Lake Michigan Wreck Diving

Few divers outside of the Midwest think of the region as a major diving area, but that impression would be wrong. After all, the American Midwest sits right next to huge bodies of water such as Lake Michigan. In addition to the freshwater fish, Lake Michigan's lake bottom is littered with wrecks, many of which are immaculately preserved and offer a window into the area's maritime history.

  1. Identification

    • Lake Michigan is something of a freshwater inland sea. More than 300 miles long and with cities like Chicago, Green Bay and Milwaukee on its shores, the lake is a major avenue for commerce. Ships have ferried people and cargo around the lake and through the Straits of Mackinac to the other Great Lakes since Canadians and Americans first settled the area in the 19th century. The confined area, ship traffic and the treacherous weather of Lake Michigan combine to make it a major wreck diving area.

    Significance

    • Lake Michigan's water temperature ranges between 40 and 55 degrees Fahrenheit, with the southern end of the lake sometimes reaching up to 60 degrees in the summer months. The cold, fresh water act to preserve shipwrecks in a way that warm, bacteria-fostering water and corrosive salt cannot. Wooden vessels more than a century old rest on the bottom of Lake Michigan nearly intact. If the same vessel sank in the Caribbean, its wooden structure disintegrate in just a few decades.

    Locations

    • Lake Michigan borders on four United States states: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin. Dive operators conduct trips to ship wrecks in all four states, focusing on wrecks in their local area. Dive operators in Indiana and Chicago, Illinois focus on the the wrecks on the southern end of the lake, and while operators from the these two areas cover the same ground they do not conduct trips to the Straits of Mackinac more than 300 miles away.

    Wrecks

    • Virtually the only vessels not found on the bottom of Lake Michigan are warships. On the southern end of the lake is the David Dows, a five-masted cargo schooner that sank in 1889 in relatively shallow, 35-foot waters. Off Milwaukee is the Prins Willem V, a 258-foot steel freighter that sank in 1958, while in the Straits of Mackinac lies the Sandusky. The latter is a wooden vessel that sank in 1856, and is noted among divers for its photogenic, intact bow, including the bowsprit and figurehead. Sport Diver magazine included the Sandusky in its Top Five Lake Michigan Dives.

    Visibility and Special Equipment

    • Depending on the part of Lake Michigan dived and the time of year, visibility in the lake ranges between 30 and 70 feet, with winter often bringing on clearer water. The chilly waters demand divers wear at least a 6.5 or 7 mm semi-drysuit, with Scuba Diving magazine recommending full drysuits.