes of bottom time. For those 10 minutes total, the diver must spend almost 60 minutes of decompression time in order to eliminate compressed gases from his system. Over an hour in near freezing water, despite the warm suit, can cause hypothermia, and as such, it is a very dangerous dive. 

On their first dives to the site, MSRA divers brought up reports of seeing features seen in previous remote video—nothing new, but nothing to indicate the ship was not Chicora. The next few dives brought up further bits of information, but nothing yet conclusive. It was like a huge puzzle, 200 feet long, but with pieces being established only every few weeks.  

On the fifth dive of the season, one of the divers recorded three distinct images, one of the relationships of the boiler to the deck and one of an open hatch. In addition, he saw a gauge in which the words “Boiler Works” and Ferrysburg” were still visible. None of these features was evident in the Chicora blue prints, and since the Chicora had been built in Detroit, it was unlikely a gauge would be from Ferrysburg.  After over one year from the discovery, it seemed apparent the wreck could not possibly be the Chicora. The team faced a terrible disappointment, but if the ship were either of the remaining two ships, it would still be a very significant discovery. 

Research efforts on the Hennepin were stepped up. A newspaper article was discovered that had been filed under different heading in 1927. It mentioned in passing that the Hennepin was being used as a tow barge because its machinery had been removed a few years prior.  Since the divers had seen the boilers and an engine, this ship could not possibly be the Hennepin. 

So was the wreck the H.C. Akeley? Of all 6 ships researched, the Akeley was the most illusive. No blue prints existed of it, and to date, only a postcard with a rendered image of the ship had been found. The H.C Akeley was built at the Mechanics dry Dock by Thomas W. Kirby and Healy C. Akeley in the once busy commercial shipping port of Grand Haven. The 230-foot steamer cost over $110,000 and was launched in the spring of 1881, one of the biggest and most sturdily built ship of the time.  Additional research into the Mechanics dry-dock turned up photos of the shipyard. In one such photo, shot of the construction dock, there was a vessel pictured under construction. Museum archives indicated the vessel to be the H.C. Akeley!  This now represents the only known photo of the vessel.  Comparison of the photo to the diver and drop camera video, strongly supported the wreck being the Akeley. 

M Rover

In October of 2002, the long awaited M-ROVER operation took place. The team from University of Michigan along with MSRA team members traveled to the site. After initial site orientation, the ROV was able to capture over 2 hours of continuous video of the wreck. All the features seen on the video were an exact match to the construction photograph of the Akeley. The M-ROVER captured images of the anchor chain of the wreck, which had been set thru the starboard hawse pipe, the starboard outer forecastle hull, the entire port side, the curved stern and the rear deck. Combined with images acquired from previous drop camera outings, the team had now captured views of about 80% of the ship. At this point there was little doubt that the Akeley had been found. Two items that would offer proof positive were elusive…no name board had been found, and no hull numbers had been captured.  There remained only one last opportunity for a positive ID. MSRA obtained a permit to retrieve a core sample of a cargo substance. If it tested positive for starch or carbohydrates, the conclusion would be it was the cargo of corn carried by the Akeley when she sunk. At the time of this writing, the weather has not yet cooperated to allow the core sampling to be done. 

Some weeks after the M-ROVER operation, additional research on the Akeley turned up an unexpected discovery.  The origins of the Akeley’s machinery were not in Ferrysburg as would be expected if the ship had been built by the Mechanics Dry Dock.  The Akeley was outfitted with the salvaged, single-cylinder engine and double boilers from a vessel, the General Paine that crashed in 1881 on the shores of Grand Haven.  The machinery had been removed and sent to Johnston Boiler Works for retrofitting. The General Paine was significantly smaller than the Akeley, but as a tugboat, it had a large engine suitable for the 230-foot Akeley. The General Paine, a civil war era union tugboat, was originally built in Boston in 1865 and named the USS Trefoil.  The war ended before the Trefoil could see any action, and after the war it was sent to the Great Lakes region.  She was renamed the General Paine after the Civil War General, Halbert Eleazer Paine. At the conclusion of the War, General Paine was elected a US congressman for Wisconsin. 

An interesting and coincidental twist to the entire story is that Congressman Paine is most noted for introducing a joint Congressional Resolution, which would establish the National Weather Service, later NOAA and its divisions the National Climactic Data Center, and Great Lakes Environmental Research Lab.   Without the input and assistance of all these agencies, the MSRA team would never have been in the vicinity to discover the Akeley.  

The methods used to search for the Chicora is still valid –the H. C. Akeley simply came to rest within the high probability area and was found in the course of the search for the other vessel. Perhaps in the near future, with the guiding spirit of the late General Payne, resting comfortably from his newly rediscovered place in history, the team of dedicated and persistent researchers will complete its original quest, to find the long lost and STILL missing Chicora.

Click here to read the historical account of the H. C. Akeley

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