Page 40 - 2009 Lake St. Clair Guide Magazine
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ony Drive. There isn’t
The H. much left on
H O U G H T- that wreck, but
I knew there were a lot of ships sunk EN in the Sni the bow is neat
on the St. Clair River near the Blue Water is more broken up, but still has some ma-
Bridge, however, there are a lot of sunken chinery on it. The H. HOUGHTEN burned to see because
ships on the channels as well as in Lake in the Sni Bora (off the North Channel) in
St. Clair. 1926. However, the H. HOUGHTEN first it’s so sharply-pointed like an axe head.
sunk while tied up at its dock in Detroit,
This football like notation is the sym- drowning some of the crew as they slept Boater’s may want to take note on
bol on our charts denoting a sunken ship... in their bunks. The ship was salvaged, and
but who looks at the charts right? If you converted into a sandsucker. their charts of the BADGER STATE
look closely, however, you will find a lot
The HOUGHTON was 126’ long location which is shallow enough
of ships, many of which are with a 27’ beam.
shallow enough for us to hit to be hit. This wreck has been hit
with a boat, or worse yet, your A sandsuck-
jet ski! er was in many times before, and broken propel-
business to
I spoke with a local diver, scoup wet ler blades, outdrive and jet ski parts litter
Ray Grant from St. Clair Shores. He dives bottom
all around the Lake and Channels. That’s sand and the site. Idle up slowly, and keep a sharp
Ray below holding a broken prop from the was sup-
Badger State which is sitting in the North posed to lookout. If the visibility is good, and the
Channel in Algonac. pay for any sand
that they took off each landown- water is not too
Ray said there are several wrecks in the ers’ property along the river. The captain
Flats (North, South, & Middle Channels). and crew of the “Hungry Houghten,” as high, you
Schooners, steamers, yachts, even aircraft. it became known, had other ideas. They
Some still have a lot of interesting things would slowly drift down river, and covert- should be able
down there to see, but Ray likes to read ly take a little sand off the bottom from
about something that sunk long ago, and everyone’s property until they had a full to see the star- Badger State
then go and see whatever is still there. board side of seen from the
load, never paying a dime to the wreck from surface
Some of his favorite wrecks are wood- anyone. the surface.
en steamships, anything with machinery.
Here’s a few he’s visited in the Channels Another one close by is the The wreck’s sharply-pointed bow is facing
recently with his comments and some of BADGER STATE which was
the history..... built in 1862 as a passenger/ East into the current. The wreck is listing
freight steamer and ran be-
The NELLIE LYON was just discov- tween New York and Wis- to port, with the starboard side almost
ered in 2005 by the US FWS and the consin. In 1905, it was con-
USGS while searching for lake sturgeon verted into a floating casino touching the surface.
habitats on the North Channel. It is sit- and pleasure palace, when the
ting upright and fairly intact, and the big city of Detroit put the lid on The giant rudder was recovered from
1-cylinder steam engine and scotch boiler ‘pool halls.’ It was anchored
are very interesting to off Peche Island, in Canadian the BADGER STATE, and put on display
see. Built originally as waters, outside the city’s ju-
the schooner-barge H.C. at the Harsens Island ferry landing. Be
SPRAGUE in 1880, it had
a 1-cylinder steam engine sure and take a trip over to Harsens Island
added in 1906, then sank
in the St. Clair Flats, was to see it.
later sold to a Canadian,
raised, and renamed the Another interesting one on the Middle
NELLIE LYON, after the
new owner’s 12-year old Channel is the hull of the sand dredge
niece. After just 1 year
on the job, it caught fire HARLOW, built in 1891, originally the
steam barge PRESTON. The PRESTON
ran aground on Harsen’s Island in 1896 and
was recovered. Five years later in 1901,
she took on water and nearly sunk on Lake
Superior. Most of the crew was rescued by
from the Badger State another boat, but
one crewmember
still drowned. Af-
ter the sinking, the
captain and own-
er, William Jenks
Harlow, renamed
his boat HARLOW, after himself. In 1913,
it was converted into a sandsucker. It was
scrapped in ‘26, but the hull was towed here
and sunk by a local man named Mr. Sears
to create a break wall for his property, not
far from the spot where it ran aground 30
years before. The wreck is located on the
edge of the Middle Channel, behind the
green #13 buoy, by the Chene Highway.
risdiction. When the water is low, the wreck is emer-
In 1906, the ship was con- gent, and easy to spot if you are looking for
verted into a lumber-hooker. it. One of the highlights is its big 4-bladed
in Algonac and In 1909, it caught on fire while tied up at propeller, with
drifted down to the dock in Marine City, and was cut loose one blade bro-
where it is today, and allowed to drift downstream until it ken off.
parked sideways burned itself out. It ran aground on Har-
across the North sens Island in the sharp bend of the North Have fun
Channel off Col- Channel opposite Algonac, where it rests exploring!
today.
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