One hundred years ago, on October 12, 1907, the Cyprus sank in Lake Superior. The wreckage of the ship has been found, about ten miles from where it had been believed that the ship sank.
A dive crew was surprised at the discovery of the Cyprus, ten miles from where she had been reported going down by the lone survivor of the shipwreck. The Cyprus was discovered on an August 2007 morning. the shipwreck was spotted on sonar on Lake Superior’s Shipwreck Coast. At first the searcher expected to find another ship, the D. M. Clemson, which was lost with all hands on deck in 1908… The Clemson’s remains were suspected to be in the area.
The staff conducted historic research on the wreck for a week. All signs pointed to the wreck being that of the Clemson. A week later, a larger crew boarded the David Boyd for a descent to the newly discovered wreck. they used the Shipwreck Society’s Phantom S4 Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV). UPOne descent into the waters of Lake Superior, divers descended to a depth of 44- feet.
Their objective was to find the ship’s name on her stern. It wasn’t an easy task to reach the stern of the ship, due to underwater currents. Toward the end of the dive Tom Farnquist returned to the fantail area and was finally able to get a glimpse of raised brass letters.
Everybody on the dive and on board was amazed to find that they had discovered the Cyprus, a freighter that was only 21 days old when it sunk into Lake Superior on October 11, 1907. It was an exciting discovery for the Shipwreck Society to discover the 100 year old wreckage, which has long been one of the great mysteries of the Great Lakes.
Cyprus was a mystery, because it was a brand new ship, only on its second voyage when it disapeared into the waters of Lake Superior. The freighter was transporting iron ore from Superior, Wisconsin to the mills of Lackawanna, New York. The 15,000 ton, 420 foot steel steamer was owned by Pickands-Mather and had just been launched two months earlier in Lorain, Ohio.
There was one survivor, who drifted to shore after the ship sank: Second Mate Charles J. Pitz. Twenty two crewmen lost their lives in the shipwreck. Twenty were recovered, still wearing lifejackets marked Cyprus, but were beyond help. The men apparently died of hypothermia.
Pitz told the story of the sinking of the Cyprus. The ship began to list in a gale. The gale was a mild one and not a storm that the ship shouldn’t have been able to survive. When the ship began to list, Captain Huyck did not seem terribly concerned. After all, it was a brand new seaworthy ship. The ship was only 35 miles from shore and they would find out what the problem was when they reached the safety of shore. He did order the crew to don life jackets.
With no warning the Cyprus took a heavy roll to port and stayed there. Lake water reached the fire under the boilers and put the fires out. The steamer lost power and began to sink. Four men, including the captain, the ship’s watchman and two mates stayed with the life raft on the bow. The rest of the crew went to the lifeboats, which were astern.
Cyprus took her final plunge at about 7:45 pm. Everybody aboard the ship was plunged into the water. The four men on the bow climbed onto the life raft, but there was no sign of the lifeboats or of the fellow crew members.
The four men on the raft were blown toward Shipwreck Coast. The shore was in sight, hours later, when the raft was caught by a breaker along the shore and turned over several times. The weak, cold men were unable to return to the raft, except for Second Mate Pitz, who found the strength to get back on the raft and hold on to it. The raft finally washed to the shallow water, where Pitz dragged himself out of the water and collapsed on the beach. where he was found by a watchman.
The reason that the Cyprus sunk has remained a mystery for the past 100 years. The most likely theory is the the ship had faulty hatch covers. Cyprus had been spotted by Captain Harbottle of the Stephenson on the ship’s last fatal day. The Captain noted that the ship was making good time, but it was leaving a red wake. A red wake would be caused by iron ore dust being washed out through the pumps.
Now that the shipwreck has been found, there Shipwreck Society may be able to find out what caused a brand new ship to sink in Lake Superior, of the Great Lakes. There are many questions that the Shipwreck Society will be trying to answer as they investigate. Questions that they will be trying to answer include:
“Where is her cargo?”
“Is there visible hull damage from weather stress?”
“Why is she lying so far away from the location Pitz reported?”
“Why is she pointed upbound when she was headed downbound?”
“Where are her lifeboats?”
“What secrets lie in her extensive debris field?”
The Shipwreck Society will be looking for answers to these questions and more as they investigate further. Future findings will be published in the Shipwreck Journal.
