Michigan in Pictures regular Chris Roxburgh is one of my absolute favorite follows on Facebook. It seems like every week all year round he’s under the water showing me something I’ve never seen or a new look at an old friend. Miner’s Castle in the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore is for sure one of those old friends. What I didn’t realize until today is that the millions of years old sandstone underneath the surface of Lake Superior may be even cooler than what’s above the water!!
If you love the Great Lakes and aren’t yet following the exploits of Milo’s owner, Great Lakes shipwreck explorer Chris Roxburgh, then today is your lucky day!! Follow Chris on Facebook and view & purchase his work including some awesome coffee table books on his website!
On the night of November 28, 1960, Lake Michigan would claim one of her most recent victims. The steamship Francisco Morazan ended a 38-year career when she ran aground on South Manitou Island. She had sailed for eleven owners, under six flags, with eight names.
…The Morazan was Captain Eduardo Trivizas’ first command. Onboard were 12 crew, and the captain’s pregnant wife, Anastasia. Fog slowed the ship and a bad feeder pump for the boiler forced the crew to stop and drift in Lake Michigan for eight hours to replace it. The Morazan passed Point Betsie in a blinding snowstorm at about 7:15 pm on the 28th. She was pushed off course and ran aground just 300 yards from the beach on South Manitou Island.
Three Coast Guard vessels and a civilian tug responded to the Morazan’s mayday. On December 4, the crew was removed from the ship after it was determined that she couldn’t be salvaged. Attempts were made to salvage the cargo but were ultimately abandoned. In the years afterward, the wreck became a popular hangout for island residents. They helped themselves to the cargo of canned chicken and toys. The wreck is now protected as a part of the Manitou Passage State Underwater Preserve.
Let’s stay up on the Keweenaw Peninsula today with a look at the crystal clear waters of Lake Superior as seen from under the surface of Copper Harbor! For almost all my life, Lake Superior has been the cleanest & clearest of the five Great Lakes. Imagine my surprise to learn that in 2017, Lake Michigan & Lake Huron were found to be more clear than Lake Superior:
While Lake Superior has not gotten any dirtier, lakes Huron and Michigan have gotten significantly clearer in the past 20 years or so, a study published earlier this year in the Journal of Great Lakes Research found.
Anecdotally, scientists knew water clarity was improving in those lakes. But it hadn’t been quantified.
“What surprised us was the magnitude of the change,” said Robert Shuchman, a study co-author and co-director of the Michigan Tech Research Institute. “We had no idea the data was going to tell us that Huron and Michigan have surpassed the water clarity in Lake Superior. That was the startling piece.”
Scientists analyzed satellite images of the lakes captured between 1998 and 2012. Over that period, they found, the depth that light could penetrate down into the water — known as the photic zone — increased by about 20 percent in lakes Michigan and Huron.
They attribute part of that change to less phosphorous runoff. Climate change also likely plays a role. But the dominant factor is the explosion of invasive zebra and quagga mussels in the lakes since the late 1990s, researchers concluded.
Some of the highest abundances of quagga mussels in the world are found in Lake Michigan, said Gary Fahnenstiel, a senior research scientist at Michigan Tech and study co-author.
So in the end, not great that Michigan & Huron passed Superior in this. I looked to see if anything had changed in that regard, but it appears not.
About 800 feet offshore and under 21 feet of water lies an Italian white marble crucifix, the only known freshwater-underwater crucifix. It came to Petoskey in 1962 in a round-about way, and has become a draw for divers and visitors alike ever since. You will not find a shrine like this anywhere else in the U.S.
The 11-foot tall crucifix, with a 5-foot 5-inch figure of Jesus Christ, was placed in the Bay, near the Petoskey breakwall at Bayfront Park, by the Wyandotte-based Superior Marine Divers Club in 1962. Its original intent was to honor Charles Raymond, a Southgate diver who drowned in Torch Lake. Later, the club expanded the focus of the monument to memorialize all those who have perished at sea.
Its origins date back to the late 1950s, when a grieving mother and father from Rapson in Michigan’s Thumb area had it crafted in memory of their son, Gerald Schipinski. Gerald was 15-years-old in 1956 when he was accidentally killed by a shotgun on the family farm.
After being crafted in Italy, the cross was broken during shipping to the Rapson Catholic church; the family rejected the damaged crucifix and it was sold in an insurance sale to the Wyandotte dive club. The crucifix made its way to Little Traverse Bay and was first placed by the U.S. Icebreaker Sundew 1,200 feet off the Petoskey breakwall on Aug. 12, 1962.
…in the early 1980s Dennis Jessick was president of the Little Traverse Bay Dive Club, and he proposed a winter viewing of the crucifix. The first was held in 1986, affording the community the chance to view the statue through a hole made in the ice. Lights are placed under water to help with viewing. The viewing of the crucifix,” as the locals call it, has continued.
The viewing of the Crucifix is always free and takes place if the ice is thick enough and other weather related conditions are right, usually in the end of February or early March. (NO VIEWING IN 2022) A tent is set up at the viewing area – which is a sure sign to the public that the viewing is taking place. It is also publicized in local media and on local Chamber of Commerce and Visitors’ Bureau web sites.
More at the Petoskey Visitors Bureau & for sure check out this article on the crucifix from Northern Michigan Mish-Mash for a ton more info & some photos. Not gonna lie – I was really hoping to see this in person this year, but unfortunately there won’t be a public viewing in 2022 as there usually is.
Martin took this photo back in 2009. Head over to his Well Liked gallery on Flickr for lots more great shots from Petoskey & elsewhere.
Chris Roxburgh is a diver and photographer who is one of my favorite follows on Facebook. About this photo he writes:
The Westmorland shipwreck located in a 200’ deep unpublished location in Lake Michigan. After many wreck hunters tirelessly searched for this vessel rumored to have whiskey Barrels and gold that was being delivered to the garrison army on Fort Mackinac. She sank on December 7th 1864. When she was finally found in 2010 by Ross Richardson the mystery was unlocked to her final resting place.
The Westmorland was one of the first 200 foot long steam powered ships in the Great Lakes and at first was called a “propeller” since they used a prop instead of sails. She hauled many tons of grain and meat across the Great Lakes. With a crew of 34 she steamed into rough seas with over 20’ waves and a violent snow storm all while leaking from the night before. As the crew made a bucket brigade trying to keep the engines out of the water they could not keep up with the ever increasing flow. Once the water stopped the engines she could not keep straight into the waves. The lifeboat Davits you can see in this picture where used to lower the boats Into the water as she sank. Out of the 34 crew fifteen went down with the ship and two succumbed to weather on the shore of Platte Bay as the others walked 40 miles to a nearby town.
I was very excited to dive her because only a handful of trusted divers have been given the opportunity to visit this site. Dusty Klifman and I decided to plan this deep dive last week as the opportunity with perfect weather on Lake Michigan arrived.
Emily Bingham of mLive said that she created this list of Amazing Michigan places because “One of my favorite geeky things is meeting someone from out of state and showing them a photo of, say, Grand Portal Point or Empire Bluffs and hearing them say “THAT’s in Michigan?!” So then I decided, hey, how about I just publish a list so I have all my favorite brag-worthy Michigan spots in one place on the internet?? And voila.”
Voila indeed – definitely check this out. The photos of the twelve locations she picked are STUNNING! Here’s what she wrote about the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary:
Located in Lake Huron just off the coast of Alpena, this 4,300-square-mile protected area is one of the most significant shipwreck preserves in the entire country. More than 100 shipwrecks have been found here, making it an exciting destination for divers from all over the world.
Click through for 11 more plus a whole bunch of great photos from each of the places!
Yesterday we were above the surface of Lake Superior, so let’s take a look beneath the surface today. Neil writes:
Sandstone formations make an intriguing landscape beneath Superior’s surface – Pictured Rocks NL. I had a lot of fun doing a little underwater photography this past week.
Michigan in Pictures 