Graveyard of the Deep

The Straits of Mackinac have claimed many ships blown off course onto dangerous shoals outside narrow shipping lanes, and fog, swift currents, and crushing winter ice also have taken their toll. In 1983 the Straits were designated a Michigan Bottomland Preserve to protect shipwrecks as historical and recreational resources. The Griffin, the first ship on the Upper Great Lakes, disappeared on its maiden voyage in 1679. Since then the Lakes have swallowed over 10,000 vessels. Early wooden ships were often lost to on-board fires, and many others were destroyed by the Lakes’ large storm waves, so sharp and closely spaced that a ship may not recover from one before another strikes. The Steamer Minneapolis collided with an ice floe on April 4, 1894, and sank just west of the south tower of the Mackinac Bridge, though the crew escaped harm. The Cedarville, one of the more recent Straits wrecks and a popular target for divers, sank in 1965 after colliding with a Norwegian freighter in dense fog, claiming 10 lives; almost 600 feet long, she lies on her side 100 feet down.

Mackinaw City, Michigan · United States