Shipwreck hunters make jaw-dropping find at bottom of giant lake

Lake Superior is the largest freshwater lake on the planet, and its depths are home to secrets which have lain dormant for decades.

Shipwreck hunters couldn’t believe what they were seeing recently after coming across a staggering discovery at the bottom of the lake.

A wreck of the 244ft (74-metre) bulk carrier Arlington has been found dating back to 1940.

The discovery was announced by The Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society and shipwreck researcher Dan Fountain.

The Arlington was uncovered in 650ft (200 metres) of water around 35 miles north of Michigan’s Keweenaw peninsula.

The wreck was found thanks to Mr Fountain who has been conducting remote sensing in the lake for about 10 years, said Bruce Lynn, executive director of the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society.

(Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society)

Lynne recounted how Mr Fountain had approached the group with “a potential target” near the northern tip of the Keweenaw peninsula, and the Arlington was discovered last year.

“These targets don’t always amount to anything… but this time it absolutely was a shipwreck. A wreck with an interesting, and perhaps mysterious story,” he said in the statement. “Had Dan not reached out to us, we might never have located the Arlington.”

The location of the Arlington has remained something of a mystery since it set off from Port Arthur, Ontario, on 30 April 1940, loaded with wheat and headed to Owen Sound, Ontario, under the command of Captain Frederick “Tatey Bug” Burke.

Dense fog and a storm caused the Arlington and a larger freighter, the Collingwood, to run into difficulty and the Arlington began taking on water.

While the ship’s first mate ordered the Arlington onto a course to hug the Canadian north shore to provide cover from wind and waves, Burke countermanded and ordered his ship back across the open lake, the discoverers said.

Early on 1 May 1940, the Arlington began to sink and the ship’s chief engineer sounded the alarm. The crew, “out of fear for their lives, and without orders from Captain Burke”, began to abandon ship, the society said in a statement.

All crew made it safely onto the Collingwood except for Burke, who went down with the Arlington. Reports indicate he was last seen near its pilothouse, waving at the Collingwood, minutes before his ship vanished into the lake.

The shipwreck society said in the statement that “no one will ever know the answer” as to why Burke acted as he did before his ship was lost.

“It’s exciting to solve just one more of Lake Superior’s many mysteries, finding Arlington so far out in the lake,” Mr Fountain said in a statement. “I hope this final chapter in her story can provide some measure of closure to the family of Captain Burke.”

Additional reporting by AP.

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