Diver finds, documents 3 Lake Michigan shipwrecks

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — A Benzie County diver claims to have found and documented three shipwrecks in Lake Michigan.

The Traverse City Record-Eagle reports Saturday that Ross Richardson of Lake Ann dove to the wrecks this summer. They are located about a quarter-mile from Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in West Michigan.

He tells the newspaper he decided to search the area with sonar equipment after a piece of wreckage washed ashore last year.

Richardson is working with Sleeping Bear Dunes officials to identify the wrecks. He believes two were sailing vessels, while the third possibly was powered by steam. One of the ships has numerous artifacts.

Richardson discovered the Westmoreland last year in Lake Michigan near the Leelanau Peninsula. The 200-foot steamer sank during a storm in 1854.