Father and daughter discover 1871 shipwreck on Lake Michigan fishing trip

While out on a fishing trip on Lake Michigan, a father and daughter discovered what is believed to be a never-before-seen shipwreck more than 150 years old.

Tim Wollak and his daughter Henley, from Peshtigo, Wisconsin, made the find earlier this summer. The pair stumbled across the wreck that was not marked on any charts.

“I was surprised I had never seen it before because it’s in an area where people regularly go,” Mr Wollak told Fox 11.

After some research, Mr Wollak believed the ship to be the Erie L Hackley, and posted information about the find on several community Facebook groups.

The posts eventually found their way to the Maritime Preservation and Archaeology Program at the Wisconsin Historical Society (WHS), which identified the details as being consistent with that of the barkentine George L Newman.

The vessel, a wooden, three-masted sailing ship, was constructed in 1855 in Black River, Ohio by shipwright Benjamin Flint. It measured 122 feet long and 26.3 feet in beam with an 11-foot depth of hold.

On the evening of 8 October 1871, the barquentine was sailing through the thick smoke from the Great Peshtigo Fire – the deadliest fire in US history, which killed more than 1,200 people – with a cargo of Lumber from Little Suamico when it grounded on the southeast point of Green Island, in Wisconsin.

According to WHS, the smoke was so dense that the Green Island lighthouse keeper kept the light on during the day. Keeper Samuel Drew rescued the crew, who remained at the lighthouse for a week while they salvaged what they could from the wrecked vessel.

The ship was abandoned, became covered with sand, and was largely forgotten – until it became exposed and was located by the Wollaks earlier this year.

“It was actually built in 1855, so it’s a pretty significant shipwreck, pretty old for Wisconsin shipwrecks anyways,” said Tamara Thomsen, maritime archaeologist for the WHS.

“To have it tied to the Peshtigo fire, it makes it even more special.”

Mr Wollak said he was unsure that any future trips with Henley would be as exciting. “I don’t know how we top it,” he told Fox 11.

“I told [Henley] I’m pretty sure there’s no one else in her school that has ever found a shipwreck that nobody had recorded before… I guess we’ll just have to fish more and see if we can find more shipwrecks.”