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. “
LOL, my first thought is that they need to get Gord to write a song about it.
Incredible photos. Thanks B
Those are great pictures, and the ship is indeed very well preserved.
WOW! Even the lights are still on.
Dusty and rainy. Terrible combination on the high seas.
You’re post today on commercials today...
“Heck, if it lasts more than four hours, I’m calling EVERYBODY!”
Oh Lordy! I’m still laughing!!!
I remember that documentary.
HOORAY Becky Kagan Schott!!!
Thanks Mike Jones.
Thanks very much BBell. OUTSTANDING post BUMP!
:)
Apparently that is the condition of it without any effort to clean it up.
That’s a great question. It must have hit those rocks sprung a leak and they could not get it off the rocks and the water came up very very slowly and fairly evenly and there you go. But even then you would expect to see Furniture overturned and Helter Skelter all over the place. Maybe it sunk over a period of weeks and the lower parts of the furniture got water logged, very slowly. Kind of interesting.
http://www.boatnerd.com/swayze/shipwreck/
What makes anyone think a light was on?
Look at the first picture. The cabin light is on.
Damn, that’s a lot of dives. I only did the first level PADI, but I didn’t even think 270’ was possible with SCUBA gear - what’s your deepest?
Wow, just wow! Amazing, thanks for sharing.
My buddy in Charlevoix, on northern Lake Michigan and I have salvaged White Oak planking off of submerged wrecks, and after years-long drying processes, make beautiful furniture out of it. The lake bottoms are protected now, so salvage is more difficult, but the wood is still there if you know where to find it.
Got it
Fantastic!
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