Ship that mysteriously vanished is finally found 112 years later

The remains of a ship that suddenly disappeared more than a century ago have finally been found.

The wooden steamship Adella Shores was last seen transporting salt across the the icy waters of Lake Superior, which straddles the US and Canada, on 1 May, 1909.

It was trailing behind a larger vessel at the time, but then, as it was rounding the Michigan cape Whitefish Point, it seemingly vanished into thin air.

Nobody witnessed what happened, but all 14 Adella Shores crew members were presumed to have gone down with the steamer into the lake’s murky depths.

Some debris was subsequently found, but no bodies. And whilst experts at the time concluded that the Shores must have struck a large ice flow which punctured her hull and swiftly sank her, no one was ever able to prove this theory.

Now, more than a century later, the mystery has been solved: the ship has been found around 65 kilometres (40 miles) northwest of where the boat was last seen, buried under 200 metres (650 feet) of water.

An artist's representation of the Shores' final moments(Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society)

Researchers stumbled upon the wreck in the summer of 2021, when they were scouring the lakebed using a side-scan sonar.

Darryl Ertel, director of marine operations at The Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society (GLSHS), spotted something on the sonar imagery that caught his eye.

He then sent down a remote-operated vehicle (ROV) equipped with cameras to investigate what it was, though he had his suspicions.

“I pretty much knew that it had to be the Adella Shores when I measured the length of it, because there were no other ships out there missing in that size range,” Ertel said in a statement.

“As soon as I put the ROV down on it for the first time, I could see the design of the ship, and I could match it right up to the Adella Shores.”

Since finding the wreck nearly three years ago, members of the GLSHS have been carefully researching the Adella Shores to ensure they “tell the story accurately,” as Corey Adkins, a spokesperson for the organisation, explained.

“People often ask us why we wait so long to release shipwrecks that we find,” he said.

“Every one of these stories is important and deserves to be told with the utmost honour and respect.”

A sonar image of the steamer which now lies 200 metres beneath the surface of Lake Superior

Still, if you believe in maritime superstitions, the Adella Shores may have been doomed from the start.

It was built in Gibraltar, Michigan, in 1894 for the Shores Lumber Company and was named after the owner’s daughter Adella.

However, during the ceremonial christening of the 195-foot-long steamer, Adella’s sister Bessie smashed a bottle of water against its hull, rather than the champagne or wine – because the family was strict about alcohol.

“Old-time sailors might have seen that as a bad luck omen,” the GLSHS pointed out.

And, indeed, the Adella Shores faced its fair share of bad luck, even before its disappearance.

According to the society, it sank twice in 15 years before that fateful day in 1909. But each time it went down in shallow waters so, after both occasions, it was simply refloated, patched up and brought back into service.

Sadly, for the 14 crew members and their loved-ones, nothing could bring it back from that icy journey that ultimately caused its destruction.

Nothing, that is, except 112 years of searching and some handy sonar kit.

Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings