Wisconsin fisherman discovers remains of 100-year-old abandoned ship on Lake Michigan

Daily Mail​

17-05-2025

A Wisconsin angler made the discovery of a lifetime during a fishing trip on Lake when he uncovered a centuries-old shipwreck.
Christopher Thuss, 25, of Two Rivers, was fishing in Lake Michigan off the city of Manitowoc in foggy conditions on Tuesday when he noticed the wreckage in nine feet of water off a breakwater, the Associated Press reported.
Wisconsin historical society maritime archaeologist Tamara Thomsen later confirmed that Truss' unexpected discovery was the wreck of the J.C. Ames.
' These kinds of discoveries are always so exciting because it allows a piece of lost history to resurface. It sat there for over a hundred years and then came back on our radar completely by chance,' Thomsen said in a statement.
'We are grateful that Chris Thuss noticed the wreck and reported it so we can share this story with the Wisconsin communities that this history belongs to.'
The society said that according to the book 'Green Bay Workhorses: The Nau Tug Line,' the Rand and Burger shipbuilding company in Manitowoc built the J.C. Ames in 1881 to help move lumber.
The tug was one of the largest and most powerful on the Great Lakes, with a 670-horsepower engine.
The centuries-old tug served multiple purposes beyond moving lumber, including transporting railway cars, before eventually falling into disrepair and was scuttled in 1923.
Scuttling a ship means to deliberately sink it - usually by making holes in the hull or opening seacocks - as was the practice then when ships outlived their usefulness, Thomsen said.
The ship had been buried in the sand at the bottom of the lake for decades before storms this winter apparently revealed it, the Maritime Archaeologist said.
A lack of quagga mussels attached to the ship indicates it was only recently exposed, Thomsen added.
Historians continue to locate shipwrecks and downed planes in the Great Lakes before quagga mussels destroy them.
Quagga have become the dominant invasive species in the lower lakes over the last 30 years, attaching themselves to wooden shipwrecks and sunken aircraft in layers so thick they eventually crush the wreckage.
Quagga mussels are considered 'bad' because they are invasive species that disrupt ecosystems, cause economic damage and threaten human health, according to the USGS.
They can clog water pipes, alter food webs, and even contaminate drinking water.
Thuss' incredible find comes months after Wisconsin shipwreck hunters discovered a 131-year-old shipwreck at the bottom of Lake Michigan that fell victim to a storm and took the life of the captain's dog.
The Margaret A. Muir, a schooner, was found off the coast of Algoma, Wisconsin, on May 12, 2024 just moments before the Wisconsin Underwater Archeology Association's research team nearly pulled the sonar out of the water for the day, a press release said.
'I knew she was going to be in about 50 feet of water, I knew that her sides had opened up. I know she was laying flat, and I knew she'd be harder to find,' Brendon Baillod, a crew member of the search, told Fox 6 Milwaukee.
Thompsen, then a member of the Wisconsin Historical Society, said all the pieces of the ship were found, including the personal items sailors lost in the wreck.
The 130-foot three-mast schooner was supposed to dock in South Chicago from Bay City, Michigan, when it got stuck in a storm with 50mph gale-force winds around 5am on September 30, 1893.