The World Beneath

By Joan Forsberg
Photos by Cris Kohl

An amazing amount of material history lies on the floor of Lake Michigan just off Chicago, and a group of dedicated volunteer, professional and amateur archaeologists, historians and photographers is doing everything possible to inform the world about what these items can teach us. The mission of the Underwater Archaeological Society of Chicago (UASC) is the study and preservation of the shipwrecks and other submerged cultural resources in the local waters.

At best, the mention of “Chicago shipwrecks” stirs vague recollections regarding the 1915 Eastland disaster, in which more than 800 people died in the Chicago River when that crowded excursion steamer tipped over onto its side in shallow water just a few feet offshore. It remains the worst (and most senseless) disaster in Chicago’s history, as well as the worst Great Lakes maritime disaster ever. However, that ship was recovered, repaired and returned to service, and nothing original remains at the site of this tragic shipwreck.

Because massive maritime activities occurred in Chicago during the city’s first 100 years, many vessels met unfortunate fates. The bustling harbor hosted 70 or more vessel arrivals and departures a day. Today, the sites of dozens of shipwrecks from that early era are known, albeit hidden from view beneath Lake Michigan’s waves.

The steamship Louisville is one of the oldest shipwrecks off Chicago. Built in Buffalo, New York, in 1853, this 137-foot-long wooden vessel burned and sank with the loss of one life on September 29, 1857. Its remains—notably a steam engine still sitting atop eight spindly, steel legs towering 15 feet above the bottom of the lake; an unusually shaped boiler; a four-bladed propeller; and a large mound of anchor chain at the bow—lie in 58 feet of water. In the early 1990s, members of the Underwater Archaeological Society of Chicago made an extensive survey of this shipwreck, producing a detailed line drawing of this site which became part of a series of plastic slates that scuba divers could take with them while exploring Chicago’s shipwrecks.

The 142-foot-long schooner Wings of the Wind sank with a coal cargo, though no lives were lost, after colliding with another sailing ship on May 12, 1866. The subsequent salvage of the cargo destroyed the vessel’s stern area, but the bow half remains in very good condition. Originally constructed in Buffalo in 1855, the Wings of the Wind shipwreck was surveyed, complete with a site map, by the Underwater Archaeological Society of Chicago in 1991.

One of the area’s most popular shipwreck scuba dive sites, the incredibly preserved schooner named the Wells Burt, lies in only 40 feet of water five miles northeast of Chicago. Built in Detroit in 1873, this huge, 201-foot-long, three-masted sailing ship sank in a violent storm on May 20, 1883, with the tragic loss of all 11 people onboard. The anchors, masts and most of the coal cargo were salvaged by hardhat divers not long after the sinking. Despite their removal, much of historic interest remains at this site, including the enormous wooden hull that sits embedded several feet into the clay bottom. Onboard are two capstans, a huge windlass with much anchor chain still in place, a pump, several open hatches and many large, oak deadeyes, which were used as part of the running rigging to tighten the position of the masts, lining the rails. The Underwater Archaeological Society of Chicago did a detailed survey and report of this shipwreck site in 1990. When rogue divers stole 10 of the unique and irreplaceable deadeyes in 1991, members of UASC chained the remaining deadeyes together in an attempt to deter their theft. To this day, those deadeyes, and their chains, remain on the shipwreck, while a $2,000 reward is still offered for the arrest and conviction of the person or persons who took the missing deadeyes.

A more recent shipwreck is that of the wooden steamer Rotarian, which was scuttled off Chicago in 1931 due to old age. Built in 1889 in Sandusky, Ohio, as a 147-foot-long passenger excursion ship, this vessel spent its final years tied up at a dock along the Chicago River, where it was used as a dance hall and a speakeasy that the mobster Al Capone purportedly frequented. Old Prohibition beer bottles can still be seen between the Rotarian’s wooden frames as it lies about eight miles off Chicago in 83 feet of water. The UASC is working on a survey and history of this significant shipwreck.

These are but a few of the more than 200 ships that sank off the coast of Chicago since the early 1800s, only about three dozen of which have been located to date. We are now in a “golden age” of modern shipwreck discovery and exploration here in the Great Lakes. The number of wrecks still awaiting discovery would surprise the many people who are totally unaware of the massive maritime history contained in these inland seas.

Meanwhile, the UASC is moving forward in its work of publicizing Chicago’s maritime history. Members are currently hard at work on the photography, videography, artwork and historical research that is needed to complete the survey of the railroad car ferry Barge No. 2, which was lost on September 29, 1906, and Material Service, a unique motorized barge that sank off the Calumet River with the tragic loss of 15 lives on July 29, 1936.

Not all of the UASC’s focus is on existing shipwreck sites. By purposely sinking the Holly Barge in 2000 and the 196-foot-long steel ferry The Straits of Mackinac in 2003, the UASC created two new “shipwreck” dive sites and fish habitats off Chicago. These new sites have removed the dangers of diver over-visitation of the “natural” fragile shipwrecks in the area. In fact, The Straits of Mackinac has become the most frequently visited shipwreck not only off Chicago, but in all of Lake Michigan.

UASC members are presently assisting the “Buccaneer Project” in its endeavors to create another scuba attraction off Chicago. The Buccaneer, a Chicago passenger excursion ship from 1961 until 2002, was originally launched as The Dexter in 1925 at Bay City, Michigan, as a Coast Guard ship used to chase rumrunners during Prohibition. Its illustrious history includes sinking a Canadian rumrunning schooner in international waters in 1929 (an event that led to years of litigation) and helping chase down U-boats along the Atlantic coast during World War II. The hope is to turn this historic vessel into an underwater attraction off Chicago rather than have it disappear entirely by being scrapped for its steel hull.

Because Chicago, the largest city on the Great Lakes, owes its existence to ships and sailors, it is a glaring oversight that it has no maritime museum to share this significant part of its history with residents and visitors alike. Other cities on the Great Lakes, such as Detroit, and much smaller places, like Manitowoc and Sturgeon Bay in Wisconsin and South Haven and Whitefish Point in Michigan, all have proudly produced enticing maritime museums displaying their community’s involvement in the Great Lakes. The continuing work of organizations such as the Underwater Archaeological Society of Chicago and the Chicago Maritime Society, to name only two, are part of the effort to correct this oversight in Chicago.

uaschicago.org // (630) 293-4020


Joan Forsberg, author and Great Lakes maritime historian, is president of the Underwater Archaeological Society of Chicago. Her husband, Cris Kohl, author and prize-winning shipwreck photographer, is a past president of the UASC.