American fisherman found a ship that sank 152 years ago (8 photos)

The ship sank during one of the most destructive fires in US history.





This story happened back in the summer of 2023. Tim Wollack and his daughter Henley are avid fishermen.



Henley Wollack

On August 13, father and daughter went to Lake Michigan. The girl wanted to swim off the southeastern shore of Green Island, and Tim wanted to fish.





Slowly sailing on a motorboat near the shore, Henley and Tim found wooden panels at the bottom of the lake. The mysterious find was discovered using sonar. Then Tim assumed that it was a sunken boat and published photos taken from the sonar in thematic groups on social networks.



The photos caught the attention of experts from the Wisconsin Historical Society's Marine Conservation and Archeology Program. They decided to study the lake more closely using a controlled vehicle with a video camera.



As a result, it turned out that the sunken ship was the George L. Newman, a wooden three-masted sailing ship built back in 1855 by shipbuilder Benjamin Flint.



In 1871, the ship was transporting lumber, but ran aground due to thick smoke.



At that time, a fire was raging, later called the Great Fire of Peshtigo. Then in just an hour the fire destroyed the wooden city of the same name. About 1,200 people died in the fire.



As for the ship, its crew, according to media reports, allegedly managed to escape. The smoke from the fire was so thick that the lighthouse keeper kept the light on all day. It was this man who saved the crew of the George L. Newman. People left the ship and reached the lighthouse, where they lived for some time.

As for the sailing ship, it was gradually covered with sand until the remains of the ship were discovered at a depth of 2-3 meters.