By Tim Binnall
A powerful storm that battered the shore of Lake Michigan last week wound up uncovering something of a historical mystery in the form of a sizeable shipwreck that had been buried in the sand. According to a local media report, Kim McDaniel made the weird discovery last Thursday after she'd finished eating Thanksgiving dinner and went to check on her neighbor's summer home in the city of Muskegon, where a massive storm had swept over the area on Wednesday. Much to her amazement, sitting in the sand just off the shore of the property sat the remains of an 86-foot-long wooden ship.
McDaniel reported the odd find the following day and the Coast Guard sent a pair of divers out to the area to examine the vessel, which was determined to be from the 19th century. "They didn't have roads in Michigan then," she explained, "so they used these ships who delivered goods up and down the coasts to different cities." Local experts are now working on trying to identify the wreck and determine how it ended up buried in the sand off the coast of Muskegon.
While marine archaeologists work on solving that mystery, McDaniel expressed concern that the publicity surrounding the newfound shipwreck may draw curious visitors to the private property where it is located. "Please, please respect this relic. Please give the professionals a chance to measure her, to identify her," she asked the public, "right now she is unknown, she is uncharted." McDaniel specifically cautioned that the area around the vessel consists of eroding sand dunes that could be dangerous for unprepared explorers.