The US Navy minesweeper USS Defender (MCM 2) recently searched the waters of the Marquette Underwater Preserve for lost shipwrecks. The vessel is visiting Lake Superior on a goodwill and recruiting mission known as Great Lakes Cruise 2000.
USS Defender's crew, under Commanding Officer LCDR Aaron C. Jacobs, searched
areas around possible target sites previously located by anti-submarine
aircraft in 1997. During that search, a P3
Orion submarine hunting aircraft
crew from a Navy Reserve squadron based at Selfridge Air Force
Base located several potential targets with their Magnetic Anomaly Detector (MAD). USS Defender's crew used
the vessel's AN/SQQ-30
mine hunting sonar to investigate three magnetic anomalies.
The search areas identified by the P3 crew corresponded to the assumed locations of three undiscovered wrecks - a small wooden schooner, a steel ore freighter, and an airplane. The schooner, the Tom Boy, sank in 1880 about 5 miles off Shot Point, 10 miles east of Marquette. The captain and his one man crew escaped in a life boat shortly before the schooner sank with her cargo of 2000 kegs of gunpowder. The search by USS Defender discovered several objects on the bottom, but nothing which could be identified as the schooner.
A second magnetic target detected by the sub hunters roughly corresponded to the assumed location of the lost ore carrier Henry B. Smith. This 525-foot steel steamer set sail from Marquette during a lull in the famous storm of 1913 and was never seen again. The Smith had just finished loading a cargo of iron ore when she sailed out of the harbor into the lake. Just as she disappeared into the gloom, witnesses saw her turn to the north, perhaps to seek shelter from the rebuilding storm in the lee of the Keweenaw Peninsula. The Smith was never seen again. USS Defender's crew spent several hours searching the area around the reported anomaly, but turned up no sign of the giant ore carrier.
The third anomaly generated the most interest. This target was quite close to the reported location of a mysterious plane crash. On the morning of May 3, 1976, a resident of Marquette's lakeshore reported to the police department that she could see two men standing on the tail section of an airplane afloat in the lake near Presque Isle. The sighting was confirmed by the chief of police and another officer who came to the scene, but the plane was soon lost from sight amid the fog and 8-foot waves on the lake. At about the same time, the control tower at K. I. Sawyer Air Force Base near Marquette received a distress signal from an aircraft emergency locator transmitter. An air and sea search was mounted, utilizing two helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft, boats and divers. No trace of an aircraft was ever found, however, even though the surface search continued for two days; and no aircraft were reported missing.
USS Defender's search pattern around
the third set of coordinates from the P3 magnetic search soon
located a "hard" target with some of the characteristics of an
aircraft. Once the search pattern was completed, the minesweeper's
crew re-acquired the target, stationed the ship a short distance away, and deployed their
AN/SLQ-48
Mine Neutralization Vehicle (MNV), a remotely operated vehicle
equipped with mine neutralization equipment as well as, most
importantly for this mission, a video camera. The MNV was "flown"
toward the target, guided by its own sonar as well as by the
minesweeper's search and classification sonars. As it neared the
target, small rocks began to be seen protruding out of the rippled
sand bottom. When the main target came into view, it was seen to
be nothing more than a uniquely shaped outcrop of bedrock.
The Marquette Underwater Preserve Committee would like to thank Commander Jacobs and the crew of USS Defender for the enthusiasm and expertise they displayed in assisting us in our ongoing exploration of Lake Superior history.
Marquette Underwater Preserve Page