Century-old shipwrecks found in Lake Michigan

A helicopter from the U.S. Coast Guard's Traverse City, Mich. station was on a routine patrol mission over northern Lake Michigan Friday, when crew members noticed a chilling sight.

Beneath the crystal clear waters of the lake — now free of ice, but still just above freezing — they could see the wreckage of numerous lost ships on the lake bottom. They took a series of photos and posted them to the station's Facebook page, and invited local historical buffs to help them identify the wrecks.

One of the wrecks turned out to be a century and a half oldThe James McBride, a 121-foot brig was launched on April Fools Day 1848. On Oct. 19, 1857, the ship was transporting a cargo of wood from the Manitou Islands to Chicago, when it encountered a gale and was driven aground, and then abandoned as a total loss. Read more...