On a violently stormy November day on Lake Michigan more than a century ago, a small schooner loaded with slabs of freshly milled lumber wallowed in the trough of the huge seas as her captain and crew struggled to keep their ship afloat and their lives intact.
More than a century later, Michigan Shipwreck Research Associates attempts to identify the wreck of a small schooner off Saugatuck, Michigan. Broken and water-logged, the ship none-the-less calls out to have her story told. But with so many ordinary lumber-laden schooners lost in the Lake, identifying this shipwreck is nearly impossible.
Through painstaking research and several dangerous dives to this deep site, MSRA explores not only the wreck but the lumbering industry that sustained Michigan in its early years as a State, as well as the careers of two ordinary vessels whose work often found them along the Western shores of Michigan.
The journey ultimately leads to a surprising conclusion when it is realized that the schooner was swallowed by... a freshwater monsoon.
This program will be presented by Valerie Van Heest.
We hope to see you there next year, The Ford Seahorses.