Sometimes the best way to find shipwrecks in the waters of Lake Superior is to do a little bit of in-depth diving - into library archives.

Thus began four men’s underwater discovery this past summer of a ship graveyard on the bottom of Thunder Bay with two dozen or more wrecks. It began as quite a mystery - with plenty of rumors about the graveyard’s existence. The complete tale will be told by the man who made the discovery happen - Ryan LeBlanc of Thunder Bay, Ontario - during the annual Gales of November gathering in Duluth, Minnesota, on November 9 through 11. With keynote speaker Jean-Michel Cousteau in there to boot, this 14th “Gales” gathering should be the biggest yet.

But before then, let me give you a taste of what Ryan LeBlanc found, along with diving mates Gerald “Gerry” Buchanan of Duluth, Ken Engelbrecht of Minneapolis and Dan Kuss of Thunder Bay.

Those of us who follow the diving segment of Lake Superior’s lovers have long admired this highly skilled team. They work together often, and yet each is often out there alone, further improving their skills and equipment. Gerry is an accomplished deep scuba diver and an equipment builder of great note. (Deep dives generally extend more than 150 feet below the surface.)

Ken, who is a computer engineer, has deep diving experience, and his underwater image recording materials and equipment are beyond parallel.

Dan, shipwreck enthusiast and underwater photographer, served as Ken’s technical assistant.

Ryan, meanwhile, is easily one of the Great Lakes’ most skilled deep divers. Patient and a man of few and careful words, he combines many years of skill-developing experience with research, listening and in-depth study. It was Ryan who came across the twisted tale of “dozens of old ships” being hauled out into Thunder Bay and sunk in the deepest part of the bay itself. It was more than 12 years ago that a friend of his, an Ottawa archivist, found copies of the contract of the salvage company that sank the ships.

From that incentive, Ryan did his own library and Internet search of old newspapers and other sources. And what a tale it became.

It was early in the 1930s when, as the terrible economic depression deepened, the United States and Canada watched in horrified fascination as Hitler’s Germany emerged as a potential major war power. Canada realized that the raw materials it contained might well be needed - and quickly. By 1935, abandoned ships littered Canadian docks all over the Great Lakes, effectively restricting shipping activity and potentially slowing the country’s response.

So that year, 1935, the Canadian government appropriated $38,000 to “clean up” the docks of Port Arthur and Fort William, the two cities that eventually merged into the city of Thunder Bay. In retrospect, despite hard times, the problem had to have been sorely in need of fixing because the contract was let - back then it was a lot of money.

The task wasn’t easy. Many of the vessels were already sitting on the bottom, requiring cofferdams and extensive repair just to be floated long enough to tow them into Thunder Bay to sink again. Most were wooden hulled tugboats and work scows. Ryan’s research revealed that by late 1936, at least 20 old vessels had been hauled to the deep part of the bay. Some were burned as part of the disposal sinking effort. Since then, they’ve rested forgotten in the bay but for a few rumors from old timers.

Just thinking of this silent parade of ghostly ships challenges our imaginations! It stirred Ryan, Gerry, Ken and Dan, too. But even knowing the ships were there didn’t make finding them any easier.

The average depth at which the vessels came to rest - about 260 feet below the water’s surface - effectively protects these wrecks from most forms of human invasion. All but the hardiest and most experienced scuba divers are limited to depths seldom exceeding 120 feet.

Between the pressures and limited visibility at that dark depth, such deep diving requires sophisticated equipment and special breathing gases, commonly called “mixed gas diving,” rather than air.

For more than 25 years, Ryan LeBlanc has made hundreds of dives to confirm what his research indicates might be languishing in the deep waters of Lake Superior. He goes the extra mile when conclusions need to be proven by a real “look.”

Teamed with Ken’s personally designed side-scan sonar with sophisticated computer-navigational interphase, with Gerry’s lake experience and Dan’s assistance, Ryan found his sunken fleet in July 2001 at the middle of Thunder Bay. For now, though, the look has all been from the boat with no dive. The sonar confirms what these men suspected. There are boats down there, lots of them. Among the treasures? The 1867 tugboat Mary Ann, the first vessel registered by the Dominion of Canada, and the Niagara, formerly the Druid, an American Civil War blockade runner.

The good news for maritime buffs is that Lake Superior’s chill and lack of nutrients means a slow, or nearly no, decomposition of the boats. Ryan is president of the Lake Superior chapter of Save Ontario Shipwrecks, so it’s no surprise that preservation and warnings to diving “looters” come to his mind.

As he told the Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal, “As long as I’m coordinating the project, we won’t be removing any artifacts. That’s part of our heritage and that’s where it should remain.”

He will continue to work to get the site recognized as a protected National Marine Conservation area, a move he tried to accomplish last year under Parks Canada still lacking the evidence of the scans. He’ll go back to Parks Canada this year - better armed this time - to try again.

A selection of Jim Marshall’s columns of lake lore and his inland sea voyages has been published as Lake Superior Journal: Views from the Bridge by Lake Superior Port Cities Inc. Follow this link for more information.

Feedback: jrm@lakesuperior.com