(Michigan City, IN) - There are thousands of shipwrecks off the shores of Lake Michigan. Only two in this area are designated nature preserves. The second one was dedicated on Thursday in Michigan City.
In 1910 the SS Muskegon caught fire while docked in Trail Creek. It was the end of an eventful life for the bulk freighter. Built in 1872 and christened the Peerless, the 220-foot-long ship hauled dry goods, livestock, and people all over Lake Michigan. In 1894 she was detained at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan because of smallpox. Five years later she collided with a schooner and sank. Raised and repaired, the resilient ship became a floating casino in Chicago, before becoming the Muskegon, a sand sucker deployed in the Michigan City area.
After being burned down to the waterline, the Muskegon was towed out and scuttled about a quarter of a mile off shore from Mount Baldy. Recently it has been a popular location for scuba divers.
Professor Charles Beeker from Indiana University has been influential in getting the site designated a historic landmark. Beeker, who is an archeologist and scuba dive instructor, told us why the site is worthwhile. “If I take students out,” Beeker said, “I want a site that’s less than 33 feet [deep], that’s accessible, that’s interesting.” According to Beeker, the Muskegon’s machinery, propeller, and wooden hull have become a haven for marine life. “It’s a site that’s perfect for a beginner diver, or even on a good day a snorkeler.”
The other local shipwreck site is down the shore in Porter County, where the J.D. Marshall sank in 1911. Ironically the J.D. Marshall went down a day after being outfitted with equipment from the Muskegon, which it replaced.
Last week eight IU students spent a few days doing dives at the sites twice a day to hone their diving skills and learn about underwater archeology.
Leo Visser, of Bloomington, was one of the students. He talked about what he observed in the wreckage. “The impressive boilers are still really cool looking,” he said. “They’re really quite nice sites; they’re the coolest shipwrecks I’ve ever been on.”
Jenna Baelz is a diving instructor and Marine Conservation major at IU. She explained the significance of the sites for the Hoosier State. “A lot of people don’t know about the shipwrecks in Indiana,” said Baelz. “A lot of people go somewhere coastal, to the oceans, to learn about shipwrecks, but we’re trying to bring attention to the two that we have right here outside the Dunes State Park.”
Information on the shipwrecks is displayed at Michigan City’s Old Lighthouse Museum. On Thursday afternoon, outside the museum, near where the Muskegon caught fire, a plaque was unveiled commemorating its final resting place. According to Professor Beeker, wreck sites like the Muskegon and J.D. Marshall were identified and surveyed back in the 1980s and placed on the National Registry of Historic Places. Indiana University has worked with the state’s Department of Natural Resources and the National Parks Service to get them designated as shipwreck nature preserves. “All of our shipwrecks are protected in Indiana waters,” Beeker said. “This is an extra layer of protection.”
Anyone can explore the wreck sites. As they say in the underwater archaeology community, “Take only pictures, leave only bubbles.” Both sites in this area have markers indicating their locations and mooring buoys to keep boats from dropping anchor on the wrecks.
