From downed freighters to battle-scarred Spanish galleons, you’ll find an incredible world of long-buried shipwrecks on America’s Byways. From the northern waters of the Great Lakes to warmer Atlantic tidewaters off the coast of Florida, a world of haunting scenes and sunken landscapes awaits the adventurous at heart.
Although you’ll have to dive to fully experience most of these wrecks, start your adventure above the water at the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum in the Whitefish Point Light Station on Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Prepare here for diving excursions near the America's Byways of the Great Lakes by perusing the gallery of exciting relics from some of the Lakes' most famous wrecks, including the tragic Edmund Fitzgerald. Although over 6,000 ships have gone down in the Great Lakes in the last century, the Fitzgerald’s mysterious disappearance on November 10th, 1975 is widely remembered with a memorial beacon-lighting ceremony each year at the Split Rock Lighthouse along the North Shore Scenic Drive in Minnesota.
While in Michigan, visit the Copper Country Trail. Deemed by many as a "catcher's mitt" for wayward ships, the Keweenaw Peninsula juts dramatically into the icy waters of Lake Superior. Sunk intentionally after enduring extensive damage in a storm in 1989, the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Mesquite has since become a popular dive destination within the Keweenaw Preserve. Much of the original equipment still remains on deck, although a portion of the pilot house was removed during the sinking process and now lies near the wreck.
Journey west to Minnesota's 150-mile-long North Shore Scenic Drive on the north coast of Lake Superior, and explore a score of other submerged vessels. A stop at the Lake Superior Maritime Visitor Center in Duluth will teach you about many ships that challenged storms along the North Shore. Wrecks will enthrall both the beginning and the advanced diver, with eerie ships ranging from 10 to over 300 feet deep. A few wrecks are accessible to scuba divers from shore, such as the crumpled schooner-barge Madiera, which was lost in a violent storm after colliding with Gold Rock near Split Rock Lighthouse. Other shipwrecks must be reached by boat, such as the chilling remains of the Thomas Wilson, which sank just 3/4ths of a mile outside of Duluth in 1902, or the Mayflower, a 147-foot wooden scow that was lost in 1889. At the northern terminus of the North Shore Scenic Drive, divers can take a boat to explore the numerous wrecks that surround Isle Royale, such as the steel passenger liner George M. Cox which rests in 10 to 100 feet of water.
Navigate the remarkably clear depths surrounding Lake Erie’s small islands and get acquainted with a variety of fish, including smallmouth bass, rock bass, and sunfish, as well as the unwelcome round goby, while you swim among wrecks offshore from Ohio's Lake Erie Coastal Ohio Trail. To protect Ohio’s most popular wrecks from damage by carelessly-placed anchors, the Maritime Archaeological Survey Team (MAST) recently set up several mooring buoys. Use the buoys to locate the wrecks, and then climb their heavy chains back to the surface to arrive safely at your boat after a dive. Follow the southern shore of Lake Erie to seven maritime museums, including headquarters for the Great Lakes Historical Society, and swim your way through numerous wrecks that tell tales of early Lake Erie travel. You’ll see everything from three-masted schooners to sturdy tugboats.
Continue east following the coast of Lake Erie to the start of the Seaway Trail. Its 518-mile coastline with Lake Erie, the Niagara River, Lake Ontario, and the St. Lawrence River leads you through an even larger graveyard of historic shipwrecks spanning nearly three centuries in Pennsylvania and New York. Storyteller signs along the byway share the legends and lore of wrecks. Gain an appreciation for the history and tragedy behind several of the more notable vessels lost along the byway. For beginning divers, the David W. Mills promises an adventure beginning just six feet below the surface. This 202-foot steam barge which sank in August 1919 in Lake Ontario forms part of New York’s first Submerged Cultural Preserve.
In Lake Champlain just east of the Lakes to Locks Passage in New York is the Lake Champlain Underwater Historic Preserve, an impressive collection of canal boats and lake schooners. These wrecks rest at varying depths and difficulty levels. A popular dive is the General Butler, a downed sailing canal boat that remains mostly intact after over 130 years at the bottom of the lake. While diving, be sure to stay clear of the lake’s silt-covered floor, as disturbing the layer of silt will severely reduce your visibility.
Although fierce currents and churning water may be inviting to seals and other wildlife, the frigid waters off the coast of Maine's Schoodic Byway have claimed many seaworthy vessels. One notable wreck was the SS Queen Victoria, a Canadian steamer sunk in a hurricane in 1866. Luckily, as the ship was going down, a brigantine built in Gouldsboro, ME, came to the rescue. As his crew evacuated the ship, the captain presented the Victoria's bell to his rescuers. Today, the bell resides in the town of Gouldsboro as a token of that heroic rescue.
Looking for a warmer dive? Travel south to the eastern coast of Florida, which is rich with tales of pirates and Spanish booty. Stop at the McLarty Treasure Museum in Melbourne Beach as you drive the Indian River Lagoon Scenic Highway. See authentic artifacts such as rusty wheel lock pistols and actual coinage from the age of the Spanish Conquistadores. When you’re ready to take the plunge, head south to Fort Pierce, and dive down to the Urca de Lima, the only surviving wreck from a 1715 Spanish fleet.
Whether in a museum, a glass-bottomed tour boat, or right down in the action with tropical fish and coral, the shipwreck sites along America’s Byways continue to fill adventure-seekers of all ages with the same mystery and tranquility that surrounds these relics of the deep.
