'29 cars in sunk car ferry @ bottom of lake Michigan

I just watched a program on History Channel about divers that do weird stuff. They found and searched the remains of a car ferry that sunk off the coast of Wisconsin in the lake Michigan. The year was 1929 and the cars were new, never delivered. Knowing the story of preservation in the cold, low oxygen content Great Lakes just wondering if anyone else knows about these. The program is probably at least a year old and I wonder if any of these cars have shown up anywhere waiting for someone to claim/buy them or restore them?

 

nobody knows about 'em, your the first, that means they are yours to keep, go get 'em you lucky stiff

 

I saw that show also. The cars you saw are in train cars still inside the ferry. The trouble to get them out and to the surface would be incredible. Not to mention the fact that the wreck is protected by the government and no "souveniers" will ever be taken.

 

Old men watching the History Channel, scary. They looked to be in pretty good condition.

 

Do you actually see the cars on the show? On another thread they say they were nash's. When I was at the Kissel museum years ago, they mention about a ferry carrying a load of new Kissel cars going down about the same time frame. Just wondering how many ferries are down there?

 

I bet their in better condition than the Tulsa car!

 

floored, that thing about the guv'ment keeping us from them is sad but probably true.

chopped, I resemble that remark! But hate that it's true.

fuzzface, yeah I saw the pics in the program they did mention that they were Nashes. I couldn't remember until you posted it. Someone must have SOME interest to be able to identify them in their location and condition.

Lobucrod, I bet they are too!

 

Hahahaha!

I have a buddy that dives Lake Michigan a lot, and he says that things do stay remarkable well preserved in the Great Lakes. However, I think that they would be protected as dive sites, and after 78 years under water "well preserved" is a very relative term.

 

Don't know about the car ferry, but in the early 1950's, a ship named the Prince Wilhelm lV , went down 4 miles due east of Milwaukee, carrying Nash autos. I believe they were Metropolitans. This wreck is well documented, and I assume visited regularly. Not being a diver ,I don't know the depth or details. I'm sure someone must know the details......Ole Pork

 

If I remember correctly salvage rights are different in lake Michigan( maybe all great lakes) than the oceans. Anything removed from lake Michigan is automatically claimed by Wisconsin or Michigan depending were it was located. That is why noone salvages in lake Michigan. You can go down and look at it , document it , but you can't remove it and claim it.

 

Wow! Cool Pics!! I've always wanted to get certified...but large bodies of water tend to creep me out. Guess that's what I get for going to see "Jaws" when I was little...

 

Surprised they're not wearing dry suits. Lake Michigan is cold as hell....all year.

 

Ill bet you are right. what makes the metal rust is when its getting wet then dry then wet again.
If its either constantly wet or constantly dry then they tend to stay pretty well preserved.

 

At the risk of sounding a bit smug, let me tell you how it was.

In October of 1929 (22nd) the Grand Truck car-ferry SS Milwaukee put out of it's Milwaukee, Wisconsin berth, skippered by a gentleman affectionately known as "bad weather McKay." (Robert H. McKay) Mckay made it a practice to head out into weather most skippers would seek shelter from. The ship departed with cargo that included new Kissel automobiles (in boxcars), manufactured in Hartford, Wisconsin. The vessel was bound for Grand Haven, Michigan on the Eastern shore of Lake Michigan. It never made it. For a number of reasons speculation over the years placed her resting spot near the Michigan side of the lake.

My friend, Roger Chapman, was an amateur diver in the early 1970s and was making his way Northward along the Wisconsin shoreline of Lake Michigan in his tug, on the way to Manitowoc (?) to have it serviced. En route, he and another diving companion were "dinking" around with some sonar equipment they had just acquired, and about 4 miles east of Fox Point, Wisconsin came up with a major hit. Nothing at that point was on the their charts, so they marked their position and continued on their way. Weeks later they went back to the sight, went down and discovered the SS Milwaukee. The seagate was badly bent (second from last picture), which would have permitted severe and instantaneous flooding of the lower deck in heavy seas. Such flooding would have upset the ship's critical balance, most likely causing the ship to roll badly and sink.

The third image is interesting. Notice the wheels of the rail-car still on the deck track ! The visible chain functioned (about four to six per car)to keep the car from rolling in heavy seas, and thus secure to the trucks. The trucks were also secured with two or three chains over each axle, drawn tight to the deck with turnbuckles.

The last image displays what's left of the ship's identification..."Milwaukee."

The Prince Wilhelm V collided with another ship in the fog October of 1954, about 3 miles due East of Milwaukee. She sank there with a cargo of, among other things, Nash products.

The Milwaukee Public Library has a great Maritime History section, and most of the stuff discussed here is documented there in one way or another.

rlk

 

Old Cars Weekly newspaper did a story on the 29 Nashes in the 1970s, and 2 cars were brought to the surface. A sedan & coupe. Just like the Tulsa 57 Plymouth, they were pretty bad. There were pics of them sitting on a barge after they were raised.

 

In the 70's there was a pond in the park where we played baseball. There was a walking bridge over it. One day the pond cleared up a bit and someone noticed a car in the pond. I do not remember what kind of car it was but the young couple inside were not well preserved. (true story)

 

Look how big the wreck is compared to that diver. That must take major balls to crawl around through that underwater.

The steel on the ship, which I imagine is pretty thick, doesn't look to good. I imagine the cars are rusty colored spots on the floor of the ship's hold by now.

 

Obviously, Your not from Michigan or Wisconsin. Hate to sound like a skunk coming to a party, but stuff rusts here in the Great Lakes.

Speaking of sunken treasures, 1/2 mile from my farm there is a 32 ford sunk in a 25-30' deep lake. Back in the late 40's the car was owned by some youngsters who drove out to their ice fishing shanty on the lake. The ice wasn't as good as they thought and the car went under.

 

sad loss of cool old cars.

 

This reminds me of my visit to Eagle Harbor MI a few summers ago. They had a nice old Chrysler in the barn at Eagle Harbor Lighthouse that was one of many that went down in the shipwreck of the City of Bangor in Lake Superior. My wife is a Yooper, but unfortunately none of her ancestors rescued one of the cars. Read the the story here:http://www.exploringthenorth.com/bangor/bangor.html

 

im terrified of water. These pics almost made me cry.

 

These are great strories, especially the narrative. Anyone got anymore? I am bored at work.

 

fuckin government would rather leave them as pollution than let us get em. its bullshit. just the kinda thing that make me angry

 

In the 1920's Chevrolet did a total recall and buy-back of the disastrous copper cooled Chevys, Boss Kettering's great fiasco. Allegedly a lot of them were barged out into the Great Lakes and given a flotation test, which they all failed. Others were reengined and sold as normal water cooled cars...this stuff from "Special Interest Autos" many years ago.
Two of the things still exist, allegedly, one in the Ford museum (purchased new for testing by Ford Engineering) and one held by a cranky customer who refused to cooperate with the recall.
The museum folks apparently got the evil thing going at one time, and described it as sounding like "a tin can full of rocks". That would be a real prize--bring back the third extant example of an utterly worthless car! I'd bet it would rake in dozens on Ebay!

 

Ghost Ships of the Great Lakes by Dwight Boyer lists the entire cargo of the Milwaukee as consisting of "two train cars of lumber, three cars of barley, seven cars of feed, two cars of canned peas, one car of grits, one car of corn, three cars of salt, one car of butter, one car of veneer, two cars of bathtubs, one car of cheese, and one car of automobiles. For insurance purposes, the contents were valued at $100,000, the boxcars at $63,500."

How many cars can fit into a box car? Could they be told from the bathtubs at this point?

Flatman (a fount of useless knowledge)

 

man.. don't you guys know anything... train box cars are water tight. lets go for a swim!

 

I guess there's a 50s Corvette at the bottom of Wasilla Lake in Wasilla Alaska, went through the ice back in the 60s. Very cold low oxygen water but lots of silt. I wish someone would go after it, maybe 50 feet at most.

 

The one that I thought would be cool to dive on was the 4,300 Mazdas that almost went down a couple of years ago. They ended up running them through a shredder after saving the ship.

 

Not material for this board... but consider the lowly Suburu 360... oposed 2-stroke twin micro car. After poor sales, and running afowl of smog, bumper height, crash worthness (et all) laws all remaining examples were loaded onto a ship and delibertly pushed overboard in the middle of the Pacific.