{"id":254652,"date":"2025-05-24T02:29:21","date_gmt":"2025-05-24T02:29:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/aerospace\/he-went-out-to-catch-fish-in-lake-michigan-and-discovered-a-102-year-old-shipwreck-instead\/"},"modified":"2025-05-24T02:29:21","modified_gmt":"2025-05-24T02:29:21","slug":"he-went-out-to-catch-fish-in-lake-michigan-and-discovered-a-102-year-old-shipwreck-instead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=254652","title":{"rendered":"He Went Out to Catch Fish in Lake Michigan\u2014and Discovered a 102-Year-Old Shipwreck Instead"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Angler Christopher Thuss stumbled upon the scuttled tugboat \u201cJ.C. Ames,\u201d which was located just nine feet below the surface off the coast of Manitowoc, Wisconsin<\/h2>\n
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Sarah Kuta<\/a><\/p>\n

– Daily Correspondent<\/span><\/p>\n

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The wreckage is submerged under nine feet of water in Lake Michigan.
\n Wisconsin Historical Society<\/span>
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On a typical Tuesday evening, Christopher Thuss was fishing on Lake Michigan off the coast of Manitowoc, Wisconsin, when something strange popped up on his sonar screen.<\/p>\n

It turned out to be a 102-year-old shipwreck.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t know exactly what I was looking at at first,\u201d Thuss tells\u00a0WGBA-TV<\/a>\u2019s Preston Stober. \u201cI turned over [in] that direction and the whole ship was right there.\u201d<\/p>\n

On May 13, Thuss inadvertently discovered the J.C. Ames<\/em>, a 160-foot tugboat that had been scuttled\u2014purposefully sunk\u2014in 1923. It\u2019s situated just nine feet below the water\u2019s surface, according to an\u00a0announcement<\/a> from the Wisconsin Historical Society.<\/p>\n

Tamara Thomsen, a maritime archaeologist with the Wisconsin Historical Society, and Brendon Baillod, president of the Wisconsin Underwater Archaeology Association, worked together to confirm the vessel\u2019s identity.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese kinds of discoveries are always so exciting because it allows a piece of lost history to resurface,\u201d Thomsen says in the announcement. \u201cIt sat there for over 100 years and then came back on our radar completely by chance.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The ship was built in 1881 for the lumber trade and was originally named the J.C. Perrett.<\/em><\/p>\n

Wisconsin Historical Society<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Since it\u2019s mostly devoid of\u00a0quagga mussels<\/a>\u2014an invasive mollusk known to attach itself to sunken artifacts\u2014historians think it was only recently exposed, reports Todd Richmond of the\u00a0Associated Press<\/a>. Storms that swept through the area over the winter may have disturbed the sand enough to reveal the wreckage.<\/p>\n

For Thuss, the discovery was extra special because of his family legacy. His step-grandmother was nicknamed \u201cShipwreck Suzze\u201d because she discovered so many shipwrecks, including three in three days\u00a0in 2015<\/a>. After he found the J.C. Ames<\/em>, Thuss\u2019 first phone call was to his father, who relayed the news to \u201cShipwreck Suzze\u201d herself.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s pretty unique that I am the first person to lay eyes on this boat since it was last seen,\u201d Thuss tells the\u00a0Milwaukee Journal Sentinel<\/em><\/a>\u2019s Caitlin Looby.<\/p>\n

The ship was built in Manitowoc in 1881 by the Rand & Burger shipbuilding company. Initially named the J.C. Perrett<\/em>, the vessel cost $50,000 to build, which would be more than $1 million today, as the Wisconsin Historical Society notes.<\/p>\n

According to the 1990 book Green Bay Workhorses: The Nau Tug Line<\/em><\/a>, the vessel was \u201cone of the largest and most powerful tugs on the lakes, developed 670 horsepower with her fore-and-aft compound engine,\u201d per the historical society.<\/p>\n

The vessel was initially used for the lumber trade, and it could haul as many as five barges to port, according to the\u00a0Wisconsin Shipwrecks<\/a> database. In 1889, the steambarge M.T. Greene<\/em> crashed into the tugboat in the Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal, causing extensive damage. But the tugboat was repaired, and it was sold to the Lake Michigan Car Ferry Transportation Company in 1895. The firm used the vessel to haul two railroad barges between Chicago and Peshtigo, Wisconsin.<\/p>\n

The tugboat got new boilers and was renamed the J.C. Ames<\/em>. In 1908, it was purchased by the Nau Tug Line, which used it to haul barges full of pulpwood from ports on Lake Superior to Green Bay. The ship changed hands again in 1918 when it was sold to the Newaygo Tug Line of Appleton, Wisconsin.<\/p>\n

Eventually, however, the vessel fell into disrepair and was scrapped.<\/p>\n

\u201c[The ship] was dismantled at Manitowoc with its engine\/boiler removed, towed outside the harbor, burned and abandoned in 1923,\u201d Thomsen tells\u00a0Fox News Digital<\/a>\u2019s Andrea Margolis. \u201cAbandoning ships that had outlived their use was how it was done back in the day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Burning ships like the J.C. Ames<\/em> was a form of entertainment for residents living along the Great Lakes, Thomsen adds.<\/p>\n

Historians think that more than a dozen ships were scuttled in the same area as the J.C. Ames<\/em>, though only a handful have been discovered.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe only find them when they are uncovered by storms if someone sees them before they are covered again\u2014it needs to be perfect timing,\u201d Thomsen tells Fox News Digital.<\/p>\n

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The vessel changed hands several times before it was eventually scuttled in 1923.<\/p>\n

Wisconsin Historical Society<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Today, the J.C. Ames <\/em>is located within the bounds of the Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary. Established in 2021 and managed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the state of Wisconsin, the marine sanctuary protects 36 known shipwrecks.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also protected by state and federal laws, which prohibit divers from removing, defacing or destroying underwater artifacts and structures. Maritime archaeologists also want to get the J.C. Ames<\/em> listed on the State Register of Historic Places.<\/p>\n

\u201cDue to the wreck\u2019s unique position in Lake Michigan, it has the potential to become a popular destination for kayaking and snorkelers,\u201d according to the announcement.<\/p>\n

Archaeologists say the J.C. Ames<\/em> is unusual because of its large size. Tugboats from the period are typically 50 to 100 feet long, per WGBA-TV.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t have any other versions of tugboats that are quite this big,\u201d Caitlin Zant, research coordinator for the marine sanctuary, tells the publication.<\/p>\n

Historians are looking forward to learning even more about the vessel, she adds.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can understand how it was constructed, why it was built as big as it was, and tell that story,\u201d Zant says.<\/p>\n

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