Skip to content

Mysteries of the Depths

Shelf with books

About this Activity

Often, we know very little about the final moments of a ship lost at sea.

Explorers and archaeologists use stories and historical records to try to piece together the final moments of a ship lost in the waters of the Great Lakes.

Choose one of the three books to learn about a famous Great Lakes shipwreck.

The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald


At 222 metres (729 feet, or roughly 2-1/2 football fields), the Edmund Fitzgerald was the largest ship ever to sail the Great Lakes at the time.

She was nicknamed "Mighty Fitz" when she was launched in 1957 with 15,000 people cheering.

But in 1975, she would sail into the dreaded "Gales of November" for the last time.

The bow section of a ship, its cabin light glowing, in the foreground passing the Edmund Edmund Fitzgerald in the distance, which is being struck by waves in stormy weather.

The Edmund Fitzgerald sighted in rough waters.


It was on November 9, 1975, on Lake Superior, that Mighty Fitz sailed into a storm. The waves were enormous, rising as high as 11 metres (35 feet), higher that a 3-story house!

The captain of the Fitzgerald radioed another freighter in the storm that the ship was listing to one side, and that waves were crashing over the deck. He added, "It is one of the worst seas I've been in".

he Edmund Fitzgerald docked and being loaded with grain from an overhead crane. A tugboat is passing by in the foreground.

The Edmund Fitzgerald being loaded with cargo.


That night, the Edmund Fitzgerald was battered by the storm for hours, but no distress signals were sent.

Her last message was radioed by the captain: "We're holding our own". Then nothing more.

The Edmund Fitzgerald moving heading in stormy waters at night, as a giant wave hits it from the left side, rising up over the deck. Silhouettes of sailors are visible in the cabin windows.

The Edmund Fitzgerald hit by waves.


The next day, the Edmund Fitzgerald was reported missing.

A large scale search with ships and planes was made for survivors, but only debris was found.

She had sunk with all 29 crew.

Two cargo ships in stormy waters searching for the Edmund Fitzgerald, as a twin prop plane and helicopter fly overhead. Lightning strikes the water in the distance.

Ships and planes search for the Edmund Fitzgerald.


The wreck wasn't located until the next year, lying in 530 feet of water and broken in two.

In 1980, Jean-Michel Cousteau, the son of the famous underwater dive explorer Jacques Cousteau, sent the first piloted submersible to the wreck site.

A light from a small submersible illuminates the bow from the wrteckage of the Edmund Fitzgerald, which lies broken in two on the lake bottom.

A submersible scans the broken wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

What happened to Le Griffon?


In 1679, one of the first ships of sail on the Great Lakes was lost forever in the cold mists of Lake Michigan.

The French ship Le Griffon was a 'barque' that had one or two masts with several square sails.

Le Griffon made only one voyage in its short life, but its disappearance remains the oldest and maybe greatest mystery of the Great Lakes shipwrecks.

Le Griffon under full sail in open water, with dramatic clouds on the horizon. Two fur traders paddle out to meet the ship in a canoe carrying wrapped bundles.

Le Griffon meets up with a canoe.


Le Griffon was built on the shore of the Niagara River in 1679 by the famous explorer Robert La Salle.

It was perhaps the first full sized sailing ship to sail on the Great Lakes. Typically, canoes and flat bottomed cargo boats called 'bateaux' were the primary means of water transportation and continued to be so for many years.

Le Griffon, showing two masts, under construction between two wooden docks on the shore of the Niagara River, with a small settlement in the backround, canoes pulled up on shore, and a few small boats on the water.

Le Griffon under construction.


On its maiden voyage, La Salle and his men sailed and hauled the vessel all the way to Georgian Bay.

They were looking to trade for precious furs and to explore.

From Georgian Bay they sailed on to a Huron settlement Mackinac Island, and and then towards Green Bay.

Fur traders, their canoes on the shore nearyby, carry cargo bundles on their backs up the gangway onto Le Griffon. The ship is moored to a wooden pier, and fur bundles and barrels are piled nearby.

Fur traders load their cargo aboard Le Griffon.


After loading many furs onto the ship near Green Bay, Le Griffon set off towards MacKinac Islannd to off-load cargo.

La Salle remained behind to explore further by canoe.

Le Griffon was never seen again.

Le Griffon in full sail, underway on a lake in good weather. The crew is on deck and the flags atop both mastheads indicate the ship is sailing downwind.

Le Griffon on its return voyage.


No one knows the ultimate fate of Le Griffon.

Over the years, many explorers have tried to locate her final resting place, but with no luck.

Today underwater explorers continue to search for the remains of what many consider the first true shipwreck on the Great Lakes.

Le Griffon lying upright on the lake bottom. The rigging, masts and yards are in disarray and debrie is strewn about the lake botton near the hull.

Le Griffon lying upright on the lake bottom.

Disappearance of the Bannockburn


Built in Scotland in 1893, the SS Bannockburn freighter was a steel hulled workhorse that was renowned for her toughness.

She had sunk once before and run aground, but had always survived.

The Bannockburn at night on open water in a storm. Its cabin glows with lamplight, smoke billows from its funnel, as a giant wave strikes the bow. In the distance, another large steamer can be seen listing to one side.

The Bannockburn underway in heavy seas.


In November of 1902, the Bannockburn was headed downbound (downstream) with a load of grain from Fort William, now known as Thunder Bay, to Kingston, Ontario.

As she headed towards the Eastern end of Lake Superior, a great storm blew up.

The Bannockburn alongside a pier, being loaded with cargo by a crane swung out over the ship. Three barrels rest upright in the foreground and two dock workers are near the ship.

Loading cargo onto the Bannockburn.


Her captain was experienced, but her crew was young.

She was last seen by a passenger steamer called the Huronic heading towards the Soo Locks in the fog.

After that, she disappeared and was never seen again.

T�w�o� �u�n�i�f�o�r�m�e�d� �o�f�f�i�c�e�r�s� �i�n�s�i�d�e� �t�h�e� �H�u�r�o�n�i�c� s� �w�h�e�e�l�h�o�u�s�e�,� �o�n�e� �h�o�l�d�i�n�g� �b�i�n�o�c�u�l�a�r�s�,� �l�o�o�k� �o�u�t� �i�n�t�o� �t�h�e� �n�i�g�h�t� �a�t� �B�a�n�n�o�c�k�b�u�r�n� �i�n� �t�h�e� �d�i�s�t�a�n�c�e�.�

Crew aboard the Huronic catch sight of the Bannockburn.


A few weeks later, a life jacket from the Bannockburn came ashore near the Grand Marais Life-saving Station.

That was the only debris from the Bannockburn ever found.

A man dressed warmly and holding binoculars approaches a life jacket washed up onto the rocky shore. In the background, another man is standing on the balcony of a lookout tower beside a larger Life Saving Station house.

A life jacket from the Bannockburn washes ashore.


No one knows exactly where the Bannockburn lies, but there have been many reports of strange ghostly sightings of her.

Sailors have reported seeing a ghost ship steaming right at them out of the fog. And some claim to have even seen a skeleton at the wheel!

The Bannockburn lying partly on its side and covered in silt on the lake bottom, surrounded by debris and a small lifeboat near the stern.

The Bannockburn lying upright on the lake bottom.