Graveyard of the Great Lakes

The Graveyard of the Great Lakes comprises the southern shore of Lake Superior between Grand Marais, Michigan, and Whitefish Point, though Grand Island has been mentioned as a western terminus.^[1] More ships have wrecked in this area than any other part of Lake Superior.^[2][3][4]

Sign, Graveyard of the Great Lakes, Whitefish Point.

Over 200 wrecks are in the area of Whitefish Point of the 550 wrecks in Lake Superior. For a distance west of Whitefish Bay, there are no natural harbors in which ships can "ride out" storms.^[5] Also, as late as the 20th century, weather prediction was "a haphazard process, very imprecise and unreliable."^[6] A ship might have no idea of the weather into which it was sailing, or the weather coming at it.

These shipwrecks are now protected by the Whitefish Point Underwater Preserve.

History

See also: Great Storms of the North American Great Lakes and Whitefish Point Underwater Preserve

After the St. Lawrence Seaway was constructed, all inter-lake traffic on Lake Superior went at least near Whitefish Point.

Storms that claimed multiple ships include the Mataafa Storm in November 1905 and the Great Lakes Storm of 1913.

Due to the cold and fresh water, wrecks are often in quite good condition even after centuries underwater.^[5]

A documentary has been made, about the Graveyard of the Great Lakes,^[7] as had a piece on Apple TV.^[8]

A few shipwrecks in the Graveyard of the Great Lakes

Bell from the SS Edmund Fitzgerald, now on display in the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum

• 129
• Independence
• Lambton
• Miztec
• John M. Osborn
• SS Comet
• SS Cyprus
• SS D.M. Clemson
• SS Edmund Fitzgerald was the largest ship to ever wreck on the Great Lakes^[9]
• SS Indiana
• SS John B. Cowle
• SS John Mitchell
• SS M.M. Drake
• SS Myron
• SS Vienna
• SS Western Reserve

Another such place is known as "Shipwreck Alley," which is a 448-square-mile (1,160 km²) area of the Lake Huron shoreline that holds an estimated 200 shipwrecks.

See also

• Amboy and George Spencer Shipwreck Sites
• Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum
• Lake-effect snow
• List of storms on the Great Lakes
• Munising, Michigan
• Soo Locks
• Vermilion Point
• Whitefish Bay
• Whitefish Point Light Station
• Whitefish Point Underwater Preserve