Wednesday, June 30, 2021

Shipwrecks get protection in Lake Michigan

 

I just recently read about this new National Marine Sanctuary along the Wisconsin coast.  It isn't official yet, but it will be soon.  And as you can read in the short article, the reason for it is not the reason for many other marine sanctuaries, i.e., to preserve natural underwater habitat -- in this case, it's because the area has a lot of shipwrecks.   Now, I do know that the wreck of the USS Monitor from the Civil War is also a NMS, so there is precedent for such an action, but it still isn't common.

NOAA designates part of Wisconsin’s Lake Michigan as sanctuary for shipwrecks

Officially:



Here's the map of the new shipwreck saving shoreline.

























One of the wrecks is the schooner Home, which has an interesting history too.  It sank in 1858 and is 170 feet of water.  This picture (taken from the Wisconsin Shipwrecks page about the Home) shows how well-preserved it is -- one of the reasons for the establishment of the sanctuary.



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