The latest wreck info I got is a week and a half old. Here you go.
177-year-old shipwreck discovered in Lake Erie
Wednesday, June 20, 2007 3:47 PM
By Mike Lafferty
The Great Lakes Historical Society
A 177-year-old shipwreck that has eluded divers for decades has been found in Lake Erie.
“We have found the General Anthony Wayne,” Christopher Gillcrist, executive director of the Great Lakes Historical Society, said this afternoon.
Gillcrist and divers involved in the search made the announcement at historical society headquarters in Vermillion.
The wreck is in 50 feet of water, 8 miles north of Vermillion.
The Wayne was a 157-foot, side-wheel passenger steamer that sank when its boiler exploded on April 28, 1850. About 100 passengers and crew were on board.
Searchers using side-scan sonar found the site in September and confirmed the find with two dives in May.
The paddlewheel housing that bore the vessel's name was destroyed in the explosion and the ship's bell has not been found. But no other side-wheel steamer has been lost in that location.
Gillcrist said other characteristics of the wreck, including the particular type of paddle wheels, make the find conclusive.
All Lake Erie shipwrecks in Ohio waters belong to the state. Salvaging the wreck is illegal but divers can visit the site as soon as it is surveyed and the exact coordinates are released, Gillcrist said.
While the Wayne was hauling passengers and cargo from Perrysburg to Buffalo, what the ship was not carrying when it sank was a reported $40 million in gold.
More than 2,000 ships have sunk in Lake Erie over the years.
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General Anthony Wayne
Built in Perrysburgh, Ohio by Samuel Hubbell in 1837 as General Wayne 837
Specifications: 156.5 feet length, 25.75 feet wide, 10.25 depth, 390.5 tons
Rebuilt in winter 1848-49
New Specifications: 155 feet by 27.33 feet by 10 feet, 400 tons
Owned by Perrysburgh & Miami Steamboat Co.
Sank April 27, 1850 following a boiler explosion.
Cargo: Passengers, wine, cattle.
Passengers Crew Total
63 30 93
25 uninjured 15 saved 40 saved
11 wounded 4 wounded 15 wounded
10 killed 11 killed 21 killed
17 missing 0 missing 17 missing
38 killed or missing
Source: Great Lakes Historical Society
For additional health information, visit OhioHealth
http://www.dispatch.com/dispatch/content/local_news/stories/2007/06/20/wreck.html
kenb
