Shipwreck hunters stunned by discovery at bottom of world’s largest freshwater lake

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Shipwreck hunters had been stunned to discover a ship that sank in Lake Superior, the world’s largest freshwater lake, that dated again to 1940.

The Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society and shipwreck researcher Dan Fountain introduced on Monday the discovery of the 244ft (74-metre) bulk service Arlington in about 650ft (200 metres) of water some 35 miles north of Michigan’s Keweenaw peninsula.

The Arlington left Port Arthur, Ontario, on 30 April 1940, totally loaded with wheat and headed to Owen Sound, Ontario, underneath the command of Captain Frederick “Tatey Bug” Burke, a veteran of the Great Lakes.

But because the Arlington and a bigger freighter, the Collingwood, made their method throughout Lake Superior, they encountered dense fog after which a storm after dusk that battered each ships. The Arlington started to tackle water.

The ship’s first mate ordered the Arlington onto a course to hug the Canadian north shore, which might have offered some cowl from wind and waves, however Burke countermanded and ordered his ship again onto a course throughout the open lake, the discoverers stated.

Early on 1 May 1940, the Arlington started to sink and the ship’s chief engineer sounded the alarm. The crew, “out of fear for their lives, and without orders from Captain Burke”, started to desert ship, the society stated in an announcement.

All crew made it safely onto the Collingwood aside from Burke, who went down with the Arlington. Reports point out he was final seen close to its pilothouse, waving at the Collingwood, minutes earlier than his ship vanished into the lake.

The shipwreck society stated within the assertion that “no one will ever know the answer” as to why Burke acted as he did earlier than his ship was misplaced.

“It’s exciting to solve just one more of Lake Superior’s many mysteries, finding Arlington so far out in the lake,” Mr Fountain stated in an announcement. “I hope this final chapter in her story can provide some measure of closure to the family of Captain Burke.”

The Arlington was found because of Mr Fountain, a resident of Negaunee, Michigan, who has been conducting distant sensing in Lake Superior in search of shipwrecks for a few decade, stated Bruce Lynn, government director of the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society.

Mr Fountain approached the group with “a potential target” close to the northern tip of the Keweenaw peninsula, and the Arlington was found final yr, Mr Lynn stated.

“These targets don’t always amount to anything … but this time it absolutely was a shipwreck. A wreck with an interesting, and perhaps mysterious story,” he stated within the assertion. “Had Dan not reached out to us, we might never have located the Arlington.”