Shipwreck from 1893 Found in Lake Michigan

by Oliver Zink, age 14

On September 30, 1898, the schooner Margaret A. Muir sank a few miles from the entrance to Algom Harbor on Wisconsin's Lake Michigan coast in 50 feet of water during a fierce gale.

It was undisturbed for more than a century, despite hundreds of fishing boats going back and forth during the fishing season. Historian Brendon Baillod found the ship on May 12, 2024, along with his team Robert Jaeck and Kevin Culling. They declared the ship a significant archaeological discovery.

The wreck earned the nickname “filet of schooner” due to the way it opened up, with the deck separating and the sides splaying apart. This unique exposure provides insight into the architectural construction details of 19th-century Great Lakes wooden schooners.

The Great Lakes serve as a great environment for preservation due to their cold fresh waters. There are 6,000 and possibly more shipwrecks in the Great Lakes dating back to the 17th century.

The Muir was part of the booming maritime trade of the Great Lakes which had canals to the Atlantic Ocean. One of the bigger canals was the St. Lawrence Seaway. This was one of the most important transportation routes of the industrial revolution in America. All the raw goods, copper, iron, and lumber used to make cities around the Great Lakes Basin, came by ship and were also transported through canals. The Muir was built to carry grain but carried a variety of other goods through its 21 years on the lakes.

On the day the Muir sank, a 50 mph gale appeared, causing the crew to abandon the ship in lifeboats, and then the boat plunged. Fortunately, no crew members were hurt, and the loss of the Muir was covered in a couple of newspapers.

Over time, people forgot about the ship, and many others would have been forgotten if not for Baillod and his team.

[Sources: CNN; Wisconsin Underwater Archeology Association; Madison.com]