“Time Capsule”: an old sunken schooner was found in an American lake

A 19th-century shipwreck has been discovered in Lake Michigan. After a successful sonar search, the well-preserved schooner Trinidad was found. The find has been compared to a “time capsule”.

A long wreck was found in Lake Michigan dating back to the late nineteenth century, writes The Guardian.

The Wisconsin Historical Society (WHS) announced that “shipwreck hunters” and historians Brandon Baylod and Bob Jack found the wreck of the Trinidad schooner 270 feet (82 meters) deep off Algoma, Wisconsin, earlier this year.

The Trinidad, which WHS called a “significant shipwreck,” was discovered by Brandon Baylod and Bob Jack in mid-July after a two-year search with side-scan sonar, Baylod’s article in Shipwreck World says.

According to the Wisconsin Historical Society, a schooner – the term, The Guardian explains, is used to describe a sailing vessel with two or more masts – was built in 1867 on Grand Island, New York, to trade grain on the Great Lakes between Milwaukee, Chicago, Buffalo and Oswego. She was transporting coal or iron from New York and returning from the Midwest with grain.

“The Trinidad was a canal schooner, or canal schooner, specially built to pass through the Welland Canal, which connected Lake Erie and Ontario,” according to WHS.

WHS said Trinidad’s career was short-lived as her owners did not invest in the ship’s maintenance. The Historical Society report added that the hull was full of holes and that its captain was nearly killed by a block that had fallen from the dilapidated rigging.

The Trinidad departed on her last voyage on May 11, 1881, from Port Huron to Chicago with a cargo of coal. At some point, the ship began to fill with water. According to WHS, since the leak “was not a rare occurrence,” the Trinidad continued on its way until it “suddenly and violently listed and began to sink.”

The captain and crew of the vessel escaped and made it to shore, according to WHS. The only loss was the ship’s living mascot, a Newfoundland dog, who was sleeping next to the stove when the schooner began to sink.

In Brandon Baylod’s article for Shipwreck World, he wrote that he first became interested in the Trinidad almost 20 years ago when he was building a database of all known ships that had been lost in Wisconsin waters.

According to Baylod, the Trinidad “fitted all the criteria” as a candidate for discovery, as its crew provided detailed descriptions of where it sank. Speaking to the Green Bay Press Gazette, Baylod said: “Few, if any, were looking for it, and we had a 5-by-5-mile base where we thought the ship was supposed to be.”

Baylod and Jack went on to work on the development of a towfish that allowed them to use a low-frequency fish finder below the surface. They then created a 3D map of the lake floor, which was nearly a third of a mile wide at each pass, Baylod explained in the article.

When the couple saw the first image of the wreck, it looked like little more than a “fuzzy blur”. They then turned back for a re-entry at slower speed and higher resolution and were able to clearly see the wreck, which was “surprisingly intact” as the deckhouse was still in place.

The shipwreck also contained the belongings of the crew, crockery, anchors, a bell and other artifacts. “This is one of the most intact wrecks ever found in Wisconsin waters… This is a very important find, it’s like a time capsule,” he said.