The 4 factors that have led to a 'golden age' of discovery for Great Lakes shipwrecks

There's never been a better time to find, explore and document shipwrecks on the Great Lakes, thanks to a combination of tech‐ nology, environmental change and surge in public interest, according to those who uncover the sunken history of the world's largest lakes.

The University of Buffalo estimates more than 6,000 shipwrecks are on the bot‐ tom of North America's five Great Lakes, which, since the late 1600s, have been lost in wars, accidents, or frequent and powerful storms.

In the last 18 months, three previously unknown Great Lakes shipwrecks have made headlines around the world, from the steel bulk freighter Huronton, the 19thcentury cargo steamer Africa, and in February, the Second World War-era freighter Ar‐ lington.

Explorers say the pace of new discoveries has quick‐ ened, thanks to new tech‐ nologies, climate change, in‐ vasive species and a surge in public interest.

Technology develop‐ ments aid explorers

"I've lived at the most for‐ tunate time possible for being an underwater ex‐ plorer because of the devel‐ opments in technology," said Jill Heinreth, a full-time un‐ derwater explorer and ex‐ plorer-in-residence for the Royal Canadian Geographical

Society.

She said cameras, drones, underwater scooters, even breathing apparatus have all improved, and in many cases have become cheaper, over her 30-year diving career, during which she's docu‐ mented everything from un‐ derwater caves to ghostly shipwrecks.

"We've gone from just us‐ ing a single scuba tank on our backs to using something that's much more akin to what an astronaut wears for a space walk," Heinreth said. "It's called a rebreather and it increases our range, our time and our depth capabilities by recycling our exhaled breath."

Underwater drones in particular have led to a num‐ ber of shipwreck discoveries. Most recently, the Africa was found in Lake Huron by a husband and wife team while filming the upcoming TVO documentary All Too Clear: Beneath the Surface of the Great Lakes.

The impact of climate change

This winter saw the lowest level of ice ever recorded on the Great Lakes. It's meant lower lake levels and higher rates of erosion along sandy bluffs, devastating coastlines and, in some cases, uncover‐ ing lost pieces of history.

Durrell Martin, president of Save Ontario Shipwrecks, told CBC's Afternoon Drive on Friday that the shifting coastlines have unearthed a number of discoveries, in‐ cluding a 600-year-old dugout canoe in Salmon Trout Lake, a small inland lake about a 20-minute drive north of Bancroft.

"This came due to frost heaves and erosion from in‐ creased run-off of water," he said. "This is about halfway between Peterborough and Ottawa, and the Ontario Mar‐ ine Heritage Committee has been documenting this un‐ usual find of Canada's precolonial history."

Martin said more discov‐ eries are likely to be made this spring as communities around the Great Lakes expe‐ rience increased erosion along their shores, caused by a lack of ice on the lakes. Invasive species

The introduction of inva‐ sive zebra and quagga mus‐ sels from Europe through the ballast tanks of freighters on the Great Lakes has made the murky turquoise waters of the Great Lakes crystal clear.

"In the early days, I once literally ran face first into a ship I couldn't see in front of me," Martin said. "Now I can see 200 feet in front of me.

"There are wrecks being found on Google Earth and people are literally finding them on their computer through satellite imagery."

The lakes have become so clear that an Ontario man has set a global record.

Hamilton photographer Steve Haining used the now crystal clear waters to his ad‐ vantage last year, when he and Brantford model Ciara Antoski set a Guinness World Record for longest underwa‐ ter photo shoot last year in Lake Huron amid the wrecks of the Fathom Five National Marine Park in Tobermory.

Increased public scruti‐ ny

With technology making it easier to document and find shipwrecks in clearer waters, more people are becoming interested in the phenome‐ non of sunken history.

Shipwreck videos and pic‐ tures rack up millions of views on social media, while social media groups dedi‐ cated to documenting the finds have tens of thousands of followers. New discoveries make headlines around the world, including in the New York Times, which recently declared this a "Golden Age" of shipwreck discovery.

Kayla Martin, a 2023 Royal Canadian Geographical Soci‐ ety Expedition grant recipi‐ ent, recently shared a 3D dig‐ ital model of the Oliver Mowat, a sunken three-mas‐ ted wooden ship, that gar‐ nered thousands of shares on Facebook.

'Golden age' to last only 30 years

Explorers say while this is a golden age, it won't last long.

The cold, deep and rela‐ tive darkness of the Great Lakes have proved to be ideal conditions for preserv‐ ing shipwrecks dating back to

the 17th century, but with cli‐ mate change and the intro‐ duction of invasive mussels, that's changing.

Clearer water means more light filters down to the wrecks, many encrusted by zebra mussels that are eating their way wrecks.

"This really is the golden age of discovery," Durrell Martin said. "We feel the win‐ through the dow's probably got about 20 to 30 years left."

Martin said the slow disin‐ tegration of Great Lakes ship‐ wrecks is another factor in the pace of discovery.

"[It's] why there's such a drive to record all of these shipwrecks that are being found."