Lake Michigan by Dan Ross

Lake Michigan, 1999
Author: Dan Ross

Greetings all, I spent the past weekend from Thursday afternoon to Sunday diving in the Algar preserve out of Munising Michigan on Lake Superior. The weather was ideal for the entire weekend. The seas were calm and the skys were sunny. Air temps were in the mid 70's and the surface temp was near 65. I dove with a group from the Marineland dive center of La Crosse, WI. Our group consisted of 12 divers on Friday and 18 on Saturday and Sunday. Our boat dives were arranged through Shipwreck Tours of Munising (see link below). I had previously taken the classroom portion of the wreck diving course and these planned dives were part of my course requirements.

Captain Peter Lindquist owns "Shipwreck Tours". They have two dive boats and another larger glass bottom tour boat "The Miss Munising". Pete's large dive boat the "Dive Master" is an older steel boat about 60' long that can handle up to 18 divers. The Dive Master also has a glass bottom section for the divers watch the bottom through. Pete's other boat the "Phyllis Ann" is a 27' boat that accomodates 6 divers. Pete has been running dive charters in the Munising area since 1981.

Thursday afternoon we did a checkout shoredive on the shore near the Munising High School. The area of the dive was among the pilings of the old citty pier. The max depth was about 15 feet and bottom temp was around 65. This was a fun shore dive with lots of interesting artificats in the water. Friday Morning we boarded the Phyllis Ann and headed up to the wreck of the Kiowa. The boat ride out of the harbor was about an hour along the pictured rocks national scenic lakeshore. The wreck of the Kiowa lies in 25-40 ffw. See the link below for details of the wrecks.

After diving the Kiowa we motored back towards Munising and viewed the remains of the Superior side wheeler and the wreck of the George. After viewing these wrecks from above we anchored below the Miners Castle and did a dive along the shore area that consisted of numerous small caves that have been pounded out by the lake through the years.

Friday afternoon some of us did the shore dive near the old city pier again while the rest of our group did the Kiowa trip.

Saturday Morning we boarded the Dive Master and motored out to the Selvik. The Dive Master is not very fast but the scenery in the area made the trip out to the dive enjoyable. One of the main scenic attractions is the old lighthouse on the east shore of Grand Island.(There is a link to this from the link below) On the way out to the dive we spotted a piece of an old wooden ship on the bottom. We stopped and went back over the site. Captain Pete figured the wreckage may be part of the Manhatten or the Hettler. The Hettler was a navigational hazard after she wrecked and was blown apart in oder to make for safer navigation in the area.

The dive on the tugbpoat Selvik was very enjoyable. The bottom depth was at 58' and the bottom temp was in the upper 50's. It was kind of eerie going down the line to the boat when she first came into view. The visibility was about 40 feet and as soon as I started down the line I could see her form. As I got closed I saw the name painted on the bow and her pilot house. This gave me a flashback to the first photo's I saw of the Edmund Fitzgerald's pilot house and stern area. The Selvik was originally sank on what was a solid rock bottom. Since she was placed on the bottom in 1996, the current and surge has rocked the 74 ton boat back and forth crushing the rock and creating an area of gravel around the boat. The port side bilge area has collapsed which caused the selvik to roll onto her port side. While doing the dive I got a little disoriented momentarily as to where the surface was because of the way the boat sits on the bottom. We penetrated the wheelhouse and other areas towards the back of the ship.

Our second dive on Saturday was a portion of the steamer Herman Hettler. We dove in the area where the Hettler hit the rocky shoal that essentially gutted the ship. In the area we were we saw the gouge in the shoal where the bow struck the rock, the boiler and a very large section of the bottom was in the area. There were a lot of other interesting articles in the area including a bath tub and toilet from the ship. The bottom section of the ship was an awesome piece of craftsmanship. The curved bottom section was made of two layers of about 8 inch thick white oak that was seperated by some very hefty curved wooden ribs. This was a fun dive that ranged from about 12' on the shoal down to about 35' near the boiler.

Sunday morning we dove the Smith-Moore. The deck was at 80' and the bottom temp was a balmy 52 degrees. This was my deepeest dive to date in my short diving career and I was a little apprehensive going that far down into the lake. When we were at about 45' on the line we could begin to see the outline of the ship. The down line was fastened to the winch on the center of her deck. We toured the stern area of the ship that included the ornate rear railing that is about 6-8 feet tall all around the back. The boiler house is still intact on the stern area but does show evidence of imploding when she sank. We saw some very large fish in the boiler area of the ship that I believe were Lake Trout. On the port side of the ship the sand has filled the side of the ship to where it is level with the deck. After touring the stern area of the ship I was ready to head up which we did. We made our safety stop at about 20' for three minutes and then returned to the boat. Boarding the boat I hooked my dive knife on the side of the ladder. My knife case split and my knife is now one of the artifacts on the bottom near the Smith-Moore.

Our second dive on Sunday was on the Murray Bay Wreck also referred to as the Bermuda. The wreck of the Bermuda has been discovered elsewhere hence the change of name. The wreck had also been referred to by another name but that ship had also been located. The Murray Bay wreck was a schooner that had been sailed into port and then sank at the pier while her captain and first mate were off the ship and enjoying themselves a few miles up the road. The ship was raised and then brought to the Murray Bay where an attempted salvage effort was abandoned. The ship is in 30' and was a very interesting dive. The hatches are all open and the wreck is fully penetrable. We spent 55 minutes on the wreck touring the inside, outside and topside. The construction of these old schooners is awesome and until a person looks at these up close one does not realise the craftsmanship and engineering that went into these vessels.

All in all it was a great weekend spent with some great new friends doing some of the great diving. Captain Pete Lindquist is a very knowledgable man and is very active in the preservation of the wrecks. Through the years he has had many artifacts previously salvaged from the wrecks in the area returned to him to be replaced on the wrecks. Pete was the lead man in the placement of the Selvik and has a lot of time invested in our sport. I would recomend this trip and Pete's operation to anybody interested in diving the area.

Dive Safe!