Shipwreck hunters make astonishing find in Lake Michigan - but there's a heartbreaking twist to the discovery

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 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. 

Tamara Thomsen, 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. 

The ship battled the harsh weather until 7:30 am when gigantic waves came crashing over its deck and several feet of water began to fill the hold, causing 71-year-old Captain David Clow to call for his crew to abandon the ship. 

The vessel had nearly made it to Ahnapee - present-day Algoma -  when they abandoned her. 

'No sooner than the order was given, the ship lurched violently and plunged for the bottom, taking Captain Clow’s faithful dog and ship’s mascot with it,' the WUAA said. 

Although all the sailors survived the wreck, they still had to battle 15-foot waves in an open boat, where they were forced to to keep 'bailing' water out of the lifeboat to make it to shore. 

They eventually made it to safety, where a local spotted the soaking wet and freezing crew of six. They were taken to the St. Charles Hotel to rest and get dry clothing. 

Captain Clow mourned the loss of his faithful dog, saying he'd 'rather lose any sum of money than to have the brute perish as he did.' 

The old captain quit sailing after the wreck, despite seeing many in his day, saying: 'I have quit sailing, for water no longer seems to have any liking for me.' 

The WUAA began looking for the shipwreck after Baillod compiled a database of Wisconsin wrecks 20 years old and he deemed the Muir 'particularly findable.' 

He approached the group in 2023 to undertake a search for the vessel, and they narrowed the search area to five square miles using historical materials. 

The sonar picked the wreck up a few miles off the Algoma Harbor entrance. 

The site is now in the process of being nominated as a National Register of Historic Places. 

Another shipwreck, the Trinidad, which was also located off Algoma in June 2023, has been deemed a historic place.