The Great Lakes were a massive graveyard for ships lost at sea for centuries. Sailboats have slipped into storms, never to be seen again. Steamers have rocked in the waves. Even massive freighters have sunk to the sea floor.
Although shipwrecks may seem like part of the Great Lakes’ past, advancing technology is helping researchers understand the weather patterns that have made so many voyages fatal. Technology is also helping scientists find sunken vessels that were once thought to be lost forever.
Great Loss in the Great Lakes
There isn’t an official number as to how many ships have sunk in the Great Lakes, but most estimates range between 6,000 and 10,000 lost ships, according to Carrie Sowden, the archaeological and research director for the National Museum of the Great Lakes in Toledo.
Wreckage rates, however, vary from one lake to the next. Lake Michigan has the most wrecks, but Lake Erie has the highest density. Although Lake Superior is the deepest, Sowden says it has fewer wrecks than the other lakes. “It has the least amount of traffic,” Sowden says.
