(CN) — Great Lakes shipwreck hunters on Monday announced the discovery of a World War II-era shipwreck, found 650 feet deep and smack in the middle of Lake Superior.
The Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society and independent shipwreck researcher Dan Fountain found the 244-foot bulk carrier Arlington thanks to Fountain’s work combing through remote sensing data, according to a release from the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum, which the Society operates. A tip-off from Fountain led to an excursion with a side-scan sonar rig, then dives with a remotely operated vehicle, or ROV, which positively identified the Arlington.
The Arlington sank on May 1, 1940, the day after it departed from Port Arthur, Ontario, with a hold full of wheat bound for Owen Sound, Ontario. Its captain, Frederick “Tatey Bug” Burke, was “a seasoned veteran of the lakes,” according to the release. When a storm caused the Arlington to take on water, first mate Junis Macksey ordered a change of course to hug Superior’s northern shoreline, but Burke countermanded it, taking the ship on its original course across the open lake.
By 4:30 a.m., the Society says, the Arlington was starting to sink. Its chief engineer sounded the alarm, and the crew soon began abandoning ship to board a larger freighter nearby, the Collingwood. Burke, who hadn’t ordered the evacuation, remained aboard and went down with the ship.
“An investigation, and much speculation followed the sinking of the Arlington and the odd behavior of its master,” the Society said in its release. “Why did he go down with his ship … when he easily could have been saved like the rest of his crew?
“The fact is no one will ever know the answer,” the release continued. “Reports indicate that he was near the pilothouse of his ship and waved at the Collingwood minutes before his ship went to the deep, 650 feet to the bottom of Lake Superior.”
The Society, which is headquartered near Whitefish Point, Michigan, was founded in 1978 and operates two museum sites with a number of historic sites in the area. It also operates a 47-foot underwater research vessel, R.V. David Boyd, and society Director of Marine Operations Darryl Ertel and a small crew took Fountain on an expedition to find the wreck after he approached the society with his findings.
The release also expressed the society’s appreciation for Fountain, a longtime diver and maritime historian and a retired electronics technician from Negaunee, Michigan.
“These targets don’t always amount to anything … but this time it absolutely was a shipwreck,” Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society Executive Director Bruce Lynn said in the release. “A wreck with an interesting, and perhaps mysterious story. Had Dan not reached out to us, we might never have located the Arlington … and we certainly wouldn’t know as much about her story as we do today.”
Fountain said he hoped the discovery could “provide some measure of closure to the family of Captain Burke,” and that it was “exciting to solve just one more of Lake Superior’s many mysteries.”
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