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. “
Amazing pictures! Thanks for posting them.
But if the ship was in perfect condition, as per the title, it wouldn’t have sunk!
By looking at the electric fan, squared blades and wire cover pattern, it looks like early 1910s. (Amazing the fireplace stayed lit all these years /s)
OK, I got concerned because so many independent comments were made about it (nothing to indicate joking).
:-)
I am qualified as a Rescue diver and I used to teach dive classes. I have dove everything from farm pond looking for a wedding ring someone lost(I have an underwater metal detector) to rivers, Lake of the Ozarks, a lot of dive trips to the Caribbean on "bareboat" catamarans and a trip to an island off the coast of South America (Bonaire).
You can do 270 I have a friend who has done 300 But you have to be well trained and you are using Mixed gasses (Trimix). If you look at the pictures of the divers you can see them with all kinds of tanks strapped to each of them. The small tanks are hooked to a "Rebreather" that recycles the air they are breathing you can use that to some depth just below 200ft. When you get deeper you switch to trimix gas, and that consists of compressed air, helium gas, and Nitrogen gas. Breathing compressed air at that depth will kill you.
The deepest I have dove is about 180ft. I'm not into deep diving. Once you get to 200ft and deeper it start to get dangerous.
to the bottom
Thanks colorado tanker. And wow. Those interior shots are spectacular. Some years ago an underwater explorer in Lake S found a lumber-hauler about the age of this ship. The cargo was intact and consisted of large logs including elm. He had planned to raise the logs as they are probably of great value. The last large (worth cutting) tree cut down around here is from, you guessed it, about 1910, the trunk cross-section was about the height of the men who'd cut it down.
I think I saw Leonardo DiCaprio!..............
“I have a Westinghouse that looks like that one. Had no idea it could’ve been as old as 1911. ‘Runs real quiet, bought at a yard sale.”
There’s websites devoted to those. Nice find. You might be surprised at what collectors pay for them.
Screws. Unless you like such things chasing you around the compartment during a storm, they are secured to the deck.
Chairs can’t be moved back from a table?
MY GOSH! What an amazing work of art that thing is!!!
It was a personal yacht of the top of the line at the time it went down. Gold leaf and all.
btt
Hmmmm! Forgot about the chairs; thinking about the tables & piano.
The inertial dampers must have continued to function until she settled. :-’)
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