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Great Lakes divers comb depths, find shipwreck of John V. Moran lost in 1899

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Author Topic: Great Lakes divers comb depths, find shipwreck of John V. Moran lost in 1899  (Read 256 times)
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Buccaneer
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« on: July 26, 2015, 09:47:09 pm »

At some point in the voyage, ice punched a hole in the hull and the ship began to flood. As water began to overwhelm the pumps, Capt. John McLeod, fearing a boiler explosion, ordered the crew of 24 into the lifeboats.

Thankfully for the crew, the Moran had been paced across the lake by her sister steamer Naomi, which heard the distress whistle. The ship pulled alongside about 12:30 a.m. Friday, Feb. 10, and took the stricken vessel's crew aboard in -30 degree weather.

The Naomi tried for several hours to tow the ship, which was sinking by the stern. When that proved to be futile, everything of value was stripped, the cargo was transferred or thrown overboard and the Moran was abandoned to her fate.

Because the sinking occurred along a heavily trafficked route, several other ships passed by the Moran as it slowly settled into the water. The last confirmed sighting happened a couple of days later, on Sunday afternoon, when a passing railcar ferry reported the ship still afloat.

The ship's owners tried to mount a rescue mission, but an equipment failure on the dock in Milwaukee delayed the expedition.

Cold and alone, the Moran slid under the ice, not to be seen for more than a century.

Connecting the dots

When ships sink from a gash or immediate hull breach, wreck hunters typically find the vessel's upper decks missing — usually blown apart from the force of internal air pressure escaping the incoming rush of water.

Such is the case with the Moran's identical sister ship, the Eber Ward, which rests in the Straits of Mackinac. It sank there 10 years after the Moran went down.

The Moran, however, is remarkably intact.

"The fact that we're seeing this in such perfect condition confirms a slow sinking," which is a very rare occurrence," van Heest said.

The MSRA team has found numerous wrecks and partnered on the discovery of others since inception in 2001. The group has a "hit list" of undiscovered Lake Michigan wrecks that include the Andaste, a steamer lost in 1929, and the Chicora, a steamer lost in 1895. Both sunk with all hands during a storm.

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Because there were no casualties on the Moran, the wreck's location was better known. However, that's no guarantee of discovery. Tiny variations in the historical account can have a major impact on a potential search grid.
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