Wreckage Of Ship That Sank In Lake Huron 130 Years Ago Found With Alien Species

A vessel that had mysteriously vanished with the whole crew on one stormy night about 130 years back was found in a near-perfect state – but an “alien species” has reportedly gotten hold of it.
“The Africa” had been towing yet another vessel, “The Severn”, via Lake Huron on the US-Canada border when it vanished suddenly in a snowstorm in 1895 (October).

With the towline impaired, the Severn reportedly ran aground on the Bruce Peninsula, where the crew members were rescued – but Africa could never be seen again.

It was not the first misfortune this vessel had suffered — it had burned down to the waterline back in 1886 before it was rebuilt.

Its bad luck goes on even as a shipwreck — Africa has been discovered entombed in quagga mussels that threaten the vessel with collapse.

Zach Melnick and Yvonne Drebert had been shooting for a documentary about the mussels — one invasive species alien to the Great Lakes — when they stumbled upon the wreck.

Zach and Yvonne were down for a few minutes when a gigantic structure reportedly loomed from the depths — a shipwreck. They could not believe it. All those onboard got floored, and more than an expletive was making rounds! The vessel is still in a pristine state and upright on the lakebed, as though it just fell from the surface and has been resting on the bottom.

The Africa was found using an underwater remotely operated vehicle (ROV) at a depth of approximately 280 feet. However, the ship is now entangled with invasive quaggas, which reached the Great Lakes about 30 years ago, and identifying the vessel was quite a challenge.

A clue was the huge dimensions of the shipwreck, which measures about 148ft in length, 26ft in width, and 12.5ft in height, and there’s a debris field covered with coal that surrounds the vessel — the same cargo transported by Africa as well as the Severn on a fateful night. Having recognized Africa, Drebert can share more information on the vessel’s mystery and demise.

She said that Africa submerged when an early-season snowstorm hit, as strong winds would have been pounding on the vessel, pushing it into the trough of powerful waves and causing it to take on water. In their video, it can be seen that there are some hull damages to the vessel, but that could’ve been caused by the vessel’s settling down on the lakebed. Most probably, it had been taking on water, and that brought the vessel down.

In the documentary All Too Clear, Drebert and Melnick explore how the quaggas are reengineering the Great Lakes ecosystem on a scale never seen since the glaciers’ retreat. There are also no plans right now to recover the vessel.

References: Daily Star, Express

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Source: Maritime Shipping News