![]() He and Jaeck then used a custom towfish sonar to hunt for the Trinidad in the waters where the pair suspected the ship sank.Īfter they located what they believed was the Trinidad, the ship's hull was measured with forward-looking sonar. The ship's "mascot," a large Newfoundland dog who had been asleep by the cabin stove, did not escape.īaillod said he collected dozens of historical news articles about the Trinidad, studied shipping lanes and located a previously unseen image of the boat. Higgins and the crew escaped in a small boat, rowing for nearly eight hours in chilly weather before they came ashore in Ahnapee, which is now known as Algoma. At one point the vessel needed help from a tugboat to sail through thick ice.ĪP This July 2023 photo provided by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin shows the Trinidad's intact deck house.Ī leak in the hold didn't raise alarms among the crew, given the state of the Trinidad, but early on May 11 the ship suddenly began to sink. Leaks, decayed rigging and other problems plagued the vessel in its twilight years.Īccording to Baillod, Captain John Higgins and an eight-person crew set out from Port Huron in the spring of 1881 and headed north through the Straits of Mackinac on what would be the ship's final trip. Though the grain trade was lucrative, the owners of the Trinidad didn't invest in the ship's upkeep. The two-masted vessel was what was known as a "canaller," a type of ship built to traverse the Welland Canal that connects Lakes Erie and Ontario. Merriam, who used the ship for the grain trade with Milwaukee and Chicago. ![]() It's a time capsule."Ĭonstructed in Grand Island, N.Y., the 140-foot-long Trinidad was built for two Oswego merchants, John Keller and Aaron B. ![]() "We were stunned to see that not only was the deckhouse still on her, but it still had all the cabinets with all the dishes stacked in them and all the crew's effects," Baillod told The New York Times.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |