Wisconsin fisherman Christopher Thuss made a discovery while fishing in the foggy waters of Lake Michigan. Using sonar equipment north of the Manitowoc breakwater, he came across the wreckage of the long-lost tugboat J.C. Ames, which had been submerged for over a century.
"I didn't know exactly what I was looking at at first. I turned over that direction and the whole ship was right there," said Thuss, according to People magazine.
Thuss reported his finding to Tamara Thomsen, a maritime archaeologist with the Wisconsin Historical Society, sending her the sonar images of the wreck. Thomsen confirmed that Thuss had found the remains of the J.C. Ames at a depth of about 2.7 meters near Manitowoc.
"The J.C. Ames was a massive tugboat that sank in 1923 after serving for about 40 years," Thomsen said, according to The Washington Post. "It was an enormous tugboat. It was one of the biggest, if not the biggest tug on Lake Michigan."
Built in 1881 by Rand and Burger for $50,000, the J.C. Ames was one of the largest and most powerful tugboats on the Great Lakes, measuring 160 feet in length and featuring a 670-horsepower engine. Tugboats are generally smaller and designed to tow or push other vessels, making the J.C. Ames an exception.
Initially commissioned to haul lumber, the J.C. Ames served several purposes, including transporting railway cars and hauling railroad barges between Peshtigo, Wisconsin, and Chicago, Illinois. Beyond towing other vessels, it was also used in the pulpwood trade and had several owners over its decades of service.
Originally named the J.C. Perrett, the tugboat underwent changes over the years. In 1889, it was struck by a steambarge and sustained damage to its stem, requiring extensive repairs. A subsequent overhaul of its boilers, along with a change in ownership six years later, led to its renaming as the J.C. Ames.
After approximately 40 years of service, the J.C. Ames became dilapidated and beyond repair. In 1923, the vessel was stripped of anything of value and was deliberately set on fire near the coast of Manitowoc as part of its dismantling—a common practice at the time. Spectators watched as the flames consumed the tugboat, and once the hull was flooded with water, it sank a few meters to the bottom of Maritime Bay, where it remained hidden for over a century.
"They stripped it and took any usable machinery to repurpose ... and they set it ablaze," Thomsen explained, according to The Washington Post. "People came and watched them burn the ship. It was like an event in town. That was pretty common."
The wreck of the J.C. Ames was only recently exposed, likely due to strong lake currents washing away the sand that had covered it for decades. The relative lack of quagga mussels—a dominant invasive species in the Great Lakes that attach themselves to submerged structures—on the hull suggests that the ship had been buried until recently.
Given its shallow depth of about three meters and relatively intact structure, Thomsen believes the shipwreck could become a popular destination for kayakers and snorkelers on Lake Michigan. "It will be a great place for people to kayak and snorkel," she said, according to The Washington Post. Maritime archaeologists will begin the process of listing the J.C. Ames in the State Register of Historic Places, with hopes of eventually securing a spot on the National Register of Historic Places.
Remarkably, discovering shipwrecks runs in Thuss's family. His step-grandmother, known as "Shipwreck Suzze" Johnson, is a local legend who has located several shipwrecks over the years. Thuss was first exposed to shipwrecks as a child through her passion for finding sunken vessels.
"It was definitely my first stepping stone to learning about this. As I've grown older, it's been something I admire more," Thuss said, according to The Washington Post. "I've spent a pretty decent amount of time fishing and being around other shipwrecks, so I knew what I was looking at."
Thuss used sonar to find fish and objects underwater and had detected other shipwrecks while fishing in Door County, Wisconsin, which is known for its many shipwrecks. However, this was the first time he found an unidentified shipwreck. "I've always wanted to come across something like this, and it was pretty cool," he said.
Thomsen praised Thuss for reporting his discovery. "This is sort of ingrained in his roots. It's pretty amazing," she said. Finding abandoned boats is difficult because they are often covered in sand and sediment. "It has to be the perfect conditions. He was in the right place at the right time," Thomsen noted.
The J.C. Ames adds to the more than 6,000 ships that are believed to have sunk in the Great Lakes. With the ongoing threat of invasive species like quagga mussels deteriorating submerged structures, historians and archaeologists are racing to locate shipwrecks before they are lost forever.
Written with the help of a news-analysis system.