A Visit To Lake Huron(istan)

Since we already visited Lake Michigan this summer, we decided to explore a beach on the east side of the state and swim in lake Huron now that summer is passing by. Some year we'll swim in all five Great Lakes in one season, just for the heck of it.

Located at Port Huron this beach offered some decent sand, a bit of a pebbly shore, and nice swimming.

Quite a popular place, lots of boats anchored close by on a sandbar, and there were multiple examples of just cause you can buy a boat doesn't make you able to operate a boat on display - including one goofball that drifter into the swim area of the beach, running over the no entry buoy in the process.

There were also some interesting sights

First of course are the lake freighters that pass close by:

Lots of them passed by during the hours we were there and they were quite impressive.

Then the other sight was a bit more jarring and unexpected.

Burqinis.

Yep, there was a ton of ladies young and old swimming around in full on burqinis at the beach.

Lots of them swimming with full headscarves and complete flowing pants. Interestingly enough, the whole modesty requirement clearly did not apply to their menfolk with them who were wearing swim shorts, some of whom really could have used some covering up themselves.

Quite a few of the headscarves needed to be readjusted while swimming and the outfits sure were not very well streamlined so it was more wading than swimming for the most part.

It was an interesting juxtaposition of bikinis and burqinis on the same beach. Everybody seemed to behave themselves, but there was quite a visible police presence.

I was not expecting this at Port Huron.

So after swimming, people watching, and hanging out at the beach, we went to an Italian restaurant, Great Lakes Italian that was a short hop from the beach for dinner - great friendly service and the pizza was awesome. Not a bad way to spend one of the last Sundays of summer.

Trotter & Co Find Another One: Wreck Of The Keystone State Discovered

A Civil War-era shipwreck has just been discovered in lake Huron by prolific shipwreck finder David Trotter and his crew.

The Detroit Free Press: Great Lakes shipwreck hunter finds Keystone State, lost in Lake Huron for 152 years

The wreck, a steamer on route from Detroit to Milwaukee in the early months of the Civil War, sank in November 1861.

Now lying upright on the bottom in 175 feet of water, both sidewheels are intact and visible on the 300 foot-long ship. From the pictures and video it looks to be in great shape.

Yet another great discovery of a long-lost shipwreck in Michigan waters.

Sunday's Dive Attempt - The Centennial Dive On The Regina

100 years after she sank, an intrepid bunch of divers headed to the Regina to dive her on Sunday, the day she sank 100 years ago.

The forecast promised 20 knot winds from the west with waves up to 5-7 feet building to a gale later.
The plan was to take Dave's boat, a 37 footer powerboat out.

Unfortunately even as we planned to hit the water around 11, time kept slipping.

First, the boat wasn't fully packed with his stuff when I arrived at his place at 8 am. Mike was already there and Phil would meet us at Lexington. Then he still needed to shave, and then pack some other gear onto the boat, get the boat trailer hooked up to the truck and finally we were off at 9:20 rather than 8:30 or so.

Then once on the road, Dave realized he had forgot his SD cards for his Go Pro cameras (yes, plural) so we needed to stop at Best Buy and pick some up. We also bought some hats as it was getting cold and stopped for a quick bite on the way.

Then we finally got to Lexington, loaded Phls gear on board, changed into our drysuits and finally departed the dock at about 1:20 or so.

As we headed out we saw this laker in the distance:

The Regina was about 4 miles away from Lexington and the wind was picking up and had started to shift from the West to the West Northwest.

This meant the waves were starting to build.

By the time we reached the area where the Regina went down, we were encountering the occasional 15-foot wave, and the winds were out of the north, which was not good.

It took a considerable amount of time maneuvering to find the wreck and as the buoys had been pulled. It was not easy to spot the mooring rope floating in the water. All the while, waves are building up and we're having an interesting time trying to get to the mooring line. We're now getting pounded with pretty regular 7-10 foot waves and many 15 footers.

Here's a quick movie from one of the Go Pros he had mounted on the boat showing one of the smaller waves:

I actually had the mooring line in my hand after getting it with a boat hook, had passed it forward to Dave, who then dropped it as we got slammed by a wave. On the upside this probably was a good thing as whoever would have tried to go forward to the bow to tie it off would likely have been thrown overboard by the waves.

By now the winds were from the North and the radio was blurting out a small craft advisory and gale warning.

We were about to try to come around for another attempt to grab the mooring line when the loudest alarm in the world starts shrieking.

"Oh, not good", remarks Dave.

"What does that alarm mean?" I ask.

"It means there's water above the safe level in the bilge, we're taking it on faster than we can pump it out, and we're sinking", he says.

"Oh, not good." remarks I. "Where are the life jackets located on this boat again?"

So we inspect the bilge and yep, with all the waves there's a considerable amount of water above the line, so we decide to beat a hasty retreat for shore rather than adding a new wreck to Lake Huron's bottom. We made it back safely and then had the fun of getting the boat back on the trailer, heading home unloading the boat etc.

It was a solid attempt, hampered somewhat by poor prior preparation, but the Regina remained unvisited on her centennial.

A quick word of thanks to Tam for the linking to this story and the resultant Tamalanche!  Thank you all for visiting and I hope the rest of the blog is also of interest.

David Trotter Finds The Wreck Of The Steamer New York

Shipwreck Hunter David Trotter does it again, and it's an important find.

The Detroit Free Press: Canton shipwreck hunter discovers another in Lake Huron

They had discovered the New York, a 133-year-old wooden steamer that sank more than a century ago during a storm on Lake Huron

.....

The find is expected to shed light on how ships were built during that era -- a time when most shipbuilders didn't use written plans

.....

Trotter said the 283-foot New York was the largest wooden steamer in existence when it was built in 1879, not long before steel and iron became preferred for ship construction.

The ship had two stacks, twin boilers, a tall mast and two lifeboats that eventually would save its captain and crew. Divers discovered it resting upright, with a damaged stern and broken stacks nearby, about 40 miles north of the tip of the Thumb.

At 240 feet deep, the New York is a serious technical dive and not a casual trip.

Another fantastic find by David Trotter.

Save or Sink The Bramble

The Detroit Free Press: Man campaigns to get old ship designated a national treasure

A famous US Coast Guard vessel, the USCGC Bramble has some historic achievements under its waterline including: first circumnavigating the Northwest Passage, being the first American surface ship to circumnavigate the North American continent, and surviving atomic bomb testing. The 68 year-old ship is now either going to be purchased, scrapped, or designated a historic ship on the National Register of Historic Places.

The museum currently owning the ship is trying to sell it for $300,000 due to a lack of funds to maintain her. At least one of the Museum volunteers is trying to get her designated a historic monument as described in the article, and I hope he achieves his goal.

The Bramble was also one of the ships involved in the search for the SS. Daniel J. Morell after the sinking of the 603 foot long freighter in a November storm in 1966. The Morell split in two, with the after part of the ship continuing to travel under power for 5 miles before sinking, and 28 of the 29 men on board were lost.

An interesting account of the Bramble's search for the SS. Daniel J. Morell's survivors, and for the sunken ship itself, by a crewman of the Bramble present for the search and initial dives on the wreck can be read here.

If this effort to gain historic landmark status, and the presumed funds that may help preserve the Bramble fails, then instead of scrapping it I hope they consider deliberately sinking it as a monument preserved in the fresh water of Lake Huron where she plied her trade.

She'd be quite the historic ship to dive on, and it would be a far better fate than being turned into razor blades.