After 100 years, shipwreck hunters find steel freighter Huronton at bottom of Lake Superior

Frank Witsil, Detroit Free Press
·2 min read
23

The story of the crew’s rescue was known, but where the ship sank wasn’t — until recently.

The Huronton that sank to the bottom of Lake Superior 100 years ago was discovered this summer by the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society.

The recently announced discovery tells the tale of misfortune and bravery of the crews of two freighters that collided in 1923 amid heavy fog and forest fire smoke.

The Huronton, a steel freighter that sank 100 years ago to the bottom of Lake Superior, was discovered this summer by the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society.
The Huronton, a steel freighter that sank 100 years ago to the bottom of Lake Superior, was discovered this summer by the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society.

"Finding any shipwreck is exciting," society executive director Bruce Lynn said Wednesday. "But to think that we're the first human eyes to look at this vessel 100 years after it sank, not many people have the opportunity to do that."

The society, founded in 1978 at Whitefish Point, systematically trolls the lake depths with sonar to find shipwrecks.

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Back in 1923, the swift actions of one of the ship's captains saved the sinking vessel's crew, and the selflessness of the first mate saved the ship’s mascot, a bulldog that got left behind as the others scrambled to safety.

According to the historical society:

The 238-foot-long Huronton and the 416-foot-long Cetus were traveling too fast and collided. The bow of the Cetus ripped a hole in the port side of the Huronton. The two ships locked together.

But the captain of the Cetus kept moving forward, which had the effect of plugging the hole in the Huronton long enough for its crew to escape. The mascot, a bulldog, was left onboard.

The Huronton, a steel freighter that sank 100 years ago to the bottom of Lake Superior, was discovered this summer by the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society.
The Huronton, a steel freighter that sank 100 years ago to the bottom of Lake Superior, was discovered this summer by the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society.

The first mate, however, rescued it, risking his own life to run into the sinking ship’s flooding section, untie the dog and carry it back to the Cetus, just as the Huronton sank, 800 feet below the Great Lake’s surface.

Lynn said the discovery of shipwrecks is exciting, not just because they haven’t been seen for decades, but because they are “a part of our past,” time capsules of what life was like a century — or more — ago.

Contact Frank Witsil: 313-222-5022 or fwitsil@freepress.com.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Steel freighter Huronton is discovered at the bottom of Lake Superior