Amateur Pilot Found Ancient Shipwreck in Wisconsin - Finds 2 More in Next 2 Days

The waters of Lake Michigan have long held secrets beneath their shimmering surface. For decades, treasure hunters and historians have scoured its depths, hoping to unravel pieces of the past. But there are times it is not a seasoned professional or high-tech expeditions that unearth these long-lost relics. Sometimes, all it takes is a keen eye and a dash of luck. In a strange twist, one Wisconsin family has become an unlikely legend of the deep, as per Popular Mechanics.

It all began 10 years ago when an amateur pilot, Susan “Shipwreck Suzze” Johnson, took up flying a powered parachute in her retirement. What started as a hobby quickly turned historic when, over the course of just three days, she spotted not one, not two, but three separate shipwrecks from the sky. Her uncanny streak earned her attention and her now-famous nickname. But the story did not end with Suzze. A full decade later, her step-grandson, Christopher Thuss, was out on a foggy morning, simply hoping to catch some fish off the coast of Manitowoc. As he peered at his sonar screen, an unexpected shape emerged, just nine feet beneath the surface. Thus recalled, “I didn’t know exactly what I was looking at at first… I turned over [in] that direction, and the whole ship was right there,” as per NBC26.

The press release noted, “Thuss reported his finding to Wisconsin Historical Society maritime archaeologist Tamara Thomsen...who worked in collaboration with Wisconsin Underwater Archaeology Association president Brendon Baillod to identify the wreck as the J.C. Ames,” as per Popular Mechanics. It was a huge tugboat built in 1881 right in Manitowoc. Originally launched as the J.C. Perrett, it was once among the largest and most powerful tugs on the Great Lakes, boasting 670 horsepower and capable of hauling five lumber barges at a time. Over the decades, it survived collisions, name changes, and ownership transfers, eventually becoming a railroad barge hauler and later a pulpwood carrier for the Nau Tug Line.

Intriguingly, in 1923, after being stripped of all valuable parts, the J.C. Ames was ceremoniously set ablaze in Maritime Bay. It literally burned to the waterline and sank, eventually vanishing beneath layers of sand and sediment for over a century. “This was a common practice with the elderly ships of the time. The Ames burned to the waterline and sank into 9 feet of water, where it was further dismantled by wind, waves, and ice until it was buried underneath the sand and forgotten,” as per reports. 

Tamara Thomsen, the maritime archaeologist who also helped investigate Suzze’s discoveries in 2015, said, “These kinds of discoveries are always so exciting because they allow a piece of lost history to resurface. It sat there for over a hundred years and then came back on our radar completely by chance,” according to Smithsonian magazine. The J.C. Ames now rests within the Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary and is being considered for the State Register of Historic Places.