World · North America · 5 hrs ago
Clear water reveals a century-old tugboat beneath Lake Superior
Hannah Damon and her nine-year-old son saw the submerged A.H. Pitz while visiting a beach at Camp Amnicon in South Range, Wisconsin.
Damon had visited the beach for 10 or 11 years and knew a wreck was nearby, but had never seen it before.
Unusually clear water exposed beams, cables and a pipe from the tugboat beneath Lake Superior.
Built in 1923 for a Wisconsin construction company, the nearly 70-foot vessel was abandoned near the mouth of the Amnicon River in 1951.
Damon said she had heard it was deliberately sunk to help stabilise a sandbar, and the wreck is usually hidden by murky water linked to clay in the area.
The brief sighting offered a rare view of local maritime history, and Damon shared footage that prompted people familiar with the area to recall seeing the vessel.
The water was murky again the next day, so the wreck may only be visible when conditions are unusually clear.
A Wisconsin mother and her 9-year-old son saw the submerged remains of the tugboat A.H. Pitz beneath Lake Superior.
Unusually clear water let them see the wreck, which is usually obscured by murky conditions.
Hannah Damon recorded the remains and shared footage on social media.
The tugboat was built in 1923 and abandoned in 1951.
The next day, the water was murky again.
- Who
- Hannah Damon and her 9-year-old son saw the wreck.
- What
- They spotted the submerged remains of the A.H. Pitz, a steam-powered tugboat.
- When
- Recently; the sources give no exact date for the sighting.
- Where
- Along the beach at Camp Amnicon on Lake Superior, in South Range, Wisconsin.
- Why
- Unusually clear water made the wreck visible; the sources do not state why the water cleared.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
The A.H. Pitz was built for the McMullen and Pitz Construction Company in Manitowoc, Wisconsin.
The tugboat was abandoned at the mouth of the Amnicon River.
Hannah Damon and her son saw the wreck beneath unusually clear water.
Damon returned to the beach and found the water murky again.
- Vessel
- A.H. Pitz, a steam-powered tugboat
- Built
- 1923
- Abandoned
- 1951, at the mouth of the Amnicon River
- Length
- Nearly 70 feet
- Location
- Camp Amnicon beach, Lake Superior, South Range, Wisconsin
- Discovery
- Hannah Damon and her 9-year-old son
3 sources
What people are saying
We started seeing beams and cables and this massive pipe, and it was like, wait a minute, this is a shipwreck, this is a shipwreck
I ran back to shore and I got my camera, and I was like, OK, you are not allowed to splash me, this is a really exciting discovery
I hope it's one of those things that, every once in a while, if you know where to look, you'll be able to find it. But it's definitely a rare find. It's really exciting.