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He Went Out to Catch Fish in Lake Michigan—and Discovered a 102-Year-Old Shipwreck Instead
Cool Finds
He Went Out to Catch Fish in Lake Michigan—and Discovered a 102-Year-Old Shipwreck Instead
Angler Christopher Thuss stumbled upon the scuttled tugboat “J.C. Ames,” which was located just nine feet below the surface off the coast of Manitowoc, Wisconsin
The wreckage is submerged under nine feet of water in Lake Michigan.
Wisconsin Historical Society
On a typical Tuesday evening, Christopher Thuss was fishing on Lake Michigan off the coast of Manitowoc, Wisconsin, when something strange popped up on his sonar screen.
It turned out to be a 102-year-old shipwreck.
“I didn't know exactly what I was looking at at first,” Thuss tells WGBA-TV’s Preston Stober. “I turned overthat direction and the whole ship was right there.”
On May 13, Thuss inadvertently discovered the J.C. Ames, a 160-foot tugboat that had been scuttled—purposefully sank—in 1923. It’s situated just nine feet below the water’s surface, according to an announcement from the Wisconsin Historical Society.
Tamara Thomsen, a maritime archaeologist with the Wisconsin Historical Society, and Brendon Baillod, president of the Wisconsin Underwater Archaeology Association, worked together to confirm the vessel’s identity.
“These kinds of discoveries are always so exciting because it allows a piece of lost history to resurface,” Thomsen says in the announcement. “It sat there for over a hundred years and then came back on our radar completely by chance.”
The ship was built in 1881 for the lumber trade and was originally named the J.C. Perrett.
Wisconsin Historical Society
Since it’s mostly devoid of quagga mussels—an invasive, bivalve mollusk known to attach itself to sunken artifacts—historians think it was only recently exposed, reports Todd Richmond of the Associated Press. Storms that swept through the area over the winter may have disturbed the sand enough to reveal the wreckage.
For Thuss, the discovery was extra special because of his family legacy. His step-grandmother was nicknamed “Shipwreck Suzze” because she discovered so many shipwrecks, including three in three days in 2015. After he found the J.C. Ames, Thuss’s first phone call was to his father, who relayed the news to “Shipwreck Suzze” herself.
“It's pretty unique that I am the first person to lay eyes on this boat since it was last seen,” Thuss tells the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Caitlin Looby.
The ship was built in Manitowoc in 1881 by the Rand & Burger shipbuilding company. Initially named the J.C. Perrett, the vessel cost to build which would be more than million today, as the Wisconsin Historical Society notes.
According to the 1990 book Green Bay Workhorses: The Nau Tug Line, the vessel was “one of the largest and most powerful tugs on the lakes, developed 670 horsepower with her fore-and-aft compound engine,” per the historical society.
The vessel was initially used for the lumber trade, and it could haul as many as five barges to port, according to the Wisconsin Shipwrecks database. In 1889, the steambarge M.T. Greene crashed into the tugboat in the Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal, causing extensive damage. But the tugboat was repaired and it was sold to the Lake Michigan Car Ferry Transportation Company in 1895. The firm used the vessel to haul two railroad barges between Chicago and Peshtigo, Wisconsin.
The tugboat got new boilers and was renamed the J.C. Ames in 1896. In 1908, it was purchased by the Nau Tug Line, which used it to haul barges full of pulpwood from ports on Lake Superior to Green Bay. The ship changed hands again in 1918 when it was sold to the Newaygo Tug Line of Appleton, Wisconsin.
Eventually, however, the vessel fell into disrepair and was scrapped.
“was dismantled at Manitowoc with its engine/boiler removed, towed outside the harbor, burned and abandoned in 1923,” Thomsen tells Fox News Digital’s Andrea Margolis. “Abandoning ships that had outlived their use was how it was done back in the day.”
Burning ships like the J.C. Ames was a form of entertainment for residents living along the Great Lakes, Thomsen adds.
Historians think that more than a dozen ships were scuttled in the same area as the J.C. Ames, though only a handful have been discovered.
“We only find them when they are uncovered by storms if someone sees them before they are covered again—it needs to be perfect timing,” Thomsen tells Fox News Digital.
The vessel changed hands several times before it was eventually scuttled in 1923.
Wisconsin Historical Society
Today, the J.C. Ames is located within the bounds of the Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary. Established in 2021 and managed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the state of Wisconsin, the marine sanctuary protects 36 known shipwrecks.
It’s also protected by state and federal laws, which prohibit divers from removing, defacing or destroying underwater artifacts and structures. Maritime archaeologists also want to get the J.C. Ames listed on the State Register of Historic Places.
“Due to the wreck’s unique position in Lake Michigan, it has the potential to become a popular destination for kayaking and snorkelers,” according to the announcement.
Archaeologists say the J.C. Ames is unusual because of its large size. Tugboats from the period are typically 50 to 100 feet long, per WGBA-TV.
“We don’t have any other versions of tugboats that are quite this big,” Caitlin Zant, research coordinator for the marine sanctuary, tells the publication.
Historians are looking forward to learning even more about the vessel, she adds.
“We can understand how it was constructed, why it was built as big as it was, and tell that story,” Zant says.
Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.
#went #out #catch #fish #lake
He Went Out to Catch Fish in Lake Michigan—and Discovered a 102-Year-Old Shipwreck Instead
Cool Finds
He Went Out to Catch Fish in Lake Michigan—and Discovered a 102-Year-Old Shipwreck Instead
Angler Christopher Thuss stumbled upon the scuttled tugboat “J.C. Ames,” which was located just nine feet below the surface off the coast of Manitowoc, Wisconsin
The wreckage is submerged under nine feet of water in Lake Michigan.
Wisconsin Historical Society
On a typical Tuesday evening, Christopher Thuss was fishing on Lake Michigan off the coast of Manitowoc, Wisconsin, when something strange popped up on his sonar screen.
It turned out to be a 102-year-old shipwreck.
“I didn't know exactly what I was looking at at first,” Thuss tells WGBA-TV’s Preston Stober. “I turned overthat direction and the whole ship was right there.”
On May 13, Thuss inadvertently discovered the J.C. Ames, a 160-foot tugboat that had been scuttled—purposefully sank—in 1923. It’s situated just nine feet below the water’s surface, according to an announcement from the Wisconsin Historical Society.
Tamara Thomsen, a maritime archaeologist with the Wisconsin Historical Society, and Brendon Baillod, president of the Wisconsin Underwater Archaeology Association, worked together to confirm the vessel’s identity.
“These kinds of discoveries are always so exciting because it allows a piece of lost history to resurface,” Thomsen says in the announcement. “It sat there for over a hundred years and then came back on our radar completely by chance.”
The ship was built in 1881 for the lumber trade and was originally named the J.C. Perrett.
Wisconsin Historical Society
Since it’s mostly devoid of quagga mussels—an invasive, bivalve mollusk known to attach itself to sunken artifacts—historians think it was only recently exposed, reports Todd Richmond of the Associated Press. Storms that swept through the area over the winter may have disturbed the sand enough to reveal the wreckage.
For Thuss, the discovery was extra special because of his family legacy. His step-grandmother was nicknamed “Shipwreck Suzze” because she discovered so many shipwrecks, including three in three days in 2015. After he found the J.C. Ames, Thuss’s first phone call was to his father, who relayed the news to “Shipwreck Suzze” herself.
“It's pretty unique that I am the first person to lay eyes on this boat since it was last seen,” Thuss tells the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Caitlin Looby.
The ship was built in Manitowoc in 1881 by the Rand & Burger shipbuilding company. Initially named the J.C. Perrett, the vessel cost to build which would be more than million today, as the Wisconsin Historical Society notes.
According to the 1990 book Green Bay Workhorses: The Nau Tug Line, the vessel was “one of the largest and most powerful tugs on the lakes, developed 670 horsepower with her fore-and-aft compound engine,” per the historical society.
The vessel was initially used for the lumber trade, and it could haul as many as five barges to port, according to the Wisconsin Shipwrecks database. In 1889, the steambarge M.T. Greene crashed into the tugboat in the Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal, causing extensive damage. But the tugboat was repaired and it was sold to the Lake Michigan Car Ferry Transportation Company in 1895. The firm used the vessel to haul two railroad barges between Chicago and Peshtigo, Wisconsin.
The tugboat got new boilers and was renamed the J.C. Ames in 1896. In 1908, it was purchased by the Nau Tug Line, which used it to haul barges full of pulpwood from ports on Lake Superior to Green Bay. The ship changed hands again in 1918 when it was sold to the Newaygo Tug Line of Appleton, Wisconsin.
Eventually, however, the vessel fell into disrepair and was scrapped.
“was dismantled at Manitowoc with its engine/boiler removed, towed outside the harbor, burned and abandoned in 1923,” Thomsen tells Fox News Digital’s Andrea Margolis. “Abandoning ships that had outlived their use was how it was done back in the day.”
Burning ships like the J.C. Ames was a form of entertainment for residents living along the Great Lakes, Thomsen adds.
Historians think that more than a dozen ships were scuttled in the same area as the J.C. Ames, though only a handful have been discovered.
“We only find them when they are uncovered by storms if someone sees them before they are covered again—it needs to be perfect timing,” Thomsen tells Fox News Digital.
The vessel changed hands several times before it was eventually scuttled in 1923.
Wisconsin Historical Society
Today, the J.C. Ames is located within the bounds of the Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary. Established in 2021 and managed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the state of Wisconsin, the marine sanctuary protects 36 known shipwrecks.
It’s also protected by state and federal laws, which prohibit divers from removing, defacing or destroying underwater artifacts and structures. Maritime archaeologists also want to get the J.C. Ames listed on the State Register of Historic Places.
“Due to the wreck’s unique position in Lake Michigan, it has the potential to become a popular destination for kayaking and snorkelers,” according to the announcement.
Archaeologists say the J.C. Ames is unusual because of its large size. Tugboats from the period are typically 50 to 100 feet long, per WGBA-TV.
“We don’t have any other versions of tugboats that are quite this big,” Caitlin Zant, research coordinator for the marine sanctuary, tells the publication.
Historians are looking forward to learning even more about the vessel, she adds.
“We can understand how it was constructed, why it was built as big as it was, and tell that story,” Zant says.
Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.
#went #out #catch #fish #lake
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