Long lost ship sunk in storm 130 years ago found untouched at bottom of lake

22 October 2023 , 08:12

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The shipwreck of the Africa was discovered at the bottom of Lake Huron (Image: Credit: Inspired Planet via Pen News)

A ship that went missing in a storm 128 years ago has been found in a nearly pristine condition at the bottom of a lake.

The amazing discovery was made by two filmmakers while they were shooting a documentary about quagga mussels, an invasive species that has been covering shipwrecks and downed planes at the bottom of the Great Lakes in North America. The mussels, with voracious appetites, have left historians desperate as they fear that future studies of the sites could be at risks if the shipwrecks are destroyed.

Now, filmmakers Yvonne Drebert and Zach Melnick discovered the shipwreck of Africa, a steamship hauling coal from Ohio to Ontario, which disappeared in the waters of Lake Huron during a snowstorm in October 1895. According to reports, the severe weather conditions and fog blinded the 11 crew members of the ship, built in 1873, which disappeared and was never found - until now.

The ship vanished with her entire crew on a stormy night nearly 130 years ago (Credit: Inspired Planet via Pen News)

Ms Drebert said she was filming with Mr Melnick on a rough day and had to call it a day due to heavy winds. But the pair felt the underwater drone they were using had detected more than a pile of rocks in a certain point, so they sent their robotic camera down about 280ft (85m) to investigate.

She told FOX Weather: "So we see lots of the mussels, and that's what we normally see down there. But then we started to see this shadow in the distance, and we're like, ‘What? What is that?"

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As they got closer to try and understand what was lying at the bottom of the lake, Ms Drebert and Mr Melnick were astonished - they had found the majestic shipwreck which was in a good condition, despite being covered by quagga mussels. Ms Drebert said: "And so we got closer and closer, and the ship just sort of appeared out of the mists of time, and it was really pretty incredible.

Despite being covered in quagga mussels, the shipwreck was in a pristine condition (Credit: Inspired Planet via Pen News)

"It got more and more definition as we got closer and closer, and all of a sudden, we could see, ‘Wow! This is a steamship, a wooden steamship.' So this is old, and it is incredibly well intact." Mr Melnick said they were able to discover the shipwreck in deep water without any additional lights thanks to the quaggas - even though Ms Drebert pointed out that the invasive species are now making wreck identification in the Great Lakes "incredibly difficult".

To identify the ship, the filmmakers asked historian Patrick Folkers and marine archaeologist Scarlett Janunas for help. One clue that it could be the Africa was its size - the wreck is 148ft (45.4m) long, 26ft (7.9m) wide and 12.5ft (3.8m) high.

The shipwreck has been found 128 years later (Credit: Inspired Planet via Pen News)

In their documentary All Too Clear, which is coming out in early 2024, Ms Drebert and Mr Melnick explore the effects of the invasive species on the world's largest freshwater system. Last month, we reported how archeologists and amateur historians said they were in a race against time to find as many sites as they could before the region - touching eight US states and the Canadian province of Ontario - loses any physical trace of its centuries-long maritime history.

Wisconsin state maritime archaeologist Tamara Thomsen said "every shipwreck" is now covered with quagga mussels, finger-sized molluscs with voracious appetites, in the lower Great Lakes. She added: "Everything. If you drain the lakes, you'll get a bowl of quagga mussels."

Filmmakers Yvonne Drebert and Zach Melnick made the amazing discovery (Credit: Inspired Planet via Pen News)

Hans Larsen, captain of the Africa, with his wife Jane (Credit: Inspired Planet via Pen News)

The mussels burrow into wooden vessels, building upon themselves in layers so thick they will eventually crush walls and decks. They also produce acid that can corrode steel and iron ships. So far, no one has found a viable way to stop them.

Due to this issue, Wayne Lusardi, Michigan's state maritime archaeologist, is pushing to raise more pieces of a World War II plane flown by a Tuskegee airman which crashed in Lake Huron in 1944. "Divers started discovering (planes) in the 1960s and 1970s," he said. "Some were so preserved they could fly again. (Now) when they're removed the planes look like Swiss cheese. (Quaggas are) literally burning holes in them."

Chiara Fiorillo