Grand Traverse Bay Underwater Preserve

Grand Traverse Bay has a long and rich maritime history. Long before the arrival of Europeans it was well known to Native Americans because of the ease of water transportation and because it included the interchange point from water to land with trails leading from the head of the bay to points throughout the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. Traverse City was developed by Hannah, Lay & Company, a firm which recognized the value of water transportation and operated a fleet of commercial vessels to provide ready communication. It was also home to Elk Rapids Iron Works, a firm which depended on the water for a supply of iron ore and to ship pig iron, and was also, at one point, the largest iron smelter in Michigan.

One of the earliest wrecks in the Bay is believed to be the little schooner A. C. Van Raalte, which may have simply been known as the Van Raalte. It was built in 1850 at Marine City, Michigan, for the newly arrived immigrants at Holland, Michigan, and named after the leader who brought them to America. It was a scow-schooner measuring 44 by 12 feet with a 4.5 depth of hold. In 1859 it is said to have provided regular service from Grand Haven to Traverse City and intermediate points. For unknown reasons Van Raalte spent the winter of 1859 – 1860 in Old Mission Harbor on East Bay. There it was crushed by ice early in March and sunk with only her rigging being salvaged as reported by her captain, O. Evans.

The era of the 1850s on Lake Michigan saw the highest number of commercial vessels on the lake each year for it was the era of the grain trade when hundreds of canal-sized schooners carried the grain each fall in a mad rush to move the entire harvest from the Great Plains to the cities of New England via Lake Michigan. Among these vessels was the John Thursby, a typical grain schooner of 360 tons (OS), built in 1857 at Cattaraugus, New York. It may have carried a cargo of supplies to the new community of Antrim City just three miles south of Norwood for it was forced to abandon an anchor there in September 1867. A little over a week later on October 8th or 9th, 1867, it stopped to pick up the anchor and was caught in one of the sudden storms so frequent on the Great Lakes. It was blown ashore along with its cargo of 14,500 bushels of wheat and went to pieces in a short time. The insurance companies tried to sell the wheat to the nearby homesteaders but only a small amount was sold. However, within several weeks the balance of the wheat and everything else removable disappeared. No record exists of salvage of the Thursby and the location of the wreckage remains a mystery.

The schooner Metropolis was built in 1857 at Cleveland by Peck & Masters. It was canal sized measuring 125 by 28 feet with a depth of hold of 11 feet. In its early years the Metropolis carried a variety of cargoes including grain, lumber, and pig iron. By 1882 it was sailed by Captain Duncan Corbett who maintained homes in both Elk Rapids and Chicago. On November 24, 1886, the Metropolis left Elk Rapids for Chicago with a cargo of pig iron and lumber. She immediately disappeared into a dense snow storm and lost her way. She ran aground south of Old Mission Point and her Captain scuttled her to prevent further damage. Salvage efforts commenced two days later but were unsuccessful. Eventually the pig iron was salvaged and the lumber disappeared some reportedly building a nearby barn. Today the skeleton of Metropolis lies in shallow water while a portion of a side lies nearby in deeper water where it was abandoned by an early scavenger.

Perhaps the worst and also the most costly accident in the Bay was the loss of the Selvick tug, Lauren Castle on November 5, 1980. Although 75 years old, the tug was fully equipped as a modern towing vessel. She was over-run by her tow, the tanker Amoco Wisconsin, and dragged on her beam ends, sinking promptly in 400 feet of
water taking one crewmen down with her. (Shipwreck history provided by Steve Harold, President, Association for Great Lakes Maritime History.)

The equivalents of dry land natural or wilderness areas, underwater preserves are recognized as places of distinctive historical and recreational interest. The proposed underwater preserve area in Grand Traverse Bay serves as a recreational destination and historical site, rich in maritime history. In addition to shipwrecks, piers and other submerged cultural resources, natural formations such as ancient beach zones and glacial reefs offer a glimpse of the geographical topography of Grand Traverse Bay thousands of years ago.

On the average, two or three new shipwrecks are discovered each year. More divers are using Lake Michigan each year, and as advances in cold water scuba gear allow divers to go deeper and stay down longer, more resources will be discovered. New equipment, the most notable being sonar, and techniques designed specifically for underwater searching have also led to increased wreck discoveries. Many estimate that there are thousands of ships lying yet
undiscovered. Recreational divers have been responsible for the majority of recent discoveries of the valuable educational and environmental resources. In an effort to get as close to the shipwrecks as possible, anchors have often been dropped on these fragile remains and as research has shown, most shipwrecks are extremely fragile, and received considerable damage from the anchors of other vessels. Permanent moorings, not attached to the actual shipwreck, will help reduce the damage and allow for extended life and enjoyment of wreck study.

Research by the GTBUPC have included documentation of known wrecks followed by an informational meeting of scuba divers, fishermen and the public to discuss the presence of other historical and environmental underwater resources. Archaeological surveys of these resources will be ongoing and include the use of sector scan sonar equipment, the likes of which have never been considered or used before in underwater survey of shipwrecks with results that have been dramatic.