Jump to content
  • GUESTS

    If You  want access  to member only forums on FM, You will need to Sign-in or  Sign-Up now .

    This box will disappear once you are signed in as a member.

ShipWreck off Park Point.


Recommended Posts

That story about those ice fisherman that found that shipwreck is pretty cool! Only 10 feet of water. Makes you wonder what else lurks in the waters of Lake Superior! ooo.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Actually I think it was in St. Louis Bay off Park Point not in Lake Superior. Probably never been found before because the water was always so dirty. This years water in the bay is so much clearer than I have seen it in a long time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

here is the story...

Deep mystery

John Myers

Duluth News Tribune - 02/21/2007

Ice anglers walking off the sand beach of Duluth’s Park Point have found what may be an uncharted wreckage of a Lake Superior vessel.

The outline of the wreckage was first spotted Sunday through the 10 inches of crystal-clear ice that now covers much of Lake Superior off Duluth. It sits about 300 feet out from the shoreline off the 2600 block of Minnesota Avenue, in water 10 feet deep.

Other anglers have drilled holes in the ice and lowered an underwater video camera to take a closer look.

Maritime historians say it’s not clear if the finding is a discovery of an uncharted wreck or if it’s a documented wreck that somehow was moved by currents or shifting sands. Shipwreck maps document several sunken vessels off Duluth, but all are closer either to the Duluth Ship Canal or to Superior Entry.

It’s also possible that sand covering the wreckage had been moved off the area and that the near-record low Lake Superior water level may have made the wreckage e asier to see.

Either way, it seems astonishing that no one has ever noticed the wreck before. And it seems even stranger that anything that substantial could have moved very far.

John Williams, who lives on Park Point, said he first noticed the wreck Feb. 15 while ice skating. On Sunday he and others used an ice fishing underwater video camera to take a closer look. They found wooden parts, what appears to be a drive shaft and a propeller.

Williams said the wreck is farther off shore than earlier estimates. He said a GPS reading showed it about 300 feet from the broken ice near shore, off the 2600 block of Minnesota Avenue.

“I’ve boated over that spot and swam over it and never saw it before,’’ said Isaac Ginsberg of Duluth. Ginsberg, a professional photographer, happened on the anglers who found the wreck. He took still photographs of the underwater camera’s monitor. The photos show the outline of a large wooden vessel and a driveshaft.

“We c ould also see the propeller, and it was big… maybe three feet across,’’ Ginsberg said, adding that it appeared too big to move much. “Maybe they beached it and burned it or something.’’

Thom Holden, director of the Lake Superior Maritime Visitors Center in Duluth, said he knew of no wreck in that area. He noted that chunks of wrecks, along with other items — such as the mystery crib recently washed ashore in Duluth — have surprised Lake Superior buffs before.

“There’s nothing I could find that’s supposed to be in that spot. How it got there, or why no one ever noticed it before, who knows?” Holden said.

Steven Sola, who was with Williams on Sunday, said the wreck was clearly visible in less than 15 feet of water.

After happening upon the wreckage, Sola retrieved a small underwater camera used for fishing. The camera revealed the decking timbers and propeller blades sticking out of the sand.

"It's amazingly clear," he said. "It was like a PBS spe cial."

After consulting some charts and other ship resources, Sola said he thinks it might be the City of Winnipeg, a wooden passenger ship built in 1870. The Minnesota Historical Society's list of shipwrecks said the City of Winnipeg was partially burned in a fire in 1881 and scuttled at an unknown location in 1898.

Conditions on the ice are unpredictable and can become dangerous quickly. Efforts by a News Tribune reporter and photographer to visit the site Tuesday afternoon were thwarted by a pressure ridge that appeared to have caused a rift of open water.

Jan Saillard, owner of Innerspace Scuba in Duluth’s West End, said he hadn’t heard of any wreckage in that area known to divers but speculated it might be a scuttled boat.

“They scuttled tugboats off the point and it might be one of those where the sand shifted recently and exposed something,’’ he said.

While it’s not unusual for the western tip of Lake Superior to freeze enough for anglers to walk out on the lake, it is unusual for the lake to freeze this smooth and clear, and to have little or no snow covering the ice. It’s possible to see through the ice and clear water to objects on the bottom 20 or more feet below.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Saw it on the news.....didn't interest me as they were showing no fish on the underwater camera. smile.gif

Joel

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am going to see this myself in the am. I think it would be neat to see crazy.gif. hope the ICE is safe for walking out blush.gif? Well be safe out there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ok it makes sense to me now. There was a bunch of people/houses at that spot yesterday. Now I know what they were all doing. Kind of cool.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes steve it is cool but no fish? what is up with that well it is to shallow or to covered with sand. But nice to see well be safe on the ICE out there it can go soon you never now?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.


  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • leech~~
      Nope not me.  May want to go nextdoor and ask around?  
    • smurfy
      Looks to me like Leech brought his chair home!!😅😆
    • Brianf.
      I'm not there, so I can't tell exactly what's going on but it looks like a large area of open water developed in the last day with all of the heavy snow on the east side of wake em up Narrows. These two photos are from my Ring Camera facing north towards Niles Point.  You can see what happened with all of snow that fell in the last three days, though the open water could have been wind driven. Hard to say. .  
    • SkunkedAgain
      Black Bay had great ice before but a few spots near rockpiles where there were spots of open water. It looks like the weight of the snow has created a little lake in the middle of the bay.  
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
      On the south end...   Thanks to some cold spring weather, ice fishing continues strong for those still ice fishing.  The bite remains very good.  Most resorts have pulled their fish houses off for the year, however, some still have fish houses out and others are allowing ATV and side by sides.  Check social media or call ahead to your favorite resort for specifics. Reports this week for walleyes and saugers remain excellent.   A nice mix of jumbo perch, pike, eelpout, and an occasional crappie, tullibee or sturgeon being reported by anglers. Jigging one line and using a live minnow on the second line is the way to go.  Green, glow red, pink and gold were good colors this week.     Monster pike are on a tear!  Good number of pike, some reaching over 45 inches long, being caught using tip ups with live suckers or dead bait such as smelt and herring in 8 - 14' of water.   As always, work through a resort or outfitter for ice road conditions.  Safety first always. Fish houses are allowed on the ice through March 31st, the walleye / sauger season goes through April 14th and the pike season never ends. On the Rainy River...  The river is opened up along the Nelson Park boat ramp in Birchdale, the Frontier boat ramp and Vidas boat ramp.  This past week, much of the open water skimmed over with the single digit overnight temps.   Areas of the river have popped open again and with temps getting warmer, things are shaping up for the last stretch through the rest of the spring season, which continues through April 14th.   Very good numbers of walleyes are in the river.  Reports this week, even with fewer anglers, have been good.  When temps warm up and the sun shines, things will fire up again.   Jigs with brightly colored plastics or jigs with a frozen emerald shiner have been the desired bait on the river.  Don't overlook slow trolling crankbaits upstream as well.   Good reports of sturgeon being caught on the river as well.  Sturgeon put the feed bag on in the spring.  The bite has been very good.  Most are using a sturgeon rig with a circle hook loaded with crawlers or crawlers / frozen emerald shiners. Up at the NW Angle...  Ice fishing is winding down up at the Angle.  Walleyes, saugers, and a number of various species in the mix again this week.  The bite is still very good with good numbers of fish.  The one two punch of jigging one line and deadsticking the second line is working well.   Check with Angle resorts on transport options from Young's Bay.  Call ahead for ice road guidelines.  
    • CigarGuy
      With the drifting, kind of hard to tell for sure, but I'm guessing about a foot and still lightly snowing. Cook end!
    • PSU
      How much snow did you get on Vermilion? 
    • Mike89
      lake here refroze too...  started opening again yesterday with the wet snow and wind...  very little ice left today...
    • Hookmaster
      A friend who has a cabin between Alex and Fergus said the lake he's on refroze. He texted me a pic from March 12th when it was open and one from 23rd when it wasn't. 🤯
    • SkunkedAgain
      I don't think that there has been any ice melt in the past few weeks on Vermilion. Things looked like a record and then Mother Nature swept in again.   I'll give my revised guess of April 21st
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.