This image provided by Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society shows the broken mast from The Western Reserve, a merchant ship that sank in Lake Superior in 1940 off Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. (Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society via AP)
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Twenty years before the Titanic changed maritime history, another ship touted as the next great technological feat set sail on the Great Lakes.
The Western Reserve was one of the first all-steel cargo ships to traverse the lakes. Built to break speed records, the 300-foot freighter dubbed “the inland greyhound” by newspapers was supposed to be one of the safest ships afloat. Owner Peter Minch was so proud of her that he brought his wife and young children aboard for a summer joyride in August 1892.
As the ship entered Lake Superior’s Whitefish Bay between Michigan and Canada on Aug. 30, a gale came up. With no cargo, the ship was floating high in the water. The storm battered it until it cracked in half. Twenty-seven people perished, including the Minch family. The only survivor was wheelsman Harry W. Stewart, who swam a mile to shore after his lifeboat capsized.
For almost 132 years, the lake hid the wreckage. In July, explorers from the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society pinpointed the Western Reserve off Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
The society announced the discovery Saturday at the annual Ghost Ships Festival in Manitowoc, Wisconsin.
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