Shedding Light on a Dark Sinking – the MANASOO!
In the summer of 2017, a well-equipped dive boat with three determined divers on board searched patiently for a shipwreck in Lake Huron’s lower Georgian Bay, running parallel tracks over the water with approximately 1000 feet (300 metres) of distance between each set of lines, lines that were several miles long. Ken Merryman and Jerry Eliason, both from Minnesota, working with Michigan police diver Jared Daniel, covered many square miles of deep water, finding interesting geological formations at depths of 300 to 400 feet (90 to 120 metres), features such as underwater cliffs suddenly dropping 80 feet (24 metres), and other unusual formations, the nature of which could not be determined. Yet they were clearly not shipwrecks.
Ken is a highly trained technical diver who, for decades, operated his boat for week-long diving charters at Lake Superior’s Isle Royale, a challenging place that has been called “the ‘mecca’ of Great Lakes shipwreck diving.” His steady hands and calm disposition are perfect for driving his boat in straight lines on a pre-determined course in quest of shipwrecks, as well as for shooting some of the steadiest underwater video ever produced in the inland seas. His longtime wreck-hunting partner, Jerry, is an electronics wizard who has built his own side scan sonar system, complete with a tow fish he designed and constructed for deep water (greater than 500 feet, or 150 metres) use, plus an equally impressive drop-camera underwater video system that can be lowered hundreds of feet and can relay high quality video to the monitor on board Ken’s boat. Jared, while young, gained experience locating shipwrecks by previously being part of wellknown wreck hunter Dave Trotter’s team. These three men have had a presence in previous issues of Wreck Diving Magazine, specifically issues #31, 32, 38, 40, 43, and 44.
Yet, after two days of searching, utilizing all of this experience and high-end electronics, they could not find the wreck of the Manasoo, the ex-Macassa.
Built in Scotland and launched in 1888 for the Hamilton Steamboat Company of Ontario, the Macassa crossed the Atlantic Ocean to begin her long career on the Great Lakes. Because the Macassa’s hull was steel, while the other excursion ships in that area were wood, she could get underway earlier in the year and run later at the end of the season, and, if any ice remained or had formed on the lake, her hull could handle it. Wooden ships had concerns about ice puncturing them. The years passed, and new captains of the Macassa came and went, but the ship maintained its reputation for being the first one “out” nearly every spring.
When the Great War ended in late 1918, life changed radically. The restoration of peace brought with it a general prosperity never before seen in North American society, including extreme changes in leisure and entertainment, with the most dramatic alterations being created by the automobile. Cars were made increasingly affordable, giving owners the freedom to go where they wanted,
