Midwestern boaters know the bottom of Lake Michigan is a vast graveyard of shipwrecks — at least 2,000 — and local maritime historians say 1,200 of those have long since disintegrated.
So when a group of researching historians say they have found one of the deepest wrecks ever discovered in the Great Lake — the 214-foot John V. Moran, some 365 feet beneath the surface — it’s a story.
Take a look at this ROV video of the John V. Moran from the Michigan Shipwreck Research Association.
The Moran met its end about midnight on Feb. 9, 1899, when it bucked ice floes on its run from Milwaukee to Muskegon, Mich., to deliver a cargo of barreled flour and packaged goods.
The ship was only 11 years old and had an iron-reinforced hull for winter transit, but the conditions on this day were too much for the steamer, according to a report by local WZZM 13 News.
