Michigan shipwreck offers lessons from the depths

• The Western Reserve sank on Aug. 30, 1892 in Lake Superior
• The wreck’s discovery was announced in March
• The wreck continues to provide researchers with valuable lessons

For more than 130 years, the Western Reserve lay silent beneath Lake Superior — a vanished steel freighter, lost in 1892 along with nearly everyone aboard. 

But when researchers with the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society found it this spring, they didn’t just locate a wreck. They cracked open new questions about steel’s hidden weaknesses, explored new frontiers in underwater imaging, and reconnected families still carrying the weight of its loss.

This wasn’t just a discovery — it was validation. 

Found in 600 feet of water with its bow collapsed atop its stern, the wreck matched lone survivor Harry Stewart’s century-old account with eerie precision. For researchers and families alike, it’s become a case study in early steel, deepwater forensics, and the staying power of lived memory. 

With another dive planned and sharper tools in hand, the Western Reserve is still offering lessons.

The Western Reserve was one of the first all-steel freighters on the Great Lakes. Built in 1890, the 301-foot cargo ship was a sleek emblem of industrial optimism — hauling ore, carrying coal, and embodying the transition from wood to steel. Owned by shipping magnate Capt. Peter G. Minch, she was dubbed the “inland greyhound” for her speed.

“It was coal up and ore down,” said maritime historian Fred Stonehouse, recalling the shipping flow through Marquette Harbor in the 1890s. “America was building her industrial might, and steel ships like the Western Reserve made it possible.”

But steel didn’t mean indestructible. On Aug. 30, 1892, during a routine crossing, the Western Reserve split apart and sank within minutes. Among the 27 lost were Minch and his family. The sole survivor was Stewart, a 23-year-old wheelsman from Harsens Island.

“He woke up to what sounded like gunfire — probably the rivets popping,” said Stewart’s great-great-granddaughter, Annie Dennis. “He had to jump over a visible crack in the deck to reach the lifeboats.”

Thrown into the lake when one lifeboat capsized, Stewart swam to another and eventually reached shore. From there, he crawled 12 miles to the Deer Park Life-Saving Station. Days later, he traveled to Ohio to attend the Minch family funerals, then returned to work.

“Harry wasn’t the only Stewart aboard,” Dennis said. “His cousin Skyler was lost that night. So it was a deeply personal loss for our family.”

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Stewart went on to captain ships of his own. His grandson, Frank Baxter, now 90, still lives near Harsens Island. 

“The shipwreck was often talked about among family,” he said. “It shaped who we are.”

The wreckage revealed

In March, the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society found the Western Reserve using side-scan sonar aboard the research vessel David Boyd. The wreck lay roughly 60 miles northwest of Whitefish Point. 

First Mate Dan Ertel and Director of Marine Operations Darryl Ertel discovered the site. A remotely operated vehicle confirmed it: the bow resting atop the stern, just as Stewart had described more than a century before.

“The bell was incredible to see,” said Corey Adkins, communications director for the society. “The wreck matched the survivor’s story exactly.”

The team follows a methodical search process. 

“We call it ‘mowing the lawn,’” Adkins said. “We sweep the lakebed in grids, and, if something looks promising, we rescan it from different angles.” 

Using marine sonic technology, the sonar system can scan up to a mile on either side of the vessel. Darryl Ertel, Adkins said, has an uncanny eye for spotting faint anomalies like collapsed hatches or spars — and narrowing them down to shipwrecks.

The ROV’s high-definition cameras offered the first clear visuals of the wreck. 

“It’s dark and eerie down there,” Adkins said. “But what we saw was stunning.”

Steel dreams, brittle truths

Though the Western Reserve was cutting-edge for its time, some believe its steel may have contributed to its sudden failure.

“People believed steel was the future — faster, stronger, more efficient,” said Stonehouse. “But early steel could be brittle, especially in cold water.”

Josh Mueller, an assistant professor in the Materials Science and Engineering Department at Michigan Technological University, said that, while the steel likely wouldn’t meet modern standards, the real question is whether it met the expectations of the 1890s.

“Even if the steel was found to exhibit poor mechanical performance, that doesn’t mean it caused the sinking outright,” Mueller said. “Failures of this magnitude are rarely caused by a single issue.”

One complication is that impact testing — the ability to predict how materials behave under sudden force — didn’t exist at the time. That science came shortly after, with the Charpy V-notch test, which measures how much energy a material can absorb before breaking. That test also helps identify what’s known as the ductile-to-brittle transition temperature, or DBTT: the point at which steel stops bending and starts breaking.

“Before DBTT was well understood, the consequences could be disastrous,” Mueller said. “Steel can behave normally at room temperature but snap like glass in colder conditions.”

He noted that while Lake Superior’s August water temperatures (typically 54 degrees to 68 degrees) aren’t extremely cold, it’s possible the Western Reserve’s steel was operating in what engineers call the “lower shelf” — the temperature range at which steel absorbs the least energy before breaking. 

“It may have been within spec for its time,” Mueller said. “But it was likely near the edge.”

A second dive, a closer look

The historical society plans to revisit the site with a more advanced ROV system, currently on order. The upgrade includes 4K cameras for ultra-high-definition imaging, a significant improvement over the society’s current standard-definition setup.

“Some of our gear was damaged in the California wildfires, so we’ve had delays,” Adkins said. “But, once we get the new system, we’ll be able to document construction features and fracture points in much greater detail.”

While 4K imaging is already common in underwater archaeology, the new equipment will allow the team to match the quality of current deepwater research standards and capture the wreck with far greater clarity.

History honored

Since the discovery, Dennis, the descendant of the Western Reserve survivor Stewart, has connected with descendants of others aboard. 

“It’s brought us together across generations,” she said. “I dressed up as Harry Stewart in second grade. Now his story is being told around the world.”

“When I saw the wreck photos, I got goosebumps,” said Baxter, Stewart’s grandson. “It feels like a missing piece of our story is back where it belongs.”

Adkins, of the historical society, said the public response has been deeply moving. 

“We’ve had people reach out from all over,” he said. “Some donated after hearing about it on a podcast.”

He added that many in the Minch family have come forward, as well. 

“We’re planning a trip to Lake Placid to interview more of them as we produce the Western Reserve documentary,” he said.

Funding for shipwreck-hunting projects like the one that found the Western Reserve — including research, exploration, and documentation — comes from museum ticket sales, grants, and small private donations. A full-length documentary is in the works. Adkins is also documenting the 50th anniversary of the Edmund Fitzgerald, and said both projects are equally important.

“We don’t remove artifacts,” Adkins said. “It’s sacred ground. Think of it like Gettysburg — you don’t take something home. You honor it.”

Dennis agreed: “They’re not just studying a wreck. They’re honoring the lives that were lost.”

The team is now focusing on other targets — including two long-lost French minesweepers from World War I that sank with 78 sailors aboard. 

“We’ve been looking for them for years,” Adkins said. “They could be much deeper than expected — or closer to the Canadian shore.”

The historical society holds annual permits and maintains legal clearance to operate near international waters. 

“We’re allowed to search, we just can’t touch the lakebed,” Adkins said. “And everyone on board has to carry a Nexus card — an ID that allows for faster border clearance between the U.S. and Canada.”

For more details, visit shipwreckmuseum.com.