Sonar image of the Satellite in Lake Superior (photo: Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum)
SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. (KFGO/WCCO) – The shipwreck of the Satellite has been spotted for the first time in 142 years.
A research vessel for the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society (GLSHS) found the long-lost tug boat about 30 miles northwest of Whitefish Point, a cape on the upper northeast side of the Upper Peninsula, while searching with their ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) in about 300 feet of water.
GLSHS executive director, Bruce Lynn, said the Satellite was a pretty famous tugboat, and a big deal when it sank.
“It is a tugboat, but these were pretty elaborate vessels,” Lynn said. “You have a vision, I think, of tugboats and you picture the staunch, little ship that’s pushing bigger ships around and things like that. But these were almost like passenger vessels….”
The GLSHS found the Satellite while using sonar on a routine search day aboard their U.S. Army Corps of Engineers research vessel. The team tows sonar over Lake Superior in the areas where ships have been reported to have gone down.
Lynn says that there was an anomaly or a target picked up on their sonar, which is like a big torpedo towed behind their vessel. When the target was found, the GLSHS put an ROV down on it and got a better look.
“We needed to study this one for a while to make sure we knew what we were seeing,” Lynn said. “Just some of the upper works you can see and just some of the hull itself and it is in the area pretty much where it was reported to have gone down that tells us that that is the Satellite that we found.”
Lynn said finding the Satellite was exciting, especially after being out on the water for days at a time and not seeing a lot on sonar. He said sometimes targets are obvious, but the Satellite was more difficult to realize what they had come across on the bottom of the lake.
“Then when you put the ROV down and you can really start to see some of the wreckage,” Lynn said. “And to put that in context — you know, we were the first people, the first human eyes, I guess if you want to look at it that way, to look at this wreck since 1879. So that was very exciting.”
Lynn said there is a bit of a mystery surrounding how the Satellite, which was one of a number of sister vessels that started with the letter ‘S’ during that time, sank on June 21, 1879.
Everything was fine when the Satellite was towing five other schooners, sailing ships with two or more masts, who had probably had their masts cut down. Lynn said the ships were carrying coal on their way from Detroit via Lake Huron, through the Locks, past Whitefish Point, and on to Duluth, Minnesota.
“But something happened out there,” Lynn explained. “And water started coming in around the stern area, probably the propeller shaft. There were references to bearings possibly having gone bad. So, right in that area, the Satellite just started taking on water and they worked for two hours trying to pump the water out and try to stop that leak, and they couldn’t do it.”
Luckily for the six person crew, there were other vessels around, so they were able to get off the ship before it sank.
Lynn said the Satellite was a big part of the Detroit Fleet and that many people will be excited to know it was found.
As for what happens now, Lynn said the Satellite will remain in her final resting place. Crews will further document the wreck using the ROV to learn more about the vessel itself.
An exhibit about the ornate tug boat might also be created at the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum in Paradise, Michigan, as well as possible educational outreach to tell her story and keep alive the memory of the Satellite and other ships like it.
You can read more about the discovery on the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum website.
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