I don’t mean to be on a kick lately of showing you videos of shipwrecks in the Great Lakes. I have just been stumbling upon some truly interesting and intriguing stuff. For instance, I was searching for some video of the Mackinac Bridge at Google Video and found this video of divers exploring the wreck of the Sandusky.
This led me to do a little research about the story of the Sandusky. From its wreck to divers illegally taking pieces of the wreckage it is an interesting enough story that I thought it should be shared.
In August of 2004 Robert Allen Lemmer was found guilty of stealing the beam from another Straits wreck, the William H. Barnum. Apparently he had great plans of using it as a mantelpiece.
While investigating him, officers found artifacts from the Sandusky. Unfortunately these were taken in the 1980s and the statute of limitations had passed so he couldn’t be charged with those thefts.
The news about Lemmer via CDNN
The Sandusky was a two-masted vessel that measured in at 110 feet and was built in 1848. On September 20, 1856, the Sandusky floundered in a ferocious gale taking seven lives. Although many items of interest have been removed over the years much still remains to be seen of the Sandusky.
The intricate figurehead is amazingly enough still in excellent condition. There are anchors and a bilge pump on deck as well. You can see quite a bit in the video.
The video is on the long side (a little over 7 minutes) so if you have dialup you probably should not bother trying. Unless you want to click on it and wait for an hour, but honestly the video most likely is not worth that. This could have been edited a bit and cut down to a more reasonable 3 minutes.
However, to see the details of this ship that sank 1856 is just incredible. The Sandusky sunk 150 years ago this September. It is hard to believe considering the details such as the figurehead that are still visible after all these years 90 feet under the waters of the Straits of Mackinac.
If the above video player does not work properly you can view the video here.