Posted on 04/24/2018 4:01:22 PM PDT by BBell
These stunning images reveal the remains of a century old sunken ship that has been preserved beneath freezing Lake Superior. The ship looks almost exactly the same as the day it sunk beneath waves in 1911.
At 60 metres long and built in Leith, Scotland in 1897, ‘The Gunilda’ sunk after it struck some rocks and could not be saved.
Now, these stunning images have been captured 107 years after the sinking when a small group of divers revisited the vessel.
Becky Kagan Schott and her team dove an incredible 270 feet deep to reach the Gunilda and photograph her remains.
Becky, a professional Underwater Photographer, Cameraman and Technical Diving Instructor, says that the dangerous dive was something that they had planned carefully for.
The Philadelphian adventurer had only 25 with the ship and she tells of how haunting the experience was.
Becky, 35, said: “Visiting it was really like going back in time and it had a very hunting feel to it.
“I’ve never seen anything like it in all my years of shipwreck diving. For me it was almost surreal being there. I’d dreamed of seeing this shipwreck and it took years of experience both in diving and photography to be able to safely capture the images I saw in my mind.
“Peering inside windows to see a piano still in place or a card table and chairs next to a fireplace with a clock hanging above it and the galley with gold rimmed china still sitting on the shelf is pretty spectacular.
“Not many divers visit the Gunilda due to its remote location, deep depths of 270ft and chilly 38f/3c temperatures.
“I wanted to capture images of the wreck like she’s never been seen before and that meant bringing a small team of highly experienced divers to assist.
“We only have 25 minutes at that depth to capture the shot before having to decompress for another 75 minutes to return to the surface.
“Everything has to be coordinated like a dance so in one shot there are 5 of us to capture the wide perspective of the gold leafed bow.
“It’s completely black down there so coordination and communication are difficult.
“I personally love the shot of the piano inside with light coming through the window as if she were sailing on the surface again; I think it’s a haunting image.
“Many of my shots couldn’t be accomplished without an excellent team and dedicated dive buddies. I’m appreciative to those people that assist and help me create these images.
“Doing these dives is pretty risky and potentially dangerous so we pride ourselves on putting together a plan to execute them.
“It was no easy task to dive the Gunilda. It took years of experience technical diving on rebreathers and trimix, many work up dives in cold water and training for emergencies.
“It’s dangerous diving to such deep depths in a remote location because there is little to no help. Then there are years of photography experience on top of that because working in deep, pitch black environments with limited time to capture images is no easy task.
“I’ve been fortunate to dive all over the world but my favorite place to dive is the Great Lakes.
“The stories of tragedy, mystery, and survival inspire me to shoot hauntingly artistic images of the wrecks and share their stories.
“Each year more shipwrecks are found and new mysteries are solved and that’s exciting to me.
“The Gunilda was not an easy place to get to but it’s like visiting an underwater museum frozen in time and I’m looking forward to returning again. “
thank you very much for posting these. I know it’s a pain.
I enjoyed them a lot.
The young lady has some cojones, her friends too.
The crew?? Guess I'll have to read up.
https://www.mysteriesofcanada.com/ontario/gunilda-shipwreck/
Amazing!
Thanks for posting! I can’t believe how well preserved everything is.
Me too.
Row boat must have been secured somehow and not needed. Looks like it’s just sitting there.
He was rich for a reason. Most rich folks are penny pinchers.
Not the Terror.
“They that go down to the sea in ship see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep”
It doesn’t pay to be cheap!
I bet the old Baron won more than he lost..........
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_L._Harkness
On the other hand it looks like he did nothing more than spend the wealth earned in a prior generation.
The church bells chime till it rang twenty-nine times for each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald.
That is true, But what protects it is how deep it is. I have been diving for over 20yrs with over 1000 dives. It takes a tremendous amount of training and equipment to do a dive like that. There doesn't look like there is anything of real value on that wreck so it wouldn't be worth the time and money to dive it on a treasure hunt.
By the way, WOW!! A BIG hat tip to the divers who made the dive and pictures!!
Just imagine, a fire burning in the fireplace
after all that time...
"When at last it broke free, the Gunilda keeled to starboard. Her masts hit the water and, as the vessel filled with water, the Harkness family, friends and crew scrambled to safety aboard the tugboat."
When the masts hit the water the floors had to be nearly vertical. And the the water rushed in.
Shots 3 and 5 look like they had portable electric fans??
Did some research on electricity and boats and found examples of electricity on boats on 1893 Chicago World’s Fair!!!!
So I guess they could have left the lights on.
Grew up on Lake Michigan. Spent time on all of them. Love The Great Lakes.
BBell, THX for the post!
A ghost ship. How did it go down without displacing the furniture?
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