Marine experts recently recovered a long-lost shipwreck in Lake Michigan, more than 130 years after it sank.
The Wisconsin Historical Society (WHS) announced on Facebook last month that it had exhumed John Evenson from his watery grave. The tug was built in 1884 and sank just 11 years later, during a tragic voyage in June 1895. Brendon Baillod and Robert Jaeck, two maritime historians, used newspaper accounts from the time of the ship's sinking along with sonar imaging to locate the ship. John Evenson is 42 feet below the lake surface.
“The ship was not a cargo ship, it was actually a tugboat,” said maritime archaeologist Tamara Thomsen. Fox News Digital. “It may have been used to tow ships into Sturgeon Bay, break ice, or assist stranded ships.”
Wisconsin Historical Society
Wisconsin Historical Society
Ironically, John Evenson was often used to locate and transport wrecked ships. On the day it sank, the tugboat had just undergone some routine repairs when its captain, wanting to earn income, put the ship back into service.
WHS described that fateful day: “They waited outside the Sturgeon Bay Ship channel for the next ship that needed to be towed into the channel.” “The steam barge I. Watson Stephenson signaled for the tug with two barges in tow. John Evenson ran towards the ship and passed Stephenson's bow trying to get the line. Stephenson was going fast and hit the ship. Evenson's stern shook the tug along its bow, making it He was turning it upside down.”
John Evenson sank in just three minutes. Four of the five crew members on board managed to escape, but one lost his life. Although the ship would remain lost for more than a century, its remains “were washed ashore about a month later.”
An attempt was made to locate John Evenson, but like most things in life this was canceled for insurance reasons. The tugboat's owners “delivered the ship as a total loss and had already received the insurance payment.” If they remove the boat and revitalize it for future use, “insurance underwriters may claim title.” As a result, 130 years later, the exhumation was left to Baillod and Jaeck.