# 136 year old shipwreck found in Georgian Bay



## RCO (Dec 5, 2017)

[h=2]136-year-old shipwreck found in Georgian Bay -- and bodies may be on board[/h][h=2]By Rob Gowan, Sun Times, Owen Sound                                     
									Tuesday, December 5, 2017						8:01:32 EST AM	                              









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                  OWEN SOUND - The wreck of a steamship that went down in Georgian Bay during a storm 136 years ago has been found, with what could be human remains onboard.
American shipwreck hunters Jared Daniels, Jerry Eliason and Ken Merryman revealed their summer discovery to coincide with the anniversary of the Jane Miller’s sinking Nov. 25, 1881.
The 24-metre package and passenger steamer went down with 25 people aboard, including the crew.
The wreck was found in Colpoys Bay, an inlet of Georgian Bay leading to Wiarton on the east side of the Bruce Peninsula north of Owen Sound in Georgian Bay.
The ship mostly is structurally intact with its mast still standing, rising within 23 metres of the surface. The shipwreck hunters also reported spotting what could be remains of bodies.
Merryman, who’s hunted shipwrecks for more than 40 years, said it was exciting to find the missing vessel.
“People call these things time capsules and they absolutely are,” he said from his home in Minnesota.
“That ship took on 10 to 20 tonnes of cargo, so now the archeologists have a snapshot of 1880s life on the Bruce Peninsula with what kinds of things are there.”
Finding the ship is a major discovery for the area, said local marine history author Scott Cameron.
He said there aren’t many ships left from that era and it holds substantial archeological significance.
“It certainly tells a story and there is a big story to go with it,” said Cameron.
The Jane Miller was launched in 1879 on Manitoulin Island. Cameron wrote a story about the ship, available on his website at steamboatstories.ca.
The coastal steamer ran between Collingwood and Manitoulin with stops along the way, taking on passengers, farm goods and other freight.
“Rather cranky,” the ship was short and stumpy with a high profile and shallow draft that made it roll heavily in stormy seas and made it difficult to handle, Cameron writes. The night it sank it carried a heavy load from Owen Sound to Meaford, where more freight and passengers were picked up.
Witnesses on shore last saw what was assumed to be the Jane Miller heading toward Wiarton.
The hunters aren’t disclosing exactly where or how far down they found the wreck, to allow government officials time to determine how to proceed with preservation and protection.
The wreck was found upright, all but one of its davits that held the lifeboats still standing.
The hull and main deck cabins are intact, but the upper cabins have collapsed.
Their Ontario permit didn’t allow the hunters to enter the wreck, but they saw what could be bodies.
In a post at scubaboard.com, Daniel said he made out 16 bodies in different parts of the ship, while Merryman said identification was difficult because of mussel encrustation.
“I kind of suspected we might see human remains, and maybe we did, but it was hard to tell from the zebra mussels,” said Merryman. “It is hard to say.”
Merryman and Eliason have hunted wrecks together for about 27 years and found 20 working together.
Merryman, a founder of the Great Lakes Shipwreck Preservation Society, said history told them the Jane Miller went down between Big Bay, at the mouth of Colpoys Bay inlet, and what was Spencer’s dock. They looked past the dock location, theorizing the captain might have shot past it in order to drift into Wiarton.
It was on about the second or third pass that their sonar picked up the wreck.
“We found it fairly quick and it was in a diveable depth,” said Merryman. “Nowadays, that is fairly unusual. We weren’t expecting that.”
_Owen Sound Sun Times  

http://www.lfpress.com/2017/12/04/may-be-bodies-on-board-136-year-old-steamer-wreck_


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## RCO (Dec 5, 2017)

an exciting find has been made in Georgian bay , a nearly completely intact shipwreck , loaded with freight and possibly even bodies of those who died when it sank . 

it doesn't appear they've actually explored the ship itself so its unclear what is down there but considering the time period its likely to be interesting


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## RCO (Dec 5, 2017)

Tuesday, December 5, 2017         [h=1]Shipwreck Discovered Near Wiarton.[/h]Wiarton |  by         Claire McCormack  

*Divers believe they have located the Jane Miller, which went down in 1881. *

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 A ship that sank back in 1881 taking with it the lives of all 25 people aboard has been found in Colpoy's Bay by American shipwreck hunters. 
Ken Merryman and his crew made the find in Colpoys Bay this past July.
Merryman, who lives in Minnesota and his long-time friends and fellow shipwreck hunters Jared Daniel and Jerry Eliason were also looking for the wreck of the Manasoo (sunk 1928)  off of Griffith Island but found the Jane Miller first. 
Merryman says they did a 25 minute dive around the boat, and in his mind, that was enough to confirm it was, in fact the Jane Miller. 
"It seemed like it should be an easy one to find, and turned out it was." Merryman says. 

While he says history claimed it went down between Big Bay and Spencer's Landing (likely now Skinner's Bluff), Merryman figured because it was so windy ,the boat may have changed course a little. 
He figures the waves and wind caused the boat to turn, and maybe it was top-heavy and rolled while trapping people inside. 
Merryman says the gangways on the ship remain open and cargo appears to be spilling out onto the bottom of the lake.
He says fellow dive team member Jared Daniel believes he saw human remains on the boat. 
Daniel is an underwater recovery team member for his local Sheriff's office in Wisconsin.
Merryman says it was hard to tell becasue everything is encrusted in zebra mussels. 
"It looks like whatever happened, happened quickly and most of the people were sealed inside."
Merryman says while he supposes its remotely possible it could be something else, he's 99 per cent sure it's the Jane Miller. 
He says the wreck is right where the ship supposedly sank, it's a wooden steamer that's about the right length while structurally it looks like the Jane Miller. 
He hopes to go back at some point as part of his larger undertaking of circumnavigating the Great Lakes but would need another permit. Until then he has plans to dive for wrecks in Curacao and Belize. 
Merryman has found some 20 wrecks over the 40 years he's been searching for them. 
You can find his Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/ken.merryman.1

http://www.bayshorebroadcasting.ca/news_item.php?NewsID=98034


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