When you live on the Great Lakes in North America, it’s easy to forget how amazing the area is. They are ‘lakes’ so we forget that they are huge and dangerous inland seas that happen to be 20 % of the entire world’s surface fresh water. And it’s easy when dealing with the wind and the snow and the rain whipping off of it to forget that these connected bodies of water were once major travel and transportation routes.

And it’s easy to forget as well that they are huge graveyards for both humans and ships.

Like the Antelope, a 187 foot coal-hauling freighter which sank in rough waters in 1897 in Superior. Ken Merryman, Jerry Eliason and Kraig Smith have used a remote camera to film the nearly intact wreck, and have posted this for all interested to see.

It’s nice to know that this ship sank with so much warning that no lives were lost, unlike many other shipwrecks on the Lakes. It makes it a little less ghastly when you are enthralled watching the video exploring the hulk at the bottom of the lake.

It’s intact because it sank slowly and was carrying lighter cargo- ships carrying iron and steel would shatter when hitting bottom, but the coal and slower sinking let the explorers believe that they could find this wreck intact.

So, watch the first four-minute video they offer. And lets hope they can go back and film us more.

For more information:
http://www.twincities.com/2016/09/14/remarkably-intact-1897-shipwreck-discovered-in-lake-superior/