A ship vanished in the waters of Lake Superior in North America 133 years ago and the location of the wreckage has remained a mystery. Now scientists have finally found the final resting place of the massive steel steamer that went down in a violent storm. 

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The Western Reserve had 27 people on board at the time it went down in Lake Superior in 1892. Shipping magnate Peter G. Minch and his family were among those killed. One person was found alive. 

Researchers at the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society (GLSHS) carried out extensive work to learn the fate of the steamer that was once considered the "safest ship" in the world. It was hailed as an engineering marvel and was the first of the all-steel steamers built for the Great Lakes.

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The 300-foot-long ship was "the inland greyhound, built to break cargo records".

What happened to the Western Reserve in 1892?

Minch, his wife, two young children, sister-in-law, and niece boarded the ship in Aug 1892 for a cruise up through Lake Huron and onward to Minnesota. The Whitefish Bay in Lake Superior was far from calm once the sun went down. The ship was stopped for a while, and the anchor was dropped down. It set sail once again after some time. 

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However, gale-force winds hit around 9 p.m., and the Western Reserve struggled to fight them. Thrashed by the waves and the strong winds, the ship started to break apart soon. It started becoming evident that it would not survive the storm. Two lifeboats were disengaged from the ship as the 27 people on board hoped to escape the disaster.

But it didn't help, as one of them overturned immediately, drowning all its occupants.

Lifeboat with Minch and family stayed afloat for 10 hours

The second one with Minch, his family, and some of the crew members stayed afloat, drifting away in the angry waters. They could see another steamship and started shouting into the night. However, as the wind shrieked and the waves moved around violently, their screams for help went unheard.

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After being out for 10 hours, they finally started to see the outline of Lake Superior. Just as hopes of survival started to rise, the lifeboat overturned as it could not endure another force of wind. Only Harry W. Stewart, the ship's wheelsman from Algonac, Michigan, survived.

Strange shadow revealed the shipwreck

Since that fateful night, shipwreck hunters and historians have struggled to find the remains of the ship. Success came in 2024 when GLSHS Director of Marine Operations Darryl Ertel and his brother Dan detected an unusual shadow on the lakebed. They were using Marine Sonic Technology side-scan sonar when they spotted an image on their research vessel David Boyd's port side.

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"It was very small, looking out that far, but I measured the shadow, and it came up about 40 feet. So we went back over the top of the ship and saw that it had cargo hatches, and it looked like it was broken in two—one half on top of the other," Darryl told the Sun Herald.

"Each half measured 150 feet long, right on the money. We knew then that we'd found the Western Reserve."

Later, remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) entered the waters and found the remains of the steamer, confirming that it was Western Reserve. It was located 600 feet below the surface, roughly 60 miles northwest of Whitefish Point.

"Every shipwreck has its own story, but some are just that much more tragic," Bruce Lynn, Executive Director of GLSHS said.