Low water exposes century-old shipwreck on Grand Haven's Harbor Island

Michigan Live ^ | 12-12-12 | Eric Gaertner

[shove_it]

GRAND HAVEN, MI – The remains of a wooden steamer built 125 years ago recently were uncovered in the Grand River, a surprising benefit of the historically low water levels.

The wooden sections of the 290-foot steamer Aurora, which burned in 1932, and parts of at least four other shipwreck hulks were exposed by the receding water line near the edges of Harbor Island. West Michigan maritime researchers deemed the Aurora the most significant of the finds, as it was once the largest wooden steamer on the Great Lakes.

After being alerted to the wooden pieces by area residents, Holland-based Michigan Shipwreck Research Associates (MSRA) members and officials with the Tri-Cities Historical Museum in Grand Haven investigated and surveyed the larger wreck, featuring the hull, sides and the propeller shaft cradle at the stern. The bow appeared buried and a survey by MSRA east of the visible portion revealed a structure well over 200 feet long, verifying the wreck as that of the Aurora...

[w1andsodidwe]

But I thought Algore said all the sea levels are rising.

[shove_it]

A piece of the 290-foot shipwreck Aurora is exposed as seen on December 11, 2012 in Grand Haven due to low water levels in the Grand River. The ship was built in 1887 and lies just east of the public boat launch ramp on Harbor Island.

[shove_it]

More photos at article link.

[shove_it]

That evil coal fired power plant in the background of the photo at reply #4 is the culprit.

[Nailbiter]

Grand Haven is on the land locked sea of Lake Michigan, it is lacking in artic ice the last time I looked. :)

[MaxMax]

Apparently the owner of that vessel really did lose all his firearms
in a horrible boating accident.

[shove_it]

"Ice Floes" in Lake Michigan ...

Those ice floes stack up pretty tall on the Michigan shore. Lots of photos at Google.

[Nailbiter]

thanks for information

[cripplecreek]

Interesting old stuff.



Weekly/biweekly Michigan legislative activism thread December 7, 2012

[cripplecreek]

Interesting old stuff.



Weekly/biweekly Michigan legislative activism thread December 7, 2012

[cripplecreek]

A couple of yeas ago there was a video posted of the ice crashing through someone’s livingroom window on Saginaw bay I believe.

[stayathomemom]

We used to live in Menominee right on Green Bay. We never were threatened by ice shoves, but I remember one year they were pretty bad on the north side of town. I bunch of cars at a used car lot were destroyed when the ice came ashore in the spring.

[TXnMA]

The April 9, 2011 Google Earth overflight shows the stern half of the wreck distinctly. The forward half is on/under the island. I assume the crew must have beached her, bailed out on land and let her burn to the waterline.

If she ran up the beach, the bow may be essentially gone -- except for a massive amount of those iron connecting members. However, those may well have been 'salvaged' soon after the accident...

(FWIW, Michigan seems to have gotten the short end of the stick on Google-published overflights. All the other dates are of such poor quality as to be essentialy useless for OHI archaeology...

[Bubba Ho-Tep]

There's another story on this I read last week that tells a much more mundane story. While trapped in the ice in the Detroit River in 1898, she burned down to the water line. The owners refitted the hull as a barge and she was used that way until 1927. when the economy turned bad. She sat unused until 1932, when she was dragged to this spot and burned again. After that, sediment built up and it was basically buried, with scrub vegetation growing over it. Lately, the island's been eroding on that side, uncovering the wreck when the water levels dropped.

[shove_it]

Here's the before picture ...

I thought the bow was visible but after re-reading the article, that is the stern - you are correct.

[shove_it]

Mrs. shove_it has friends whose Lake Huron cottage was demolished by ice back in the 1980's. This isn't their cottage in the photo, however.

[TXnMA]

Yes, it is the stern that is visible. The photos on the website show what appears to be the lower half of a lignum vitae "packing gland" for the propeller shaft at the exposed end.

FWIW, those (~2' thick?) hull walls have a surprisingly complex structure. IMHO, it would be worthwhile to excavate a buried (and intact) section, measure and document it thoroughly, and have a marine architect do a computer reconstruction of that hull wall structure. From that, with adequate measurements of the overall hull remains, a computer (CAD) reconstruction of the hull would be doable.

[TXnMA]

Thank you for that insight! BTW, that looks like a strange fore-aft attitude — even for an (apparently) unladen wooden ship. Must have been heavy stuff in that aft engine room...

[Bubba Ho-Tep]

That's a pretty typical example of a Lake Freighter configuration. The Edmund Fitzgerald was the same type. Basically they're bulk carriers--grain, iron ore, gravel, whatever.