A shipwreck discovered by students from
Northwestern Michigan College’s Waters Studies Institute and Freshwaters Studies program in July has been identified.
The ship was identified recently as the
B West, a locally-operated barge that sank in 1957. According to a press release from Northwestern Michigan College, the
B West was a 122-ton self-propelled lumber barge that sank off Northport, Dec. 16, 1957, when its bilge pump failed. Despite help from the Coast Guard, the ship took on water and sank under 20-foot waves.
Salvage was intended in 1958, but the location of the barge’s wreck was unknown until it was discovered this July.
The discovery of the
B West coincided with the end of the
Nautical Archeology Society’s 2011 International Field School held at NMC’s Great Lakes Campus, providing the team of 20 nautical archeologists from around the world to apply their newly-honed archeology skills.
"The timing here could not have been better," says Dr. Mark Holley, the Nautical Archeology Society’s program director. "The NAS field school brought together trained archeologists from all across the United States and four different countries. We had the right people at the right place at the right time and were able to complete the research with unusual speed and expertise."
Divers from the field school team are likely the first to visit the
B. West since it sank. Due to the depth and cold bottom conditions only divers with advanced diving qualifications inspected the site.
Built in Buffalo, NY in 1905, the
B West lies in 100 feet of water at the mouth of Grand Traverse Bay between the Leelanau Peninsula and Charlevoix. It measures 100 feet in length by 24 feet in breadth and sits upright on the lake bed with no apparent damage, as if it were still underway to Northport, Holley says. He calls it "the prettiest wreck that I have ever seen."
"This is a magnificently preserved example of the types of cargo barges that were the backbone of commerce in this part of the Great Lakes in the first half of the last century," says Holley.
The metal hull and deck is intact and mechanical equipment is present on the stern deck. Two large outboard engines complete with props extend off the stern. The name
B West is clearly visible painted in white block letters on the bow.
The wreck will be more fully documented in the spring of 2012.
Writer: Sam Eggleston
Source: Dr. Mark Holley, Nautical Archeology Society
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