SS Myron
Encyclopedia
The SS Myron was a wooden steamship built in 1888. She spent her 31 year career as lumber hooker
towing schooner
barges on the Great Lakes
. She sank in 1919 in a Lake Superior
November gale
with the loss of all her crewmen but her captain who was found drifting on wreckage near Ile Parisienne
. Her tow, the Miztec
, survived. The Myron defied the adage that “Lake Superior seldom gives up her dead” when all 17 crewmembers were found frozen to death wearing their life jackets. Local residents chopped eight of the Myron sailors from the ice on the shore of Whitefish Bay
and buried them at the Mission Hill Cemetery in Bay Mills Township, Michigan
.
The Myron's steering wheel, steam whistle
, and many other artifacts were illegally removed from her wreck site in the 1980s. They are now the property of the State of Michigan and are on display as a loan to the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum
. The wreck of the Myron is protected as part of an underwater museum in the Whitefish Point Underwater Preserve
.
Myron was built as a lumber hooker in 1888 in Grand Haven, Michigan
. She was originally named Mark Hopkins for the son of Captain Harris Baker, the first of a series of owners. Her name was changed to Myron in 1902.
The Myron suffered several major mishaps and rebuilds during her 31 year career on the Great Lakes. She was sunk by the Vanderbilt on 27 September 1895 in Hay Lake near Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan
. She was raised 19 October 1895 and rebuilt in Marine City, Michigan
in 1896. She was released after she ran ashore on Long Point on Lake Erie
in 1901. She was rebuilt again from 1903-1904 in Bay City, Michigan
.
The Myron averaged 12 trips a year at the end of her career and she sailed under the flag of O.W. Blodgett Lumber Company, considered the last of the big lumber companies on the Great Lakes. As a lumber hooker, the Myron was designed to tow one or two barges and to carry her own deck load to pay her way. She towed big, old converted schooners stripped of their masts and running gear to carry large cargoes. The schooner barge Miztec was the last of the Myron's many consorts
when she foundered.
on Lake Superior bound for Buffalo, New York
shortly before dawn on 22 November 1919 towing the Miztec. Both vessels were piled high with lumber. A crew of 18 was aboard the Myron and 7 manned the Miztec.
Two hours after departure from Munising, a severe November gale struck the Myron and Miztec with northwest winds blowing 60 miles per hour (27 m/s), a rapidly dropping temperature, and heavy snow. When the pounding seas opened the wooden seams on the aged Myron, her pumps could not keep up with below deck water. Ice build up on the Myron changed her center of gravity and made her unstable in the heavy seas. Her 700 hp engine could not keep up with the accumulation of water and ice until she was reduced to a speed of 3 knots. Captain Walter Neal of the Myron decided to drop the Miztec off near Vermilion Point
before he attempted to fight their way to the shelter of Whitefish Bay
. The battered Miztec dropped her anchors, swung her bow
to the seas, and survived the storm.
When the larger, steel steamer Adriatic came upon the struggling Myron, she ran alongside the Myron and provided shelter from the smashing waves in the long battle to reach Whitefish Bay. The lookout at the Vermilion Life-saving Station gave the alert when he spotted the laboring Myron shadowed by the Adriatic. Captain McGaw and his Vermilion crew launched their motor powered surf boat in the raging surf
and followed the Myron.
The Myron came to within 1.5 miles (2.4 km) of Whitefish Point when the rising water below deck extinguished her boiler fires. She slipped into a deadly trough and sank to the bottom of Lake Superior within 4 minutes. Although her crew launched her 2 lifeboats
, they were trapped by the surrounding sea boiling with wreckage and lumber. The pilothouse
of the Myron blew off as she sank with Captain Neal still inside. He climbed out the window and clung to the roof.
s but was forced to pull away to avoid foundering after touching bottom with both rescue attempts.
Captain Lawrence of the 520 feet (158.5 m) H.P. McIntosh decided to try rescuing the Myron's crew after he witnessed the Adriatic's failed attempts. He forced his steel steamer through the wreckage field to come close enough to throw lines to the Myron's crew but they were so numbed by the frigid temperature, they could not grasp the lines with their frozen hands. Captain Lawrence had to pull away for open water to avoid the McIntosh's destruction by the mountainous waves in the shallow water.
The Vermilion lifesaving crew arrived at the wreck site after a wild trip but they could not reach the Myron's crewmen without smashing their small boat in the mass of floating lumber. Captain McGaw calculated that the survivor's lifeboats would be swept down into Whitefish Bay so he rounded Whitefish Point and went 20 miles (32.2 km) in pitch darkness and heavy seas to Ile Parisienne but found nothing. Lighthouse keeper Robert Carlson reported that the exhausted Vermilion crew arrived at the Whitefish Point dock cut and bleeding from the beating they took by the heavy seas.
Twenty hours after the Myrons sinking, Captain Jordon of the steamer W.C. Franz was upbound out of the Soo Locks
and on the lookout for survivors when he sighted a body moving on wreckage near Ile Parisienne. Captain Jordon launched a lifeboat and rescued a half-dead Captain Neal from the roof of the Myron's pilothouse. Captain Neal's clothing was frozen to his body and his hands were so swollen that 2 finger rings were not visible but he survived.
The rescue of Captain Neal gave hope that others from the Myron survived. United States Coast Guard
submarine chaser
number 438 left Sault Ste. Marie with a double crew searching for survivors but was unsuccessful. Three days after the sinking, a Kingston, Ontario newspaper cited a Lake Superior adage when it declared, " ...Little hope is held out, however that Myron bodies would wash ashore, unless lashed to wreckage, as the cold lake waters prevent forming of gases, and, it is claimed bodies seldom rise to the surface. It is traditional that 'Lake Superior seldom gives up her dead.'"
All 17 crewmen of the Myron drowned or froze to death in Whitefish Bay. All were recovered wearing life jackets and covered with ice. A tug
owned by Frank Weston found a boat load of frozen crewmen in Whitefish Bay several days after the sinking. Some crewmen were frozen into grotesque shapes that had to be thawed out next to a roaring fire at a Sault Ste. Marie funeral home. Local residents found eight bodies of the Myron crew frozen in the ice near Salt Point on Whitefish Bay the next spring. Dave Parrish and Jay Johnston chopped the sailors from the ice and Simon Johnston buried them in rough boxes made at Evans mill. The sailors rest at the pine covered Mission Hill Cemetery in Bay Mills Township, Michigan overlooking Iroquois Point and Whitefish Bay. Their graves are enclosed by a white fence with a signboard "Sailors of the Steamer Myron" attached to it.
A large stern
section of the Myron washed ashore on the Canadian side of Whitefish Bay. All the lumber on the two vessels was lost. The Myron carried 700000 board feet (1,651.8 m³) of lumber and the Miztec carried 1050000 board feet (2,477.7 m³) of lumber. The lumber washed ashore for days west of Whitefish Point and in Whitefish Bay, enough lumber to build two small towns. The 31 year old Myron was valued at $45,000.
hearing, Captain Neal stated:
The Steamboat Inspection Service revoked the licenses of the masters of the Adriatic and McIntosh for life. The marine community considered the verdict a gross injustice against the masters who risked their lives, their crews, and their vessels in efforts to rescue the Myron in the treacherous shallows off Whitefish Point. It is probable that the verdict was reversed but there are no available records to confirm this.
in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. The GLSHS later positively identified the wreck in 1982 when they salvaged the builder's plate and other artifacts from the Myron for display in the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum
at Whitefish Point. Michigan’s Antiquities Act of 1980 prohibited the removal of artifacts from shipwrecks on the Great Lakes bottomlands. The Evening News reported a Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment 1992 raid on the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum and its offices that found evidence of 150 artifacts illegally removed from the state-claimed bottomlands, including artifacts from the Myron. Following a settlement agreement with the GLSHS, an axe, double sheave block, signs, a valve, steering wheel, steam whistle, lumber hook, open-end wrenches, a soup bowl, an oiler, and a block pulley from the Myron are now the property of the State of Michigan. The Myron's artifacts are on loan to the GLSHS for display in the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum.
The Myrons remains are shattered by surf and ice but she is a popular site for scuba divers. Her bow
sits upright draped with anchor chains. A large windlass
lies just off her bow. The boiler and engine sit off her port side, a metal capstan
is on the stern, most of her midsection is disintegrated, the keel
is mostly buried, and the enormous, four-bladed propeller sits upright.
The Myron's wreck site is protected for future generations of scuba divers by the Whitefish Point Underwater Preserve
as part of an underwater museum. Divers who visit the wreck sites are expected to observe preservation laws and "take nothing but pictures and leave nothing but bubbles". Great Lakes diver Harrington cautions that "divers must be certain of their abilities and equipment" when diving the Whitefish Point Underwater Preserve. The Miztec sank in 1921 and came to rest near her longtime campanion, the Myron, to be together forever.
Lumber hooker
Lumber hooker is a nautical term for a Great Lakes ship designed to carry her own deck load of lumber and to tow one or two barges. The barges were large old schooners stripped of their masts and running gear to carry large cargoes of lumber....
towing schooner
Schooner
A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....
barges on the Great Lakes
Great Lakes
The Great Lakes are a collection of freshwater lakes located in northeastern North America, on the Canada – United States border. Consisting of Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, they form the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth by total surface, coming in second by volume...
. She sank in 1919 in a Lake Superior
Lake Superior
Lake Superior is the largest of the five traditionally-demarcated Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded to the north by the Canadian province of Ontario and the U.S. state of Minnesota, and to the south by the U.S. states of Wisconsin and Michigan. It is the largest freshwater lake in the...
November gale
Gale
A gale is a very strong wind. There are conflicting definitions of how strong a wind must be to be considered a gale. The U.S. government's National Weather Service defines a gale as 34–47 knots of sustained surface winds. Forecasters typically issue gale warnings when winds of this strength are...
with the loss of all her crewmen but her captain who was found drifting on wreckage near Ile Parisienne
Ile Parisienne
Ile Parisienne is a remote, undeveloped Canadian island located in the middle of Whitefish Bay. Its light station serves as a critical aid to navigation on a major shipping lane in Lake Superior. The light tower was listed on the Canadian Register of Historic Places in 1991...
. Her tow, the Miztec
Miztec (schooner barge)
The Miztec was built as a 3-masted schooner in 1890. She was later converted to a barge and served as a consort for lumber hookers on the Great Lakes. She escaped destruction in a severe 1919 storm that sank her longtime companion, the SS Myron, only to sink on the traditional day of bad luck,...
, survived. The Myron defied the adage that “Lake Superior seldom gives up her dead” when all 17 crewmembers were found frozen to death wearing their life jackets. Local residents chopped eight of the Myron sailors from the ice on the shore of Whitefish Bay
Whitefish Bay
Whitefish Bay is a large bay on the eastern end of the southern shore of Lake Superior between Michigan and Ontario. It begins in the north and west at Whitefish Point in Michigan, about 10 miles north of Paradise, Michigan and ends at the St. Marys River at Sault Ste. Marie on the southeast...
and buried them at the Mission Hill Cemetery in Bay Mills Township, Michigan
Bay Mills Township, Michigan
Bay Mills Township is a civil township of Chippewa County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the township population was 1,214.-Communities:*Bay Mills Indian Community is a Chippewa community within the township....
.
The Myron's steering wheel, steam whistle
Steam whistle
A steam whistle is a device used to produce sound with the aid of live steam, which acts as a vibrating system .- Operation :...
, and many other artifacts were illegally removed from her wreck site in the 1980s. They are now the property of the State of Michigan and are on display as a loan to the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum
Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum
The Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum is located at the Whitefish Point Light Station north of Paradise in Chippewa County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The light station property was transferred to the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society , the Michigan Audubon Society , and the United States...
. The wreck of the Myron is protected as part of an underwater museum in the Whitefish Point Underwater Preserve
Whitefish Point Underwater Preserve
The Whitefish Point Underwater Preserve was established in 1987 to protect and conserve shipwrecks and historical resources on of Lake Superior bottomlands in Whitefish Bay and around Whitefish Point, Michigan. The formation of the Michigan Underwater Preserves helped stop controversy over...
.
History
The 186 feet (56.7 m) wooden steamerSteamboat
A steamboat or steamship, sometimes called a steamer, is a ship in which the primary method of propulsion is steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels...
Myron was built as a lumber hooker in 1888 in Grand Haven, Michigan
Grand Haven, Michigan
Grand Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and is the county seat of Ottawa County. Grand Haven is located on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan at the mouth of the Grand River, for which it is named. As of the 2010 census, Grand Haven had a population of 10,412. It is part of the...
. She was originally named Mark Hopkins for the son of Captain Harris Baker, the first of a series of owners. Her name was changed to Myron in 1902.
The Myron suffered several major mishaps and rebuilds during her 31 year career on the Great Lakes. She was sunk by the Vanderbilt on 27 September 1895 in Hay Lake near Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan
Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan
Sault Ste. Marie is a city in and the county seat of Chippewa County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is in the north-eastern end of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, on the Canadian border, separated from its twin city of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, by the St. Marys River...
. She was raised 19 October 1895 and rebuilt in Marine City, Michigan
Marine City, Michigan
Marine City is a city in St. Clair County in the U.S. state of Michigan. Located on the west bank of the St. Clair River, it is one of the cities in the River District north of Detroit and south of Lake Huron. The population was 4,652 at the 2000 census...
in 1896. She was released after she ran ashore on Long Point on Lake Erie
Lake Erie
Lake Erie is the fourth largest lake of the five Great Lakes in North America, and the tenth largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also has the shortest average water residence time. It is bounded on the north by the...
in 1901. She was rebuilt again from 1903-1904 in Bay City, Michigan
Bay City, Michigan
Bay City is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan located near the base of the Saginaw Bay on Lake Huron. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 34,932, and is the principal city of the Bay City Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is included in the Saginaw-Bay City-Saginaw Township North...
.
The Myron averaged 12 trips a year at the end of her career and she sailed under the flag of O.W. Blodgett Lumber Company, considered the last of the big lumber companies on the Great Lakes. As a lumber hooker, the Myron was designed to tow one or two barges and to carry her own deck load to pay her way. She towed big, old converted schooners stripped of their masts and running gear to carry large cargoes. The schooner barge Miztec was the last of the Myron's many consorts
Consort (nautical)
Consort is a nautical term for unpowered Great Lakes vessels, usually a fully loaded schooner barge or steamer barge, towed by a larger steamer that would often tow more than one barge. The consort system was used in the Great Lakes from the 1860s to around 1920...
when she foundered.
Final voyage
The Myron departed Munising, MichiganMunising, Michigan
Munising is a city on the southern shore of Lake Superior on the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 2,539. It is the county seat of Alger County...
on Lake Superior bound for Buffalo, New York
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
shortly before dawn on 22 November 1919 towing the Miztec. Both vessels were piled high with lumber. A crew of 18 was aboard the Myron and 7 manned the Miztec.
Two hours after departure from Munising, a severe November gale struck the Myron and Miztec with northwest winds blowing 60 miles per hour (27 m/s), a rapidly dropping temperature, and heavy snow. When the pounding seas opened the wooden seams on the aged Myron, her pumps could not keep up with below deck water. Ice build up on the Myron changed her center of gravity and made her unstable in the heavy seas. Her 700 hp engine could not keep up with the accumulation of water and ice until she was reduced to a speed of 3 knots. Captain Walter Neal of the Myron decided to drop the Miztec off near Vermilion Point
Vermilion Point
Vermilion Point is a remote, undeveloped shore with a rich history lying west of Whitefish Point, Michigan, on a stretch of Lake Superior’s southeast coast known as the "Graveyard of the Great Lakes" or, in the title of a book by noted Great Lakes maritime historian , ""...
before he attempted to fight their way to the shelter of Whitefish Bay
Whitefish Bay
Whitefish Bay is a large bay on the eastern end of the southern shore of Lake Superior between Michigan and Ontario. It begins in the north and west at Whitefish Point in Michigan, about 10 miles north of Paradise, Michigan and ends at the St. Marys River at Sault Ste. Marie on the southeast...
. The battered Miztec dropped her anchors, swung her bow
Bow (ship)
The bow is a nautical term that refers to the forward part of the hull of a ship or boat, the point that is most forward when the vessel is underway. Both of the adjectives fore and forward mean towards the bow...
to the seas, and survived the storm.
When the larger, steel steamer Adriatic came upon the struggling Myron, she ran alongside the Myron and provided shelter from the smashing waves in the long battle to reach Whitefish Bay. The lookout at the Vermilion Life-saving Station gave the alert when he spotted the laboring Myron shadowed by the Adriatic. Captain McGaw and his Vermilion crew launched their motor powered surf boat in the raging surf
Breaking wave
In fluid dynamics, a breaking wave is a wave whose amplitude reaches a critical level at which some process can suddenly start to occur that causes large amounts of wave energy to be transformed into turbulent kinetic energy...
and followed the Myron.
The Myron came to within 1.5 miles (2.4 km) of Whitefish Point when the rising water below deck extinguished her boiler fires. She slipped into a deadly trough and sank to the bottom of Lake Superior within 4 minutes. Although her crew launched her 2 lifeboats
Lifeboat (shipboard)
A lifeboat is a small, rigid or inflatable watercraft carried for emergency evacuation in the event of a disaster aboard ship. In the military, a lifeboat may be referred to as a whaleboat, dinghy, or gig. The ship's tenders of cruise ships often double as lifeboats. Recreational sailors sometimes...
, they were trapped by the surrounding sea boiling with wreckage and lumber. The pilothouse
Pilothouse
A pilothouse or pilot-house is a glass-enclosed room from which a ship is controlled by the ship's pilot. The pilothouse also is known as the wheelhouse....
of the Myron blew off as she sank with Captain Neal still inside. He climbed out the window and clung to the roof.
Rescue efforts
The Adriatic stayed with the Myron to her end and twice tried to break through the mass of debris to save the castawayCastaway
A castaway is a person who is cast adrift or ashore. While the situation usually happens after a shipwreck, some people voluntarily stay behind on a deserted island, either to evade their captors or the world in general. Alternatively, a person or item can be cast away, meaning rejected or discarded...
s but was forced to pull away to avoid foundering after touching bottom with both rescue attempts.
Captain Lawrence of the 520 feet (158.5 m) H.P. McIntosh decided to try rescuing the Myron's crew after he witnessed the Adriatic's failed attempts. He forced his steel steamer through the wreckage field to come close enough to throw lines to the Myron's crew but they were so numbed by the frigid temperature, they could not grasp the lines with their frozen hands. Captain Lawrence had to pull away for open water to avoid the McIntosh's destruction by the mountainous waves in the shallow water.
The Vermilion lifesaving crew arrived at the wreck site after a wild trip but they could not reach the Myron's crewmen without smashing their small boat in the mass of floating lumber. Captain McGaw calculated that the survivor's lifeboats would be swept down into Whitefish Bay so he rounded Whitefish Point and went 20 miles (32.2 km) in pitch darkness and heavy seas to Ile Parisienne but found nothing. Lighthouse keeper Robert Carlson reported that the exhausted Vermilion crew arrived at the Whitefish Point dock cut and bleeding from the beating they took by the heavy seas.
Twenty hours after the Myrons sinking, Captain Jordon of the steamer W.C. Franz was upbound out of the Soo Locks
Soo Locks
The Soo Locks are a set of parallel locks which enable ships to travel between Lake Superior and the lower Great Lakes. They are located on the St. Marys River between Lake Superior and Lake Huron, between the Upper Peninsula of the US state of Michigan and the Canadian province of Ontario...
and on the lookout for survivors when he sighted a body moving on wreckage near Ile Parisienne. Captain Jordon launched a lifeboat and rescued a half-dead Captain Neal from the roof of the Myron's pilothouse. Captain Neal's clothing was frozen to his body and his hands were so swollen that 2 finger rings were not visible but he survived.
The rescue of Captain Neal gave hope that others from the Myron survived. United States Coast Guard
United States Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven U.S. uniformed services. The Coast Guard is a maritime, military, multi-mission service unique among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency...
submarine chaser
Submarine chaser
A submarine chaser is a small and fast naval vessel specially intended for anti-submarine warfare. Although similar vessels were designed and used by many nations, this designation was most famously used by ships built by the United States of America...
number 438 left Sault Ste. Marie with a double crew searching for survivors but was unsuccessful. Three days after the sinking, a Kingston, Ontario newspaper cited a Lake Superior adage when it declared, " ...Little hope is held out, however that Myron bodies would wash ashore, unless lashed to wreckage, as the cold lake waters prevent forming of gases, and, it is claimed bodies seldom rise to the surface. It is traditional that 'Lake Superior seldom gives up her dead.'"
All 17 crewmen of the Myron drowned or froze to death in Whitefish Bay. All were recovered wearing life jackets and covered with ice. A tug
Tug
Tuğ is a village in the Khojavend Rayon of Azerbaijan....
owned by Frank Weston found a boat load of frozen crewmen in Whitefish Bay several days after the sinking. Some crewmen were frozen into grotesque shapes that had to be thawed out next to a roaring fire at a Sault Ste. Marie funeral home. Local residents found eight bodies of the Myron crew frozen in the ice near Salt Point on Whitefish Bay the next spring. Dave Parrish and Jay Johnston chopped the sailors from the ice and Simon Johnston buried them in rough boxes made at Evans mill. The sailors rest at the pine covered Mission Hill Cemetery in Bay Mills Township, Michigan overlooking Iroquois Point and Whitefish Bay. Their graves are enclosed by a white fence with a signboard "Sailors of the Steamer Myron" attached to it.
A large stern
Stern
The stern is the rear or aft-most part of a ship or boat, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter rail to the taffrail. The stern lies opposite of the bow, the foremost part of a ship. Originally, the term only referred to the aft port section...
section of the Myron washed ashore on the Canadian side of Whitefish Bay. All the lumber on the two vessels was lost. The Myron carried 700000 board feet (1,651.8 m³) of lumber and the Miztec carried 1050000 board feet (2,477.7 m³) of lumber. The lumber washed ashore for days west of Whitefish Point and in Whitefish Bay, enough lumber to build two small towns. The 31 year old Myron was valued at $45,000.
Criminal charges
In press interviews, the Myron's Captain Neal leveled criminal charges against the captains of the Adriatic and the McIntosh that prompted an investigation of many months by United States marine inspectors. At a special Steamboat Inspection ServiceSteamboat Inspection Service
The Steamboat Inspection Service was a United States agency created in 1852 to safeguard lives and property at sea. It merged with the Bureau of Navigation in 1932 to form the Bureau of Navigation and Steamboat Inspection which, in 1936, was reorganized into the Bureau of Marine Inspection and...
hearing, Captain Neal stated:
I was clinging to the roof of the pilothouse when the McIntosh hailed me shortly after the Myron went down from under me. The McIntosh drew alongside me, not more than 16 feet (4.9 m) away. Although it was dusk, the ship was so close that I had no difficulty in making out her name. I talked to the captain and expected that he would put out a yawlYawlA yawl is a two-masted sailing craft similar to a sloop or cutter but with an additional mast located well aft of the main mast, often right on the transom, specifically aft of the rudder post. A yawl (from Dutch Jol) is a two-masted sailing craft similar to a sloop or cutter but with an...
and pick me up. He did not do so, nor attempt in any way to help me. 'I will have a boat sent for you,' the captain of the McIntosh called. And he drew away. I have never seen him since, nor do I ever want to see him by the great hokey, pokey.
The Steamboat Inspection Service revoked the licenses of the masters of the Adriatic and McIntosh for life. The marine community considered the verdict a gross injustice against the masters who risked their lives, their crews, and their vessels in efforts to rescue the Myron in the treacherous shallows off Whitefish Point. It is probable that the verdict was reversed but there are no available records to confirm this.
Wreck history
John Steele and Tom Farnquist (Executive Director of the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society (GLSHS)) discovered the Myron's wreck in 1972 in 45 to 50 ft (13.7 to 15.2 m) of water about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) from Whitefish Point at 46°48.463′N 85°01.646′W Steel and Farnquist salvaged the anchor from the Myron and donated it to the Museum Ship Valley CampSteamship Valley Camp
The SS Valley Camp is a freighter boat that served on the Great Lakes for almost 50 years and is currently serving as a museum ship in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.- History :...
in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. The GLSHS later positively identified the wreck in 1982 when they salvaged the builder's plate and other artifacts from the Myron for display in the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum
Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum
The Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum is located at the Whitefish Point Light Station north of Paradise in Chippewa County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The light station property was transferred to the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society , the Michigan Audubon Society , and the United States...
at Whitefish Point. Michigan’s Antiquities Act of 1980 prohibited the removal of artifacts from shipwrecks on the Great Lakes bottomlands. The Evening News reported a Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment 1992 raid on the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum and its offices that found evidence of 150 artifacts illegally removed from the state-claimed bottomlands, including artifacts from the Myron. Following a settlement agreement with the GLSHS, an axe, double sheave block, signs, a valve, steering wheel, steam whistle, lumber hook, open-end wrenches, a soup bowl, an oiler, and a block pulley from the Myron are now the property of the State of Michigan. The Myron's artifacts are on loan to the GLSHS for display in the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum.
The Myrons remains are shattered by surf and ice but she is a popular site for scuba divers. Her bow
Bow (ship)
The bow is a nautical term that refers to the forward part of the hull of a ship or boat, the point that is most forward when the vessel is underway. Both of the adjectives fore and forward mean towards the bow...
sits upright draped with anchor chains. A large windlass
Anchor windlass
A "windlass" is a machine used on ships that is used to let-out and heave-up equipment such as for example a ship's anchor or a fishing trawl.An anchor windlass is a machine that restrains and manipulates the anchor chain and/or rope on a boat, allowing the anchor to be raised and lowered. A...
lies just off her bow. The boiler and engine sit off her port side, a metal capstan
Capstan (nautical)
A capstan is a vertical-axled rotating machine developed for use on sailing ships to apply force to ropes, cables, and hawsers. The principle is similar to that of the windlass, which has a horizontal axle.- History :...
is on the stern, most of her midsection is disintegrated, the keel
Keel
In boats and ships, keel can refer to either of two parts: a structural element, or a hydrodynamic element. These parts overlap. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in construction of a ship, in British and American shipbuilding traditions the construction is dated from this event...
is mostly buried, and the enormous, four-bladed propeller sits upright.
The Myron's wreck site is protected for future generations of scuba divers by the Whitefish Point Underwater Preserve
Whitefish Point Underwater Preserve
The Whitefish Point Underwater Preserve was established in 1987 to protect and conserve shipwrecks and historical resources on of Lake Superior bottomlands in Whitefish Bay and around Whitefish Point, Michigan. The formation of the Michigan Underwater Preserves helped stop controversy over...
as part of an underwater museum. Divers who visit the wreck sites are expected to observe preservation laws and "take nothing but pictures and leave nothing but bubbles". Great Lakes diver Harrington cautions that "divers must be certain of their abilities and equipment" when diving the Whitefish Point Underwater Preserve. The Miztec sank in 1921 and came to rest near her longtime campanion, the Myron, to be together forever.