emma l. nielson

By Capt. Ron Burkhard

Many ships met their tragic fate, and lie on the bottom of Lake Huron, off Michigan’s thumb.  Some of them are within sight of the Pointe Aux Barques Lighthouse. The Emma L. Nielson is one of these shipwrecks.  We will make a SCUBA dive on this wreck and tell you about the amazing experience.

The Nielson was built in 1883 at Manitowoc, Wisconsin by the shipbuilders Hanson & Scove, official # 135665.  She was a wooden three-masted schooner rig of 62.37 gross tonnage.  The ship was 74.58 ‘ long, 20.5’ wide and drafted 6’.  During 1890, she was lengthened to 98.16’, which increased her gross tonnage to 90.21.

On June 26, 1911, Capt. William Young of Port Huron, Mi. was guiding the Nielson up the lake.  He had two crewmembers with him and no cargo.  At 2 am, while traveling in a heavy fog, the steamer Wyandotte suddenly appeared dead ahead.  There was no time to change course and the Nielson slammed into the side of steel ship.  With his bow crushed and the ship sinking fast, the Captain and crew lowered the yawl boat from the stern davits and escaped the doomed ship.

The Wyandotte was not damaged in the collision.  She picked up the Nielson’s crew and continued on to Port Huron.  It was there on June 26, 1911 that the Emma L. Nielson’s final enrollment was surrendered.

Before we travel out onto Lake Huron to make a dive, I’d like to pass on some important safety information for boaters.  Because we are sometimes going out 18 miles from shore and will be on the water all day, I like to know the current lake conditions and forecast before we leave.  This is easy to do if you have a computer or just a phone.

The National Data Buoy Center maintains buoys throughout U.S. waters.  These buoys provide current conditions useful to boaters.  The buoy I check is #45008.  This is a 9 foot dia. and 15 foot tall buoy located at 44.28 N 82.42 W, which is 43 NM East of Oscoda, Mi.  This is the closest one to us.  It shows current and past wind direction, wind speed, wind gusts, wave height, wave period, atmospheric pressure and tendency, air and water temp, and other info.  While at this web site you can link to the latest marine forecast. The web address is: http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station. 

If you cannot access the Internet, you can still get some of this information by phone.  Just call Dial-A-Buoy at 228-688-1948 using a touch-tone or cell phone.  Take your time and follow the prompts (make sure you listen for all the prompt before entering numbers).  Remember the buoy station #, the one near us is 45008.

My SCUBA dive adventure on the Emma L. Nielson began normal enough but almost ended in disaster before it started.  We departed from Grindstone Harbor after stocking up at Kerm Filion’s Harbor Marina.  The date was Sept. 20, 1998 and it was a beautiful warm and sunny Michigan Fall day.  However, the wind was kicking up and the waves were white capping at 3-4 feet.

Judy and I left the harbor following our good friends and excellent divers Capt. Mac and Margie McDonald.  They were running their smaller boat, the “No Mercy”.  The wrecks location has been kept a secret by the its discoverer, Mr. David Trotter, so all I can say is that it lies on Lake Huron’s bottom about 10 miles out from the Pointe Aux Barques Lighthouse on a 30 degree true heading.

It was a rough pounding ride out to the wreck sight.  When we arrived, it was decided that Capt. Mac would drag the bottom with his grappling hook since he had 300 feet of line.  Because the wreck lies in 190 feet of water, my line wasn’t long enough.  After a frustrating hour spent trying to locate and hook into the wreck, he finally was successful.  The water was rough and seemed to be getting worse so we decided not to tie our 27 foot boat to the back of his 18 foot boat.  It might rip out his cleats and we didn’t want to fool around passing lines from boat to boat.  Judy volunteered not to dive and would drop me off at the front of Mac’s boat when I was suited up.  She would then idle our boat around the area for the hour or so I would be gone.  This seemed like a good plan.

While Judy helped me suit up, our boat drifted away from the wreck sight.  When I was ready, she went up on the bridge and started to head back toward their boat.  I decided to go over and sit on the side of our boat.  With over 100 pounds of gear on, I was pretty ungainly.  I sat on the rail with my big double tanks hanging out over the water.  Things were fine until Judy turned the boat into the trough of a big wave and the boat rocked violently.  I tumbled backwards out of the boat.  The next thing I recall was coming up and banging my head on the bottom of the swim platform.  I had a perfectly clear view of both propeller spinning away just below me.  The Lord was watching over me because somehow on my way up I had missed being chopped up by the props.  What a way to start a dive.

Eventually, Judy realized I wasn’t on the boat and turned around.  She asked if everything was all right and I said it must be because I didn’t see any blood in the water.  Wow, Captain Cranky didn’t like that response.

I made it over to the descent line and started my way down.  Mac and Margie had told me how awesome this wreck was and my excitement was running high.  As I passed through the thermocline and the temperature dropped sharply, I saw something I had never seen on a shipwreck before.  The mizzenmast of the Nielson was standing proudly up from the depths.  What a magnificent sight.  It seemed to be swaying gently and as I went deeper, I saw the mast step.  Here was a standing mast that also included the topmast.  I wish I had checked my depth gage.  The mast must rise 100 feet from the bottom.

As I went deeper, it started to get gloomier.  However, I did not need a dive light to see.  I followed the line right down to the grappling hook, and then checked my depth--185 feet.  The hook was set over the ship’s gunwale among some broken masts and spars.  I made sure it was set good.  Turning away, I looked over the ship.  It was then that I realized how incredible the visibility was.  I swam over toward the mizzenmast and looked out to the stern.  I could see the ship’s steering wheel, the stern and even out past that to the lake bottom.  Wow, that is rare in Lake Huron.

I looked down to the deck and saw a big open hatch to my left and a smaller open hatch to my right.  I swam over to the small one and something shiny caught my eye.  It was a brass latch mechanism off something.  Then, suddenly, I focused on a long two-handed crosscut saw lying next to it.  It was about 5 feet long.  My grandfather had one just like it and my dad told me how they used it to saw logs for the kitchen stove.

Swimming toward the stern, I am focused on the ships wheel.  I pass the base of the mizzenmast and start over the cabin area.  Its roof is missing but in the cabin floor silt lays another exciting discovery.  Lying there are some of the crews dishes, which remain intact and look beautiful to me.  Its always exciting to find something you know the crew used.

As I reach the ship’s wheel, I grab a spoke with each hand.  While wondering which crewmember last touched this wheel, I notice the beautiful brass caps on the spokes.  It’s feels great knowing you are doing something few people will ever get the chance to do; stand on the deck of a 115 year old ship holding on to its wheel.

Leaving the wheel, I go out over the transom for a ways, and then look back.  I see the stern is intact with the rudder in place.  Even the lifeboat davits are in place, with a pulley hanging from each.  This is where the crew escaped the sinking ship.  Going back along the starboard rail toward the bow, I pass many deadeyes, some booms or gaffs, and a broken mast.  It appears this ship had wire rope for its standing rigging.  At this point I decide to end my dive.  As I reach the ascent line, the MacDonald’s appear from the bow area.  We prepare to ascend together.

They later told me there is another small open hatch ahead of the main big center hatch.  Up front is a capstan, windlass, and the broken off foremast lying over the starboard rail.  The starboard bow area is smashed with the jib boom and bow sprint pushed back unto the deck.  A big anchor, with wooden cross-stock, lies under the port bow.  Many deadeyes line the rails.  This is a fantastic shipwreck, which is almost intact and sitting upright on its keel on the lake bottom.  There are few places in the world that have such well-preserved old wooden shipwrecks.  We are indeed fortunate to live in Michigan on the freshwater Great Lakes—sometimes called the Sweetwater Sea.

Upon reaching my first decompression stop at 30 feet, deco can sometimes take 45 minutes; I didn’t realize yet that the excitement wasn’t quite over for the day.  I could tell the lake was still rough because of how hard the line was jerking.  The three of us were hanging there when suddenly the line went slack.  Immediately, I found myself heading rapidly for the surface.  This was bad news which could result in the bends because off all the nitrogen still in our blood.  We were all head down kicking furiously to get deeper, when the ascent line jerked taut and we were able to pull ourselves back down to 30 feet.  Thank you Lord.  Mac had moved the grappling hook, after I had started up, to make it easier to pull up when we were back on the boat.  Somehow it came unhooked from the wreck, drifted a short distance, and then rehooked itself.

When we reached the surface sometime later, I was glad to see Judy motoring around a short distance off.  She came over to pick me up and again I had a propeller experience.  That story is better left untold.

The last two ships we have visited have involved a woman’s name.  The next shipwreck we will visit has no name!  It’s called the “Mystery Schooner”.