HomeCar CultureCommentaryShipwreck containing 91-year-old Chevrolet found in Great Lakes

Shipwreck containing 91-year-old Chevrolet found in Great Lakes

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A ship that sank in the 1920s in the Great Lakes has been found with a 91-year-old Chevrolet coupe in the hold.

The Manasoo sank on September 15, 1928, in Georgian Bay in Lake Huron, mlive.com reported. It is thought that either the 116 cattle on board shifted to one side of the ship during a storm, causing it to tilt and take on water, or a stern door was open during the storm.

The ship sank stern first and sits upright about 200 feet below the surface. The bow, which is pointed at an upward angle, is particularly well preserved.

Sixteen people of the 21 on board perished. The survivors were the captain, three crew members and the cow’s owner, to whom the Chevrolet also belonged.

Unbelievably, the coupe looks to be in good condition considering it’s been underwater for nearly a century, likely owing to the preservative nature of frigid water. Images in the video above clearly showed the front end of the car, which looks to be whole.

This 1927 Chevrolet coupe was found in a shipwreck about 200 feet below the surface of Lake Huron. | Screenshot
This 1927 Chevrolet coupe was found in a shipwreck about 200 feet below the surface of Lake Huron. | Screenshot

“Perhaps, if there’s enough ambition … the automobile could be brought up from that wreck and conserved — although that would be a very expensive process — and put on display in a local museum,” shipwreck hunter and historian Chris Kohl, who discovered the Manasoo, told CTV.

The Manasoo was originally built in Scotland in 1888 and was called the Macassa. It served as a ferry boat between Toronto and Hamilton, Ontario. At some point, 28 feet was added to her length and, in 1928, she was sold to the Owen Sound Transport Company to move people and cargo between Manitoulin Island and the Sault Ste. Marie area.

It was then she was renamed the Manasoo. Sailors believe changing a ship’s name is bad luck.

“I guess there is some truth to that superstition,” Kohl told CTV.

Carter Nacke
Carter Nacke
Carter Nacke is a graduate of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. He began his career at KTAR News 92.3 FM in Phoenix, the largest news radio station in Arizona, where he specialized in breaking news and politics. A burgeoning interest in classic cars took him to the Journal in 2018. He's still on the hunt for his dad's old 1969 Camaro.

7 COMMENTS

  1. Let’s not kid ourselves; leave the car where it’s at! It would be a colassal waste of money and other valuable resources to try and bring it to the surface after more than 90 years under water.

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