NIPIGON — The underwater archeology team from Parks Canada has completed a detailed 3D scan of the Mary E. McLachlan, a shipwreck lying in the waters of Lake Superior near Mountain Bay.
Using multi-beam echo sounder technology, the team generated high-resolution images of the wreck.
Built in Michigan in 1893, the Mary E. McLachlan was one of the largest four-masted schooners to sail the Great Lakes, stretching over 250 feet in length. After being sold in 1915, to Port Arthur (now Thunder Bay) it was rebuilt as a sand barge. The vessel sank in 1921 after it sprung a leak while working near Mountain Bay.
“This ship was getting on in years at the time,” said Dr. Lisa Sonnenberg, Cultural Resources Management Advisor at the NMCA. “There were reports that it might have been a bit run down. But the exact cause of the leak remains unknown.”
Despite being over a century old, the wreck is remarkably intact, Sonnenberg said.
“It’s a very popular dive spot, mostly because it is fairly intact and it’s quite large,” she noted. “It was one of the largest schooners on the Great Lakes at the time, and it’s reasonably shallow, so it’s much more accessible than some of the other wrecks we have in the national marine conservation areas.”
The multi-beam echo sounder, mounted to a boat and capable of sweeping wide swaths of lakebed, allowed the team to map the wreck in striking detail. The 3D imaging not only captures the ship’s structure but also helps locate associated debris and artifacts, such as the schooner's missing anchor.
“One of the things that’s been a bit of a mystery is the anchor,” Sonnenberg said. “It used to be on the boat, and now it’s not, but I think through the 3D imagery, we were able to find out exactly where that anchor now lies.”
Although the team had also planned to conduct photogrammetry, collecting thousands of overlapping photos to create a photo-realistic 3D model, water conditions proved too murky for that level of imaging.
She said they hope to try again some day but there is a long list of other boats they would also like to scan.
The ongoing work is part of a long-term strategy to catalogue and protect underwater heritage in the Great Lakes region. “As we learn more about the things that are in the waters of Lake Superior, we kind of get a list,” said Sonnenberg. “We then go to our national office team and say, ‘Here are some things you might want to look at in the future.’”
The scans not only help determine what is present at the site but also establish a baseline for monitoring change over time. “We can go back 5, 10 years from now, do the same scan, compare the two, and see if there have been changes in the condition of the ship,” Sonnenberg explained.
While the Mary E. McLachlan continues to attract divers, officials urge caution and respect for these delicate underwater sites.
“The water is very clear, but it’s also really, really cold,” said Sonnenberg. “We do hope that people come out and view some of our beautiful wrecks, but we want to make sure that people are being safe, going out with qualified guides and following the adage: take pictures, leave only bubbles.”
As technology continues to open new windows into the past, projects like this one ensure that the stories of Great Lakes shipping heritage endure and that these silent sentinels beneath the surface are preserved for generations to come.