STURGEON BAY, WI – What started as a casual evening spent browsing satellite images on his computer turned into the maritime discovery of a lifetime for a Wisconsin boat captain who uncovered a shipwreck that’s been missing for more than 130 years.
Matt Olson, who runs Door County Adventure Rafting, was scrolling through satellite photos of Lake Michigan near his home in mid-July when something caught his eye in the waters off Rowleys Bay. The unusual shape lurking just 20 feet below the surface didn’t look like anything he’d seen before.
“I was just killing time looking at the water around here when I spotted this weird outline,” said Olson, who’s spent years navigating these waters. “Something told me it wasn’t just rocks or debris.”
The mysterious object turned out to be the Frank D. Barker, a 137-foot wooden cargo vessel that vanished during a violent storm in 1887. Maritime archaeologist Tamara Thomsen spent weeks researching the wreck before confirming its identity, making it one of the most significant shipwreck discoveries in the Great Lakes in recent years.
Built in 1867 in Clayton, New York, the Frank D. Barker was what sailors called a “canaller” – designed specifically to navigate the narrow Welland Canal connecting Lakes Erie and Ontario. The vessel spent two decades hauling grain from Milwaukee and Chicago to eastern ports, then returning with coal for Midwest communities.
The ship met its fate during what should’ve been a routine voyage from Manistee, Michigan, to Escanaba to pick up iron ore. Fierce weather drove the vessel onto Spider Island’s rocky shoreline, where it became hopelessly grounded. Despite five separate salvage attempts between 1887 and 1888, crews couldn’t free the ship from its rocky prison.
What makes this discovery particularly remarkable is the wreck’s condition and location. While the sides have split open and flattened against the lake bottom over the decades, the hull remains largely intact. The shallow depth – just 20 feet – means the ship is easily accessible to divers and researchers.
“Finding something like this so close to shore is incredibly rare,” Thomsen explained. “Most shipwrecks in the Great Lakes are in much deeper water, making them harder to study and explore.”
The discovery has special meaning for Olson, who brought his 6-year-old son along to see the wreck. “He got to be one of the first people to lay eyes on this ship after more than 130 years underwater,” Olson said. “That’s something he’ll remember forever.”
The Frank D. Barker was valued at $8,000 when it sank – equivalent to more than $250,000 in today’s money. Its cargo and the jobs it provided made it a significant loss for the growing Great Lakes shipping industry.
Door County’s waters are known for their treacherous conditions and numerous shipwrecks, but discoveries like this remain exceptionally uncommon. The wreck now joins the thousands of vessels that rest on the bottom of the Great Lakes, each one a time capsule from America’s maritime past.
Sounds like the fate of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
Curious that no one had found this one for such a long time in such shallow water.