After searching for two years, researchers discovered the shipwreck of the Western Reserve, an early all-steel ship that broke apart in a gale in 1892 with a sole survivor.

As the ship entered Lake Superior’s Whitefish Bay between Michigan and Canada on Aug. 30, a gale came up. With no cargo, the ship was floating high in the water. The storm battered it until it cracked in half. Twenty-seven people died, including the Minch family.

Every shipwreck has its own story, but some are just that much more tragic,” said Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society Executive Director Bruce Lynn.

In 1892, a gale overtook the ship Western Reserve, causing it to sink within a matter of minutes with only one of the 28 aboard at the time surviving. The ship was lost to Lake Superior until 2024.

In August 1892, the Western Reserve was sailing across Lake Superior when it got caught in a late summer storm. The 300-foot vessel was roughly 60 miles north of Whitefish Point when a powerful gale swept in and broke up the ship,