The Frank D. Barker sank after striking rocks in foggy conditions in 1887, and it's been sitting beneath 24 feet of water off the coast of Wisconsin ever since.
Wisconsin Historical SocietyA depiction of the Frank D. Barker in a storm.
More than a century ago, a ship called the Frank D. Barker became one of the many unfortunate vessels to be devoured by the Great Lakes. In 1887, the ship ran into a limestone outcropping after bad weather forced it off course — and slowly but surely the ship disappeared beneath the waves. Now, its wreckage has been found in the depths of Lake Michigan.
Spotted by chance, the discovery of the Frank D. Barker concludes the story of a ship that began over a hundred years ago.
Discovering The ‘Frank D. Barker’ In Lake Michigan
Matt Olson/Wisconsin ShipwrecksWhat remains of the Frank D. Barker, specifically its ceiling planking, underwater.
The discovery of the Frank D. Barker shipwreck came about by chance. According to a statement from the Wisconsin Historical Society, Matt Olson, the owner of Door County Adventure Rafting, was scouring satellite images of Lake Michigan for good rafting sites when he noticed a strangely shaped shadow beneath the water near Rowleys Bay. Olson, who has located two other shipwrecks in the past, set out to investigate.
“I was looking on satellite images of the waters around the peninsula around here, and I happened to come across this sort of anomaly in the water. This object that maybe could be a shipwreck, maybe it’s not,” he told WLUK.
Sure enough, faintly visible from the surface was the remains of a shipwreck.
“We were very excited and surprised nobody had found this wreck as it is huge and only in 20 feet of water,” Olson told All That’s Interesting.
He called the Wisconsin Historical Society, which sent divers to investigate the wreck and determine which ship Olson had found.
Wisconsin Historical SocietyA diver investigating what remains of the Frank D. Barker.
“Whenever we receive this type of call, it’s hard to know exactly what we will find,” Tamara Thomsen, a maritime archaeologist with the Wisconsin Historical Society, remarked. But in this case, the shipwreck was quickly identified based on its size and location. Thomsen added:
“We were excited to identify the wreck as the Frank D. Barker, whose exact location has been lost for over a century.”
How The Doomed Ship Sank In 1887
The Frank D. Barker was a wooden, two-masted, 137-foot-long vessel built in 1867 in New York. It was specifically designed for transporting cargo from ports in Milwaukee and Chicago to Lake Ontario, and, for 20 years, it did exactly that. But in 1887, disaster struck during a voyage on Lake Michigan.
As the ship traveled between Manistee, Michigan, and Escanaba, Michigan, with the task of collecting iron ore, a storm arose on Oct. 1, 1887. The storm was powerful enough to knock the Frank D. Barker off course. Although the crew attempted to correct course, their efforts were futile due to foggy conditions. The ship eventually ran aground on a limestone outcropping near Spider Island.
The crew was rescued, but the Frank D. Barker was not as lucky. An early recovery mission failed, as did subsequent salvage missions. Ultimately, the ship that was worth $8,000 — over $250,000 in today’s currency — was lost.
Wisconsin Historical SocietyHuge chunks of the Frank D. Barker are still visible beneath the water.
The vessel was thus forgotten for over a century. Though parts of it are visible from the surface, the same limestone outcropping that sank the Frank D. Barker has also discouraged boaters from getting close.
But now, the story of the Frank D. Barker has finally resurfaced. It joins other Great Lakes shipwrecks that have been rediscovered in recent years, including a tugboat called the John Evenson that sank in Lake Michigan in 1895 and the SS Western Reserve, a ship that tragically sank during a pleasure cruise in Lake Superior in 1892.
Each shipwreck has its own unique story, and Olson is thrilled to be part of yet another rediscovery.
“It’s an incredible feeling to come across a shipwreck of this size and in such great condition, especially knowing how long it went undetected,” he remarked. “I am honored to play a role in bringing this history to light so folks can better understand Wisconsin’s maritime history.”
And Olson is positive that more shipwrecks will be discovered in the years to come.
“As technology improves and becomes more accessible, we’re bound to find more in the future,” he told All That’s Interesting.
After reading about the 138-year-old shipwreck found in Lake Michigan, discover the astounding stories of famous sunken ships around the world. Or, learn about the Andrea Gail, the tragic, real-life shipwreck in 1991 that inspired the movie The Perfect Storm.
