Why are there so many sunken ships in the Great Lakes?

The primary reason for shipwrecks on the Great Lakes is stormy weather, specifically in the upper portions of Lake Michigan, Lake Huron and Lake Superior. In the late fall and early winter, weather can be particularly treacherous. Most Great Lakes shipwrecks occurred in the late fall.



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Unpredictable weather makes them some of the most dangerous waters in the world. Sudden storms, fire, and fog have resulted in the destruction of these many thousands of vessels. Just over twenty percent of those vessels have come to rest on the bottom of Lake Michigan, second only in quantity to Lake Huron.

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“In fact, we think Lake Erie has a greater density of shipwrecks than virtually anywhere else in the world—even the Bermuda triangle.” Because of incomplete record keeping, nobody knows the exact number of shipwrecks that have occurred in Lake Erie, but estimates range from 500 to 2000.

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Edmund Fitzgerald, official number 277437, sinking in Lake Superior on 10 November 1975 with loss of life.” While the Coast Guard said the cause of the sinking could not be conclusively determined, it maintained that “the most probable cause of the sinking of the S.S.

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On November 10, 1975, the SS Edmund Fitzgerald sank in Lake Superior on its way to Detroit carrying full cargo from Wisconsin. The ship was caught in a severe storm with near hurricane force winds and waves up to 35 feet.

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September 8, 2010 marked the 150th anniversary of the sinking of the Lady Elgin. The worst tragedy ever seen on the Great Lakes, this event looms large in Winnetka and Lake Michigan history. Just before midnight on September 7, 1860, a palatial sidewheel steamboat named the Lady Elgin left Chicago bound for Milwaukee.

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Lake Superior is the Cleanest and Clearest Great Lake Because of its somewhat isolated location and long cold winters, not much farming is done along Superior's shores. This means lower amounts of nutrients, sediments, and organic material are floating around the lake.

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Swift Currents At Lake Michigan Are The Real Danger The shapes of these waves are what contribute to rip tides, which are one of the most dangerous things swimmers can encounter in the water. Lake Michigan's riptide and longshore tides are unparalleled when it comes to danger among all the Great Lakes.

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There are some odd geological finds at the bottom, including a 2007 archeological find that was described as Stonehenge-like, although it was actually more in a V-shape. One of the stones is said to have a mastodon image on it (although it's not fully clear if it was man-made or just a natural formation).

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The Graveyard of the Great Lakes comprises the southern shore of Lake Superior between Grand Marais, Michigan, and Whitefish Point, though Grand Island has been mentioned as a western terminus. More ships have wrecked in this area than any other part of Lake Superior.

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Here's Why Lake Michigan Is Supposedly the Deadliest of the Great Lakes. Compared to the other Great Lakes, Lake Michigan is considered to be the deadliest of them all. Here's why. Sadly, many of the Great Lakes aren't considered to be particularly safe to swim in, due to high pollution levels and strong currents.

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According to the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum, the lakes have caused the sinking of around 6,000 ships and the death of 30,000 people. However, historian Mark Thompson, the author of Graveyard of the Lakes, has estimated that there are over 25,000 shipwrecks at the bottom of the Great Lakes.

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Tregurtha is the longest ship on the Great Lakes. She can carry up to 68,000 gross tons of taconite pellets or 71,000 net tons of coal.

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Last year, after searching more than 2,500 miles of the bottom of Lake Superior, the Atlanta — a 172-foot schooner-barge that also sank during a terrible storm — was found, preserved in the lake just as it was when it went down more than 130 years ago. Even the gold letters of the ship's nameplate were still visible.

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