...A blog about some of the things to SCUBA dive on in the St. Clair River and Flats.
-Ray Grant

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What's New:

Restoring old website to a "Blog".  Work is in progress starting 2/25/2012.

Sorry most of the links are non-functional until I copy more content over.

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120' Steamer - Middle Channel

This wreck is laying near the dropoff on the Dickinson Island side of the Middle Channel, south of the no-wake zone. The bow is pointing up current, and the wreck is listing at a 45' angle to starboard. The deck has sheared off from the hull, and slid to starboard a few feet, mostly at the bow. This gives the sonar image its "scissor" shape, as if it were seeing double at one end. There is some machinery and hardware on the wreck. The wreck is in 25 feet of water, and stands 20 feet tall to a least depth of 5 feet. If the water is clear, you might be able to see something by looking down over the side of the boat. Sometimes there are ripples in the water above the wreck. There is a small clearing in the weeds near by, that can be used for anchoring a small boat in order to shore-dive it.

photos:

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BADGER STATE

Left: Detroit Free Press, May 20, 1905
Right: Port Huron Daily Times, Dec 7, 1909
The BADGER STATE was built in 1862 as a passenger/freight steamer, which ran between New York and Wisconsin, along with its sister ship, the EMPIRE STATE. In 1905, it was converted into a floating casino and pleasure palace, when the city of Detroit put the lid on 'pool halls', and anchored off Peche Island, in Canadian waters, outside the city's jurisdiction. The operation was quickly shut down and I am not sure if any gambling actually took place on the ship.

In 1906, the ship was converted into a lumber-hooker. In 1909, it caught on fire while tied up at the dock in Marine City, and was cut loose and allowed to drift downstream until it burned itself out. It ran aground on Harsens Island in the sharp bend of the North Channel opposite Algonac, where it rests today.

This wreck could be shore-dived from Harsens Island, except that there is no place to park.

Before diving this wreck, first study your charts, and note the wreck's location, so that you do not hit the wreck with your boat. This wreck has been hit many times before, and broken propeller blades, outdrive and jet ski parts litter the site. Idle up slowly, and keep a sharp lookout. If the viz is good, and the water is not too high, you should be able to see the starboard side of the wreck from the surface. The shallows between the wreck and the shore are a good place to anchor, gear up, walk, and then dive toward the wreck. The BADGER STATE has a sharply-pointed bow, and it is facing East into the current. It is listing to port, with the starboard side almost touching the surface.

The giant rudder was recovered from the BADGER STATE, and put on display at the Harsens Island ferry landing. So be sure and take a trip over to Harsens Island to see it.

photos:



Click here for more Badger State dive photos

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BOTHNIA

Left: Manitoba Free Press, June 10, 1895
Right: Port Huron Times-Herald, June 26, 1912

The BOTHNIA was built as the Canadian steamer JACK. After sending the steamer NORMAN to the bottom, the JACK went in to Alpena for repairs. A U.S. Marshal went to seize the JACK, to give to the owners of the NORMAN as compensation, but the JACK's owners had other ideas. They decided to flee the American authorities, run the steamer down the St. Lawrence, and use it off-lakes. The marshal got there just in time to see the JACK steaming over the horizon. The marshal chased the JACK down Lake Huron, the St. Clair River, and into Lake St. Clair, where the JACK was compelled to cross into American waters, and where it was boarded and seized.

The JACKs new owners renamed it the BOTHNIA. It came to rest under 50 feet of the St. Clair Flats in 1912, due to another collision, not far from the place where the marshals seized it years before.

side-scan sonar images:

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GEORGE T. BURROUGHS

Detroit Free Press, June 1, 1905

The steamer GEORGE T. BURROUGHS burned at the Great Chicago Fire, and was rebuilt into a sand dredge. In 1905, the steamer C.F. BIELMAN did what the Great Chicago Fire could not do -- Send the BURROUGHS to the bottom, and make it stick. The BIELMAN ran the slow-moving BURROUGHS down from behind, and then did not stop to help after the collision. A member of the BIELMAN crew could be heard shouting "Let 'em drown!" as the BIELMAN steamed away. The machinery was removed from the wreck of the BURROUGHS, and the hull was dynamited.

side-scan sonar image:

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WILLIAM DICKINSON

Detroit Free Press, Sep. 9, 1923

This is a tugboat that burned at the Salt Dock in 1923. The wreck is just down from the Tag-a-Long trailer park, south of the Marine City DNR boat launch. There is a lot of machinery here, including a giant boiler laying on its side.

The WILLIAM DICKINSON searched Lake Michigan for the ill-fated CHICORA in February 1895. In August 1904, the DICKINSON was involved in an incident in Chicago where a car fell off the Rush Street drawbridge which had opened to allow the tug to pass. The DICKINSON turned around and plucked most of the car's occupants out of the Chicago River.

I wonder if the car is still down there...

photos:

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ERIN

Atlanta Constitution, June 1, 1906
The steamer ERIN was sunk in 1906, by collision with the steamer COWLE. The ship was nearly cut in two, and sank immediately in the exact middle of the river. Half the wreck is in American waters, and the other half is in Canadian waters. Several of the crew were killed, and the sinking made national news. Stories of the ERIN sinking can be found in many old newspapers across the country.

side-scan sonar images:

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JAMES FISK, JR.

Toledo Blade, Nov 15, 1906
James Fisk and Jay Gould were corporate raiders that are best known for perpetrating "Black Friday" by cornering the gold market, and also for their strong ties to corrupt politician Boss Tweed. They seized control of the Erie Railroad from Cornelius Vanderbilt. While they were in control of the railroad, they had two propellers commissioned, named after themselves, that would carry passengers and freight on the Great Lakes. This was in addition to a pair of sidewheel passenger ferries that operated in New York harbor, also named for themselves. Each ferry had a portrait of its namesake in the grand salon, and Fisk and Gould would only ride on the ferry that wasn't named after himself, to avoid being recognized by the masses.

The Great Lakes propeller JAMES FISK, JR. was converted to a lumber-hooker in 1901. It burned to the waterline and sunk in the St. Clair Flats in 1906. Witnesses at Harsens Island said that the burning ship made a "splendid spectacle", as it steamed past them on fire.

Coincidentally, in 1901, the FISK was sunk in Lake St. Clair by collision, while towing the barge H.C. SPRAGUE. Both vessels were recovered from this mishap. The SPRAGUE was later re-named NELLIE LYON, and today both vessels are permanent fixtures in the Flats, due to fires.

Its sister ship, the JAY GOULD, is sunk in Lake Erie.

side-scan sonar image:

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JOHN A. FRANCOMB and the DASHING WAVE

There are 2 schooner-barges by the Marine City DNR launch ramp, that make for a nice, easy shore dive. They are the JOHN A. FRANCOMB and the DASHING WAVE, towed here and abandoned.

A small part of the wrecks are emergent, and plainly visible from shore when the water is low. The hull and deck of the FRANCOMB are somewhat intact, and it is lying on the edge of the dropoff, bow pointed north (up current), and listing to starboard. It has a steam powered winch on the starboard bow in about 10 feet of water, with a donkey boiler and a small 2-cylinder steam engine, and some other machinery. The boiler is 3'9'' diameter, and 6'6''+ long. One end of the boiler is missing, with fire tubes visible inside, and the engine is broken, probably by ice. The firebox door is laying on the bottom off the starboard side in deeper water. There is another piece of machinery laying off the stern of the boat, possibly the smoke stack for the donkey boiler.

There is a great photo of the FRANCOMB on the Thunder Bay vessel database (greatlakesships.org), showing the FRANCOMB abandoned where it sits today. You can see a little bit of the DASHING WAVE behind it.

The DASHING WAVE is entirely up in the shallows, and is a less interesting dive.

This is an active boat ramp, so it would be best not to dive here when there are a lot of boaters out.

photos:


You-Tube Movie:

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GLENIFFER

Schooner-barge, sunk and dynamited in 1902. It was deep enough that it was only necessary to blast off the upperworks.

side-scan sonar image:

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HARLOW

This is the hull of the sand dredge HARLOW, built in 1891 as the steam barge PRESTON, official no. 150357. The PRESTON ran hard aground on Harsens Island in 1896, and had to be pulled off by the BROCKWAY. Five years later, on June 29, 1901, the PRESTON took on water and nearly sunk on Lake Superior. Most of the crew was rescued by using a rocket line to escape to the passenger steamer ATHABASCA, but one crewmember did not make it, and was drowned. The cargo of lumber prevented the boat from sinking completely, and it was recovered, and repaired. After the sinking, the captain and owner, William Jenks Harlow, renamed his boat HARLOW, after himself. In 1913, it was converted into a self-unloader sandsucker. It was scrapped in 1926, but the hull was towed here and sunk by a local man named Mr. Sears to create a break wall for his property, not far from the spot where it ran aground 30 years before. Some of the islands and cuts in the area were named for the Sears family. The wreck is located on the edge of the Middle Channel, behind the green #13 buoy, by the Chene Highway. When the water is low, the wreck is emergent, and easy to spot if you are looking for it. If diving off of a small boat, it is easiest to anchor in the shallows behind the wreck. It has a big 4-bladed propeller, with one blade broken off.

photos:

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HERCULES

The HERCULES was the 2nd propeller to ply the Great Lakes. It was later converted into a schooner-barge, and then sunk by collision in 1881.

side-scan sonar image:

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H. HOUGHTEN

Port Huron Daily Times, Sep 22, 1926
The H. HOUGHTEN sunk while tied up at the dock in Detroit, drowning some of the crew as they slept in their bunks. The ship was salvaged, and converted into a sandsucker. A large crane was added to the bow.

Riparian landlords owned to the middle of the river, and the sand company was supposed to pay the riparians for any sand that they took off their property. The captain and crew of the "Hungry Houghten", as it became known, had other ideas. They would slowly drift down river, and covertly take a little sand off the bottom of everybody's property, until they had a full load, and they would not pay a dime to anyone.

The H. HOUGHTEN burned in the Snybora channel in 1926. It is the smaller (northern-most) of two wrecks sunk beside each other, seen in the sonar image below. There is a lot of machinery on each wreck.

There is a model of the H. HOUGHTEN on display at the Dossin Museum, on Belle Island, Detroit, MI. The museum has so many models that they rotate them out periodically, so it may or may not be there on any particular day. They used to sell plans for building models of the H. HOUGHTEN, so there are other models out there, too. Another H. HOUGHTEN model was at the big HO-scale train set at the Chattanooga Choo-Choo in Tennessee, but I don't know if it's still there or not.

photos:

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MARYSVILLE

160-foot wood steamer, burned and sunk at its dock by the mouth of the Belle River in 1928.



Click here for more MARYSVILLE dive photos

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N. MILLS

Toledo Blade, Sep. 7, 1906
The N. MILLS collided head-on with a steel ship just south of St. Clair. The bow was crushed, and the steamer MILLS went straight to the bottom. Two on board the MILLS were killed, including the wife of the engineer, after she would not jump into the river.

side-scan sonar image:

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NELLIE LYON

Duluth Evening Herald, May 19, 1906
Built as the schooner-barge H.C. SPRAGUE in 1880, had a 1-cylinder steam engine added in 1906 and renamed RELIANCE. It sunk in the St. Clair Flats, but was sold Canadian, raised, and renamed NELLIE LYON, after the new owners 12-year old neice. After just 1 year on the job, it caught fire in Algonac and drifted down to where it is today, parked sideways across the North Channel off Colony Dr.

There is a scotch boiler with a conspicuously tall steam dome and the bottom part of a smokestack. If you look down the smokestack you will see the exhaust nozzle sticking in from the port side of it. There is a firebox, with 2 fire doors. The starboard fire door can be opened and closed. The port door is stuck closed. Above the firebox there is a large opening and you can see the ends of the fire tubes there. In the top front of the boiler, there is a manway. And there is a big single-cylinder steam engine standing tall right behind the boiler. There are places where you can get in under the deck. The very end of the stern is broken off of the ship, lying on the bottom. The top half of the propeller and rudder are visible just ahead of the broken stern section. Discovered in 2005 by the US FWS and the USGS, while searching for lake sturgeon habitat.


photos:

Click here for more Nellie Lyon photos.

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Old Channel Lake Bank Wrecks

The chart shows 4 wrecks that the local fishermen call the 'Old Channel Lake Bank Wrecks' and also sometimes the 'Twins'. I've only seen one wreck here, so far.

side-scan sonar image:


You-Tube Movie:

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Old Club Yacht

This is a 48 foot motor yacht, built in the 1920's, that burned to the waterline and sank in the St. Clair Flats. It has twin engines that are mounted side-by-side, but they are pretty far forward, 15'-19' aft of the bow. It has long drive shafts and exhaust pipes that extend rearward, and although it is a twin-screw, it has only a single rudder. There is some brass hardware on this wreck.

photos:


Click here for more Old Club Yacht dive photos.

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P-39 Airacobra

The News-Palladium (Benton Harbor, MI), Dec. 13, 1943
This is the wreckage of a P-39 Airacobra that crashed near Harsens Island on December 12, 1943. The engine caught on fire and the plane fell from 5000 feet, exploding on impact with the water. The pilot was Nathaniel Rayburg, a Tuskegee Airman, at Selfridge Field for advanced fighter training. He was also a well-known golfer and sports writer. There is still a significant amount of debris on the river bottom at the crash site.

photos:


Click here for more P-39 Airacobra dive photos.

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Marine City Rum Runner

This is a sunken boat near the Holy Cross church in Marine City, which is supposed to be a rum runner. There is not much left of this wreck. There is an engine and a few scraps of wood that are visible, but there is probably more wood buried in the river bottom. I would describe the engine as "automobile sized", and it has a flat head (no overhead valves). It's been picked over and covered in zebra mussels.

There are plenty of newspaper accounts of rum running activities in and around Marine City, including the March 1929 shooting and killing of a U.S. Border Patrol officer stationed in Marine City, by a Canadian rum runner and a 19-year-old accomplice from Marine City. Also in June 1929 there were seven captured rum runner boats that were towed to Marine City, final disposition unknown at this time, but there are accounts from down river of captured rum runner boats that were set on fire and pushed out into the river to burn and sink as standard procedure, in order to prevent them from being used as rum runners again in the future. Could this wreck be one of the seven boats? Or another one that met a similar fate?

Wikipedia claims that 75% of all the prohibition alcohol in the United States was smuggled across Lake St. Clair and its two connecting rivers.

You-Tube Movie:

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Sans Souci

The Sans Souci Bar and Tashmoo Marina dock are good places to shore-dive during the cold season. Many old bottles and other items of interest have been found here.

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TAMPA

The TAMPA was a 292-foot wood steamer, built in Bay City in 1890, and was sunk by collision in 1912. It was raised in 1914 and towed to Marine City, but nothing was done to repair it, and it eventually sunk at its dock. It was painted up as a sort of billboard for a while, and may have been scrapped by burning in 1923.



Click here for more TAMPA dive photos

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TOKIO

In 1889, Capt. James Davidson built a 4-masted schooner, hull #23, official no. 145507. The length was 222 feet and 2 inches. The beam was 38 feet wide. The depth of the hold was either 16 or 19 feet(?). Tonnage was 1385.49g 1316.22n. It had 6 hatches 11’x28’ on 24’ centers. Capt. Davidson did not like to name his vessels after people, and named most of them after far-away places instead. He named hull #23 the TOKIO, an early spelling of the city of Tokyo, Japan. The TOKIO was later owned by Menominee Transportation Co. of Milwaukee, N.S. Whipple of Detroit, Henry Wineman, Jr. of Detroit, and the last owner was Pringle Barge Line of Cleveland. The TOKIO hauled iron ore on the Great Lakes for 28 years, with the following few incidents. In July of 1892, the TOKIO was being towed near Mackinaw by the R.P. FLOWER, which took on water and was run aground in a heavy sea to prevent it from sinking. The TOKIO was cut loose to fend for itself, which it did. In August 1892, the TOKIO, bound down in Lake St. Clair in tow of the steamer RALEIGH, ran aground near Grosse Point, and had to be lightered. On October 9, 1917, the TOKIO collided with the barge HOMER, and sank in the St. Clair River. The TOKIO was recovered, but was never repaired. It sat around for 2 years, then it was either scuttled or just allowed to sink near the foot of Recors Road below the Edison coal dock in East China, Michigan, in 1919. In 1940, the War Department Corps of Engineers added the wreck of the TOKIO to the nautical charts. In 1963, when the water levels were low, the wreck of the TOKIO became a hazard to navigation, and was dynamited to a least depth of 14 feet by the Corps of Engineers.

The main piece of the wreck is oriented north-south, in 19 feet of water, with a double-hull that rises to a depth of 14 feet. There is another piece of wreckage beside it with some exposed pieces of deck and knees on it that is oriented east-west with a max depth of 25 or 30 feet. That piece of wreckage is more flattened-out, but has a little bit of space under the deck that is home to many fish. A lot of the wreck is buried in the bottom. This wreck could be shore dived if you could get permission from any one of the home owners next to it. Otherwise, it is a boat dive.

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N.C. WEST

Schooner sunk by collision off Walpole Island in 1898.

side-scan sonar image:

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Acknowledgements

Thanks to... Long-time local diver Fred Dufty, my wreck hunting buddy David Bohach, all my St. Clair River diving buddies, who went out and dove some of this stuff with me: The Saterstads, Andy Morrison, Keith Johnson, Skippy, and the rest... And lets not forget the local libraries and museums.

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I have a few online tools here:
Great Lakes Diving Map - shipwreck and divesite database that anybody can contribute to.
Shipwreck search engine - scours multiple online databases
File Sharing Directory (Please do NOT upload any pirated software here!)
Dive Planner Gives an idea of how much bottom time to expect
SAC Rate Estimator Estimate your SAC rate using your max depth
GPS Format Converter Convert GPS coordinates from ddºmm'ss" to ddºmm.mmm'


Some DIY projects:
Canister Light
Tank Light
Fill Whip
Oxygen Analyzer
-more to come!

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Send feedback to jamesraygrant@hotmail.com