The wonder down under

By CONNIE STAFFORD

The Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary and Underwater Preserve, designated in October 2000, contains one of the finest collections of shipwrecks in the Great Lakes, and nearly every year more are being discovered.

This small piece of the federal marine sanctuary system is the first fresh water sanctuary and includes 448 miles designated solely for the protection of underwater cultural resources.
Jeff Gray, sanctuary manager, said it is the best collection of shipwrecks because of the number of wrecks, the variety of ship types and their condition.

“There are probably 40 sites that we’ve located of the nearly 200 in and around the sanctuary, so there are many more to be discovered,” Gray said. “The Great Lakes have cold, fresh water and that’s unparalleled for preservation; the Great Lakes have the best preserved shipwrecks in the world.”

Each summer buoys are placed at 11 wrecks that are in depths of anywhere from 50 feet to 110 feet to provide safe mooring for dive boats and protects wrecks from anchors which may damage them. The buoys are equipped, too, with lights and radar reflectors. Up to 20 buoys are tentatively planned for the coming season.

This sanctuary makes a spectacular destination for divers who want to see firsthand the marvels of early maritime transportation. An added feature of the sanctuary is that non-divers, too, can get involved in the exploration.

“More and more snorkelers are going out to the shallow sites. Kayakers, canoers and the glass-bottomed boats operating now give more people an opportunity to see them,” he said. Staff is working on maps and wreck coordinates that people may soon be able to pick up at the sanctuary office. He also hopes to one day add buoys to shallow wrecks to make them more readily identifiable to kayakers and other recreational boaters who happen upon them.

“Since they are so much more accessible to so many more people, we want to do that, kind of have a shallow water shipwreck trail eventually,” he said. What he’d like to see accomplished is a guide to the wrecks on one side of a waterproof brochure, with information about what the viewer is seeing printed on the other side.

The most recent effort by sanctuary staff is to make the shipwrecks and their stories come alive for both divers and non-divers by providing interpretive exhibits year around in the sanctuary office, located in the Federal Building.

Sanctuary Manager Jeff Gray said the new Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center, under construction in the former Fletcher Paper Co. coating plant, will draw the general public, divers, educators and researchers from around the world. The scientific research conducted on shipwreck artifacts “will ensure that we use science to make management decisions and to unlock the mysteries of the past through archeology.”

When the center’s state-of-the-art shipwreck artifact storage facility is completed by next fall, it will house a very important state collection.

“The State of Michigan will be locating its entire shipwreck archive here. Not just the shipwrecks from Thunder Bay, but from the entire state,” Gray said.

It is hoped this archival center will convince other private collectors to turn over their shipwreck artifacts, accumulated before the Michigan law protected them, as well. In this way they may be enjoyed and studied by all who come to the center.

Gray said during the October groundbreaking for the Maritime Heritiage Center, 15,000 people have been attracted to the exhibits in its temporary home in the Federal Building since June and an estimate of 70,000 annual visitors is anticipated for the new center.

A maritime festival is conducted July 4 that highlights the ships which once plied the waters of Lake Huron and the lives affected by their activities. The festival includes music, storytelling, ship tours, games and food. By this time the temporary visitors’ center in the Federal Building also will provide interesting displays and information on the variety of ships that once sailed into Alpena’s harbor.

Gray said he also plans to expand educational programs for regional students and get them out on the water on vessels like the Denis Sullivan, which provided a great experience the summer of 2003 and 2004. Plus, he has plans to obtain a small former Coast Guard boat for sanctuary use, providing another means to give children and teachers access to the sanctuary.

“That’s what we’d really like to do is have small groups going out on the water doing programs — here in the exhibits, maybe at the library — trying to take advantage of all the resources,” he said.

Once the center is developed, there also will be more real-time video dives shown via the Internet for people of all ages to see. These involve a staff member explaining what the viewer is seeing at the instant the diver swims around shipwrecks. This type of telecast was successfully tested in early October and he said he’d like to see this expanded to possibly big screen viewing by the general public at the library.