On the morning of May 12, Kevin Cullen and his team set out into Lake Michigan on a 16-foot motorboat with sonar gear in tow. The shipwreck hunters hoped to find the wreck of the Margaret A. Muir, a 130-foot, three-masted schooner believed to be a short distance off Algoma, Wisconsin.
The group began the survey, searching transect by transect − or what's called "mowing the lawn" − to see if the sonar gear picked up something that might be a part of the Muir.
It was the first time the boat had been out all year, and the hunters were still trying to work out the kinks. In fact, the boat even started taking on water, forcing them to return to shore to get a pump.
Then they returned to keep searching along the lakebed.
Around 3 p.m., just before they called off the search for the day, Cullen saw something on the screen "that didn't look natural."
They went over the spot once again, and Cullen said that's when it became real.
"This is it! This is really it!" Cullen, the executive director of the Wisconsin Maritime Museum and member of the Wisconsin Underwater Archeology Association, recalled thinking.
The group burst with excitement, giving high-fives all around.
The Muir rests about a mile off Algoma Harbor, where it has lain unseen for 131 years, despite the fact that hundreds of fishing boats pass over it each year.
It was Cullen's first shipwreck discovery, and a moment he'll never forget.
"This is what shipwreck hunting in Wisconsin is about," Cullen said.
The schooner carried bulk salt, and was bound for Chicago
Estimates suggest there are more than 1,700 ships resting at the bottom of Lake Michigan, most of which have not been discovered. In Wisconsin’s portion of the lake, there are approximately 780, but only 250 have been identified, according to the Wisconsin Historical Society. The number jumped significantly in 2023, when a record-shattering 13 shipwrecks were discovered. Usually only three or four are found each year.
The Margaret A. Muir schooner is no longer intact; it's "filleted" open. But all the deck gear remains, such as two giant anchors, hand pumps, as well as its bow windlass and capstan.
The Muir was built by Scandinavian shipbuilders Jasper Hanson and Hans Scove in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, in 1872. The Muir was built for the Great Lakes grain trade, although it carried all kinds of cargo throughout its 21-year tenure.
The schooner was lost on the morning of Sept. 30, 1893, while bound from Bay City, Michigan, to Chicago with a cargo of bulk salt. According to the captain, David Clow, the Muir had cleared the Straits of Mackinac and was pointed towards Wisconsin when it was struck by a 50 mile per hour gale. The ship had just about reached Ahnapee −or present-day Algoma − when 15-foot waves slammed into it. The Muir started taking on water.
Clow ordered the crew to abandon ship just in time before Lake Michigan claimed it.
Everyone survived except for the captain's beloved dog.
Artifacts from shipwrecks are like 'pages of a history book'
The shipwreck hunting team, which included Brendon Baillod and Robert Jaeck, had a good hunch the remains of the wreck were in the vicinity, thanks to records from newspapers and the crew.
The sonar device, which they named the "wreck sniffer," was homemade, only 10 pounds and made up of cylindrical tubes that scanned the lakebed.
It takes a while after a shipwreck is found for its coordinates to be released to the public, so it can be researched, documented and protected, Cullen said.
After the Muir wreck was discovered, staff members with the Wisconsin Historical Society dove to the site and collected thousands of high resolution images and 3D scan so people can explore the site virtually.
Now, the Wisconsin Underwater Archeology Association is working with the Wisconsin Historical Society’s Maritime Archeology Program to nominate the site to the National Register of Historic Places.
Shipwrecks are windows into the nation's heritage, and present a snapshot of Great Lakes history, Cullen said, which is why it's so important to get the protected.
"The artifacts on them are like pages of a history book," he said.
Caitlin Looby is a Report for America corps member who writes about the environment and the Great Lakes. Reach her at clooby@gannett.com or follow her on X@caitlooby.
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