ALGOMA, Wis. — A ship called the Trinidad that took it’s last voyage in 1881 was found earlier this year off the Wisconsin coast in Lake Michigan.
The Wisconsin Historical Society said Friday that the wreck of the schooner Trinidad was found earlier this year by shipwreck hunters and historians Brendon Baillod and Bob Jaeck. Both are longtime volunteers and partners of the society.
The Trinidad was found in 270 feet of water off Algoma just off the coast of Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Historical Society said. It was in July, according to The Associated Press.
The shipwreck was found with side-scan sonar that honed in on the possible location based on accounts from survivors, the AP reported.
The Wisconsin Historical Society said that the ship was built in 1867 at Grand Island, New York by Oswego shipbuilder William Keefe. It was built for Oswego merchants John Keller and Aaron B. Merriam. It was built to pass through the Welland Canal which is connected to Lake Erie and Ontario.
“The wreck is among the best-preserved shipwrecks in Wisconsin waters with her deck-house still intact, containing the crew’s possessions and her anchors and deck gear still present,” according to a news release obtained by the AP.
The Trinidad is about 140 feet long, according to the AP. When it sunk, it was carrying a load of coal heading to Milwaukee on May 13, 1881.
The ship had a catastrophic leak after going through the Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal and ultimately sunk about 100 miles off the coast of Algoma, “taking all the crew’s possessions and the captain’s pet Newfoundland dog with her,” the news release said, according to the AP. Capt. John Higgins and his eight-person crew after they rowed in the ship’s yawl boat for about eight hours.
After Baillod and Jaeck made the discovery in July, they reported it to an underwater archeologist at the Wisconsin Historical Society who worked to arrange to have the site surveyed with an underwater vehicle to verify the ship and document artifacts, according to the news release per the AP.