Clear Lake Michigan waters helps Coast Guard find old shipwrecks

DETROIT – Lake Michigan is transitioning to spring as the winter ice melts and before the summer brings along sediment. The water is clear. Very, very clear.

The U.S. Coast Guard aircrew snapped some great photos of several shipwrecks found during a routine patrol along the northern shoreline.

One of the pilots, Lt. Cmdr. Charlie Wilson, told NPR that it's "fairly common" to spot an old wreck on patrols "but not in the numbers we saw on that flight."

According Michigan Preserves, one of the wrecks dates back to 1857, and another to 1917, but most of the others are unidentified.

The photos were taken near Sleeping Bear Point northeast along the shoreline to Leland, Michigan up to Northport.