Each spring, once the ice has melted and the chilly waters of Lake Michigan run clear, the history of the Great Lakes becomes visible—to those able to fly over it. As part of a routine patrol, guardsmen from the U.S. Coast Guard snapped photos of a few of the lake’s hundreds of wrecks. Posted online, the haunting photos generated hundreds of comments and dozens of news stories—as well as help in identifying them. Pictured here is Rising Sun, a 133-foot-long wooden steamer that ran aground in 1917. (For more on the maritime heritage of the Great Lakes, see “Shipwreck Alley,” January/February 2015.)
Great Lakes Shipwreck Spotting
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