A Wisconsin man and his 6-year-old daughter may have discovered an 1871 shipwreck while fishing off Green Island in Lake Michigan over the summer. Tim Wollak tells WLUK his daughter, Henley, first spotted something strange on the sonar and thought it was a Green Bay octopus. But to Wollak, it looked like a shipwreck. He posted the sonar images to Facebook, and the Wisconsin Historical Society eventually took notice, the AP reports via NBC News. This month, crews working with the state's Department of Natural Resources took a remote-operated vehicle out to Green Bay to investigate further, and found a wooden three-masted sailing ship about eight to 10 feet underwater, CNN reports.
A maritime archaeologist with the historical society says the location matches that of where the 122-foot-long George L. Newman ran aground on October 8, 1871, when it was caught in thick smoke from the Peshtigo Fire—the most devastating brush fire in the nation's history, which killed more than 1,200 people and consumed 17 towns including Peshtigo. The crew was rescued by the keeper of the lighthouse on Green Island, where they remained for a week attempting to salvage anything they could from the vessel, which they then abandoned. It was ultimately forgotten after becoming buried in sand. The historical society plans to continue working to confirm the identity of the wreck. (More Lake Michigan stories.)
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