The Henry B. Smith Shipwreck
By:
Photojournalist:
DULUTH - “The most satisfying wreck I have ever participated in locating and being the first ones to see it”, said Jerry Eliason.
At 525 feet in length, the Henry B. Smith was known as one of
the best steamers to sail the Great Lakes. Captain James Owen was known to be
late for a number of his trips, this time he was told to make the load time or
else. Unfortunately Captain Owen arrived late once again on a November day in
1913. The temperatures dropped quickly, the iron ore froze, and James pleaded
with the doc supervisor to load the ship anyway.
The ship was loaded successfully by building coal fires heating
the iron ore, so it could flow out of the hopper cars.
The Henry B. Smith set sail, but the hatches weren’t all
down.
Eliason says, “Leaky hatches and there's some strong evidence
that the leaky hatches had contributed to the sinking.”
It wasn't just the leaky hatches that caused the sinking; The
White Hurricane also known as the storm of 1913 caught as many as a dozen ships
off guard.
Just after 5 pm the Smith left the Marquette Harbor gale force
winds immediately returned and the ship was taken underwater by the huge waves
on Lake Superior. The ship took one wrong turn and was out of view, lost to the
fierce lake; the date was November 9th 1913.
“For many years”
Eliason says, “it was unfindable because of the location of where it could
potentially be was so wide spread.”
Nearly 100 years after the Henry B. Smith sank; it only took
20 minutes to find the ship. He lowered a camera more than 500 feet beneath
Lake Superior's surface and spotted the long lost vessel on May 24, 2013.