Divers Discover Decades Long Shipwreck That Is Still Clouded With Mystery And Superstitions

divers discover decades-long shipwreck that is still clouded with mystery and superstitions [Music] what lies at the bottom of the sea is something that has always intrigued many researchers we don't know exactly what exists deep under the sea as our equipment often fails to dig deeper sailors and fishermen have always been exposed to incredibly threatening and unexpected experiences while at sea before modern technology people used to rely solely on the myths and superstitions to explain what goes on underwater but this ship and its crew members had a first-hand experience that life at sea can indeed be unpredictable back in the year 1928 a steamboat disappeared after meeting with a heavy storm while transporting passengers and goods on lake huron this was a mystery that loomed over the locals heads for so many decades now but the ship was discovered 90 years later after shipwreck hunters found the doomed ship at the bottom of the lake however this wasn't all there was to it so what was the history of the steamboat well it was back in june of 1888 when the ss mikasa arrived in hamilton ontario this steamboat had been built that very same year by william hamilton and cohen glasgow scotland this was supposed to be a different steamboat that had been specially made to be quite speedy and could reach a huge amount of distance in a short span of time well to understand what the steamboat looked like here are the dimensions this steamboat was originally 155 feet long and just 24.1 feet wide it wasn't meant to carry just goods and supplies there was another use meant for this boat since it was specially built to transport people the ship had been made able to travel very fast so after months of carefully shaping this boat to be what it became the company that built it were done with its construction and soon after reaching ontario the hamilton steamboat company put the ship into service they could hardly wait to see how the boat would perform as they had high hopes for it this boat was meant for the summer time so pretty soon the boat started to function and would be used to carry people the ss mukasa functioned as a fairy that traveled on lake ontario transporting vacationers picking them up in hamilton and taking them to burlington beach this ferry was used throughout the summer months and was indeed a useful means of transport for a lot of people during its time so just as expected and anticipated the ss mikasa successfully transported a lot of folks to the sea at high speed in the following few decades the mikasa would go on to successfully serve as a ferry for vacationers at the same time carrying cargo between toronto and hamilton it was making a lot of money and proved to be very popular the ship continued to serve as a powerful means of transport for many decades it became one of the most prominent ways people traveled from toronto and hamilton there was also a pointed time when the ship was rebuilt for additional length so that even more passengers and cargo could be added and transported it was indeed useful since the steamboat was able to house so many people and goods and transport them quicker than most of the boats during that time it was truly sought after by many and so over 39 years the ss macasa had been owned and operated by the hamilton speedboat company the company made a lot of profit by transporting people and cargo but then a change came even though the mikasa was at the height of its popularity a change came up by the year 1928 the ss mikasa was sold by the hamilton steamboat company so who ended up buying it well the ship went to the owens sound transportation company they decided to give the boat a new name and rebrand a little and so after being bought by the new owners the owens sound transportation company decided to make a few changes of their own and so after the change in ownership the ship was renamed the ss mana sioux after this the steamboat was soon transported from lake ontario to lake huron there were other changes that followed too so when the ship was taken to lake huron the manasu was given a brand new responsibility what was the new job well the ship was now made to do daily runs on lake huron between the manitoulin island and the salt saint mary area which was also named the sioux this was a brand new journey for the ship that had been in service for over three decades now and so if you were curious to know why the ship was given this name well there's a perfectly good explanation the ship's new name actually has meaning behind it you see the name manasu was a combination of the two new destinations it would travel across the owners thought the name fits the ship better than the previous one and so after being taken over by the new owners the ship had a brand new name and a brand new destination when new owners moved the vessel to lake huron from lake ontario in early 1928 they changed the name to manasu maritime historian chris cole had revealed in a statement he gave when he was interviewed it was an exciting time for the ship indeed and so when the ownership changed it was a time when the mana suit was having a lot of things to look forward to there are even higher hopes for the ship than there were in his previous years of being in service as expected during the first season of its service under new ownership the ship indeed enjoyed great success everything was looking up for the ship but even though so much success was tasted in its first season of service the ship soon caught up with dark times something terrible happened to the ship while on a trip in early september of 1928. when the records were checked the ship was supposed to be traveling from canada's manitoulin island to ship a huge amount of cargo the ship was on high demand getting so many tourists and travelers plus shipping cargo back and forth it had been carrying 21 crew members at the time and passengers alongside little did the crew know that it would be the final voyage to add to all that was being carried already the ship also carried a cargo of 116 cattle and a pristine 1927 chevrolet coupe the ship was used to carry all of these and was estimated to have taken very little time to get to its destination so all in all the cargo that the ship had on board was estimated to weigh around 60 tons this was a very heavy load indeed and so for a shipment to transport people in cargo it was a little different to carry livestock on board so who was the owner of the cargo of cattle and the chevrolet coup well all of these belong to donald wallace he was one of the passengers on the ship that trip he was the businessman who had made quite a plan for himself and a business so what was his plan and why was he shipping the cattle well after buying the cattle wallace made a plan to transport the herd from manitoulin to the mainland and when he reached the mainland he was planning to sell the cattle for a profit he knew the cows were of a superior quality so he knew they would easily sell so what wallace did was quite a huge risk he literally spent most of his money in the hopes that the cattle would help them make a profit in all he bought about fifty six hundred dollars worth and had only about three hundred dollars left in his pocket at the end of the buying spree an account of what happened on the fateful day trouble struck had written the way the cattle had been loaded on the ship was indeed poorly planned the cows he taken with him were loaded onto the main deck into four pens there was enough space for these cows to turn around which was a terrible thing to do they hadn't made sure the cows were properly maintained hence there was about to be an accident and even though you might be thinking that wallace was wrong to have taken such poor care of his cattle how was he to know his trip on the matisse was the first time he'd ever shipped cattle on a ship which basically meant that wallace was not at all equipped this was wallace's very first experience to transport cattle by boat the account further revealed the account further also explained he noticed that unlike transport by railway boxcars where the bedding was hay betting on the mana su was sawdust pen slats were not nailed to posts they were tied and nodded with rope to metal stanchions and pens had two plank slats instead of four or five he said nothing as he figured the crew knew what they were doing so as the time came for the ship to start its voyage no one expected things to go wrong they all assumed that the journey would go smoothly then the mana sue and the precious cargo left manitoulin island as of september 14th 1928. the ship was on its way towards owen sound but unfortunately it meant with a tragic storm and this was not a pretty storm either it was unfortunate that the ship had an encounter with such a harsh storm which was a sign that trouble was ahead and the condition was such that gusty winds and large waves were hitting the boat constantly this resulted in the ship starting to lean too far to one side and it immediately sank and 2 am on september 15th since the crew was not prepared to have encountered such a bad storm everything started to fall apart and so captain john mckay started to realize what was happening he had to act quick so he headed towards a nearby island in a desperate attempt to save everyone unfortunately the ship sank even before it could get close to the island and so there was no chance for the captain to have been able to save the ship as the sinking was so immediate the events that followed happened within approximately 3 minutes firstly the captain realized that something was very wrong sent the first mate below to find out what was happening a local newspaper had posted regarding the ship in 1928. this was such a devastating time for the people on board as there was no certainty whether they'd make it or not the captain tried his best to come up with a plan to save everyone before the mate got back on the bridge the captain had swung the wheel towards land hoping to beach the ship on the island the article later explained but nothing seemed to have made a difference to fix the problem everything came crashing down in a matter of minutes before any headway was made however the engine stopped water pouring into the engine room had put out the fires the maid on getting back on deck after seeing the ship was doomed ordered the lifeboats lowered the article described and before the crew could do anything the damage was already too much they were able to lower just one lifeboat since the ship sank within just three minutes they could only get one lifeboat ready so in the end the crew was unable to save everyone and everything on board so who survived the captain four sailors and one passenger donald wallace were the only ones left alive after the terrible accident took place the group had to be forced to drift in the life raft for 60 hours before they could be helped they were fortunate because they were finally saved by a passing steamboat but another tragedy struck during this time one of the survivors chief engineer thomas mccutcheon passed away due to exposure to the elements the sinking of the manasu was indeed a tragic moment of grave proportions there were quite a few rescue teams that went to look for survivors no quest devoted to the saving of human lives was ever carried out more unselfishly and more faithfully a local historian william fox had stated regarding this incident in 1952 to the deep regret of all who were engaged in it not another survivor of the disaster was found there have been countless superstition on the topic of this unfortunate happening the location of this sunken ship was a mystery also for a long time too in 2018 maritime historian chris cole and shipwreck hunters cam merriman and jerry ellioson found the ship 200 feet underwater over the past 90 years the ship had remained untouched at the bottom of lake huron off the coast of griffith island in ontario they found the boat covered in mussels but there was absolutely no sign of animal or human remains it's very rare to see a car an automobile on a shipwreck cole explained the very unique thing about the wreck of the manasu is that it sits on the lake bottom at the very same dramatic angle at which it sank merriman further stated the stern is embedded up to its railing in the soft bottom while the bow points up towards the surface rising high above the lake bottom many theories rose regarding the reason behind the ship sinking the first being that manasu was under a curse after having new owners there's a long-held superstition among sailors that if someone changes the name of a ship that person and or that ship will encounter bad luck the shipwreck hunters were quoted under its new name the vessel lasted less than one year before syncing with tragic results in september of 1928. the mana su proved to be a classic example of the bad luck that will plague a vessel after its name has been changed another reasonable explanation for the ship to sink was that the extension made the ship unsteady after being added to the ship hence when the ship met with the harsh winds and strong currents it ended up leaning men leaned too far making the cattle shift the weight on deck to one side the second theory is more widely accepted but no one knows for sure what became of the ship and why it sank so quickly you