Spooky images have been taken of the Adella Shores, a wooden steamship that vanished more than a century ago off Whitefish Point, Michigan in the US. The wreck was found 650ft below sea level, approximately 40 miles away from where it disappeared. Snaps of the 735-tonne vessel were shared by the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society. The ship, which was built in 1894 by the Shores Lumber Company in Gibraltar, Michigan, was named after the owner’s daughter.
Interestingly, sailors believed the ship was cursed after it could not fulfill the tradition of smashing a bottle of wine on its bow due to the owner’s family being against alcohol. Instead, Adella’s sister Bessie was asked to break a bottle of water over it. The Adella Shores set sail for Duluth, Minnesota with a cargo of salt on April 29, 1909, following a larger steamship, the Daniel J. Morrell, which broke thick ice for it. The Morrell’s captain suspected that the Adella Shores may have struck an ice floe, causing it to sink.
Despite debris washing up on shore in subsequent years, no trace of the crew was found until 2021. In the summer of that year, with the assistance of sonar technology, Director of Marine Operations Darryl Ertel and his brother Dan finally located the wreckage of the Adella Shores. Ertel noted that he was able to identify the ship by measuring its length, as there were no other missing ships of that size range in the area. Marine historian Fred Stonehouse expressed that the discovery of the Adella Shores is significant, as it is part of the ‘Went Missing’ club of ships on the Great Lakes that have disappeared with all hands, only to be discovered decades later.
Stonehouse also mentioned the ongoing efforts to locate other ships that have not yet been found, highlighting the ongoing mystery and intrigue surrounding maritime history on the Great Lakes.
