Friday, April 10, 2026
Shipwrecks of the Great Lakes
The Great Lakes of North America have served as transportation routes for hundreds of years. Thousands of vessels, from canoes to car ferries and steamers to ore boats, have sailed these “inland seas.” Today, over 6,000 vessels in the Great Lakes have caused an estimated loss of 30,000 mariners’ lives. There are about 550 wrecks in Lake Superior, most of which are undiscovered. At least 200 wrecks lie along Lake Superior’s Shipwreck Coast, a treacherous 80-mile shoreline with no safe harbor between Munising, Michigan, and Whitefish Point. The famous Edmund Fitzgerald lies just 15 miles northwest of Whitefish Point.
