Shipwreck Discovered at Bottom of Lake Erie

(Toledo, OH) A 100-year old shipwreck is discovered at the bottom of Lake Erie.

The Toledo-based National Museum of the Great Lakes has partnered with Cleveland Underwater Explorers, or CLUE, in search of several shipwrecks off the North Coast. 

Their latest find--  the wreck of the Margaret Olwill, a long sought steam barge which sank in 1899 off Lorain while carrying 900 tons of limestonefrom Kelleys Island to Cleveland. 

The Olwill disaster was caused by a terrible nor’easter and claimed eight lives, including the captain, his wife, and their nine-year old son. Newspaper accounts at the time showed survivors had clung to floating wreckage in the storm as they were tossed about Lake Erie for hours before being rescued. 

This now marks half-a-dozen shipwrecks the two groups have uncovered at the bottom of Lake Erie.


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