A 292-foot whaleback barge has been discovered at the bottom of Lake Superior nearly 120 years after it sunk during a powerful storm in 1902.
Barge 129 was discovered about 35 miles off Vermilion Point in 650 feet of water.
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“I’ve looked for this ship for so long because it was a whaleback,” said Darryl Ertel Jr., Director of Marine Operations for the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society. “I was pretty excited. I couldn’t wait to get the cameras on it”.
On Oct. 13, 1902, Barge 129 was loaded with iron ore and being towed by the steamer Maunaloa. The ships ran into a powerful storm that snapped the towline connecting them, officials said.
Barge 129 was left at the mercy of the storm, and when Maunaloa turned back to try to reconnect the towline, the wind and waves caused the ships to slam into each other, according to the GLSHS.
Maunaloa’s port side anchor ripped into Barge 129′s starboard side, and the barge began to sink. A lifeboat was launched to save the crew members, who boarded Maunaloa as the barge ultimately sank below the surface.
“The whalebacks were pretty unusual ships,” GLSHS Executive Director Bruce Lynn said. “When we had the ROV on it, you could clearly see the distinctive bow with a part of the towline still in place. That was an incredible moment.”
Officials from the GLSHS said they were surprised by the damage when they found the wreck site
“It’s totally destroyed on the bottom,” Ertel said. “It’s nowhere near intact. It’s at least 4 to 5 big pieces and thousands of little pieces. It’s just disintegrated.”