Century-old shipwreck discovered

By JOHN FLESHER
Associated Press Writer

September 11, 2007 04:00 am

—

TRAVERSE CITY -- Shipwreck explorers have discovered the century-old gravesite of the Cyprus, an ore carrier that sank mysteriously during a Lake Superior storm less than two months after it was launched.

All but one of 23 crew members died in the Oct. 11, 1907, disaster. A team with the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society found the wreckage last month about 460 feet beneath the surface and planned to announce it today, said Tom Farnquist, the group's executive director.

The searchers at first thought they had found another freighter, the D.M. Clemson -- the target of their quest, which sank the year after the Cyprus. But an underwater robot equipped with video and still cameras spotted the Cyprus' name on the stern.

The 420-foot-long ship is about 8 miles north of Deer Park, a village in Michigan's eastern Upper Peninsula, where lone survivor Charles G. Pitz stumbled ashore after floating aboard a life raft for nearly seven hours. He died in 1961, following a long career as a mariner.

Pitz's great-niece, Ann Sanborn, said she hoped the discovery would lead to an explanation of the Cyprus' fate.

"The people who died on that vessel deserve that the truth be brought out, whatever that truth is," said Sanborn, a former sailor aboard oceangoing craft. She is now an associate professor in the marine transportation department of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, N.Y.

The Great Lakes are littered with thousands of shipwrecks. But the Cyprus is among the more puzzling -- especially because it foundered on just its second voyage, while hauling iron ore from Superior, Wis., toward Buffalo, N.Y.

Built in Lorain, Ohio, it had been launched Aug. 17, 1907. It was as "seaworthy a vessel as has ever been turned out by a lake ship yard," The Marine Review, a Cleveland trade publication, said after the sinking.

Also surprising, the Review said, was that the gale in which the ship perished was "so moderate that only the smaller class of vessels sought shelter while the big steamers scarcely noticed it at all."

But in a statement after the wreck, Pitz, the second mate, said the Cyprus was being pounded by northwesterly waves and developed a gradually worsening list the fatal afternoon.

The engines finally stopped and crew members donned life jackets. Most headed rearward for lifeboats, but Pitz and three others -- the captain, the first mate and a watchman -- gathered near a raft closer to the front.

About 7:45 p.m., the Cyprus capsized and quickly sank.

Pitz and his companions were hurled into the lake. They climbed aboard the raft and by 2 a.m. had drifted within 300 feet of land. But the raft flipped over several times in the churning surf, drowning everyone but Pitz, who washed ashore, cold and exhausted.

The Deer Park lifesaving station was a 10-minute walk away. Fortunately, Pitz quickly was found by Albert Ocha, a crewman from another station who showed up for reasons that remain unclear.

"Otherwise, I'm sure he would have died of hypothermia," said Sean Ley, development officer with the shipwreck society.

All but two of the 22 victims' bodies were recovered.

Farnquist said the shipwreck society would send its underwater cameras back to the site for further study. Two inspections have shown that half the pilot house is missing and wreckage is strewn 270 feet off the bow, he said.

"It's a relief knowing that finally this ship has been located," said Bill Thorne of Sault Ste. Marie. His uncle, George Thorne, was the watchman who almost made it to shore with Pitz.