Historical researchers don’t make discoveries like this every day.
While searching the bottom of Lake Superior for the wrecks of two World War I era French minesweepers, a team from the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society found a much older, 19th century tugboat known as the Satellite.
The team was aboard the research vessel David Boyd when its remotely operated vehicle, or ROV, detected the lost vessel in August 2021.
Nearly two years later and after a great deal of research, the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society has now announced it has verified that the wreck is that of the Satellite.
“It was definitely exciting,” said Bruce Lynn, Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum executive director, speaking to SooToday Wednesday.
“We were studying the footage that we obtained with our ROV that we put down and it took a while for us to discern which wreck it was.”
The Satellite sank in U.S. waters about 48 kilometres, or 30 miles, northwest of Whitefish Point on June 21, 1879.
No lives were lost.
“We had a good idea it was the Satellite because there were a number of these tugboats built for the same owner and they all had names that started with an ‘s.’ One was Sweetheart, one was Sweepstakes, one was Satellite and so forth,” Lynn said.
In contrast to the mental picture the word 'tugboat' usually brings, these vessels were elaborate in appearance.
“They were considered to be beautiful ships when they were constructed,” Lynn said.
The ships, apart from tugging other vessels, carried passengers and cargo at times.
“The Satellite in particular was a pretty common sight. It was coming up out of Detroit but it was a pretty common sight up here on Lake Superior, so we were thrilled when we were able to determine that’s what we were looking at,” Lynn said.
“We knew right off the bat it wasn’t one of the French minesweepers we were looking for because they were steel vessels and this one was wooden. We were excited. This was a pretty unique vessel, certainly.”
Josh Gates, host of the Discovery Channel’s Expedition Unknown was with the Society’s crew when the Satellite was found and the discovery was the subject of one of the show’s episodes.
It remains a mystery why the Satellite sank.
“The captain was interviewed after it sank, and there are theories that it struck an object in the water but he was of the mind there were mechanical problems that caused water to rush in,” Lynn said.
He said there are no plans to try salvaging anything from the wreck as that is costly and requires permission from the Michigan state government.
“Eventually we could possibly create an exhibit at the museum telling the story of the Satellite. We could use that story, that discovery, to keep the history alive of that particular ship and that kind of vessel. It would help to tell the story of that era of shipping on the Great Lakes. We have a journal that we put out through the Society that we could also tell that story through. That’s our focus.”
“I wish we had a photograph of the Satellite. That would be fantastic, but the photo of the Sweepstakes gives you a really good idea of what it looked like,” Lynn said.
A sonar image of the Satellite at the bottom of Lake Superior, a drawing of the vessel, a photo of its sister ship the Sweepstakes and a video of the Satellite wreck can be found on the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum’s website.
Meanwhile, Lynn said the search for the two World War I French Navy minesweepers continues.
They were built in Thunder Bay for the Allied war effort far away in the English Channel but sank in a Lake Superior storm in 1918, claiming the lives of nearly 80 sailors.
Lynn said they are believed to be lying in waters near Devieaux Island off the Ontario shoreline near Wawa.