photo #5404878

Upright on the bottom of Lake Huron for 148 years, the remarkably preserved wreck of schooner Cornelia B. Windiate continues to present itself as a stately ruin, with all three masts still upright and with even organic rigging and a single yardarm remaining in place. The handsome white painted vessel was lost with all hands sometime following the evening of November 27th, 1875 after departing Milwaukee with a heaping load of mill grain bound for Buffalo New York. Severe ice conditions which may have coated the nearly brand new ship in a thick rime could have contributed to a lack of stability, though the Windiate’s final moments have been lost to history, and she vanished with all nine aboard several hours after her last confirmed sighting. False reports and the discovery of wreckage near South Fox Island led to searches instead of Lake Michigan, though nothing conclusive of the schooner was ever found at the time, and for years her fate remained a mystery.Discovered accidentally by divers John Steele and Paul Ehorn in May of 1986, the Cornelia B. Windiate remains one of the most well preserved shipwrecks of her era for visitors today to the ship’s resting place near Presque Isle. Hauntingly, her single yawl boat lies on the bottom as well a short distance from her stern, confirming at very least that her crew did not board the craft to escape the foundering vessel. Speculation that they may instead have perished while attempting to walk across the thick ice floe to shore has never been confirmed, and no remains have ever been found nearby. The Windiate today rests at a depth of 185’ (56m) in constant, nearly freezing temperatures, her hatches still secure and her hull unbreached. Photo by Chris Roxburgh