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A mystery ship that vanished with its crew on board 130 years ago has been found in near-perfect condition – entombed in alien species.<\/p>\n
The Africa was towing another vessel, the Severn, through Lake Huron, on the US-Canada border, when she disappeared in a snowstorm in October 1895.<\/p>\n
With the towline broken, the Severn ran aground on Canada\u2019s Bruce Peninsula, where her crew was rescued \u2013 but the Africa was never seen again.<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t the first misfortune the ship had suffered \u2013 she had already burned down to the waterline in 1886 before being rebuilt.<\/p>\n
Now her bad luck continues even as a shipwreck \u2013 the Africa has been found entombed in quagga mussels which threaten her with collapse.<\/p>\n
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Yvonne Drebert and Zach Melnick were shooting a documentary about the mussels \u2013 an invasive species that\u2019s alien to the Great Lakes \u2013 when they found the wreck.<\/p>\n
Mr Melnick said: \u201cWe received a tip that scientists doing an offshore fish survey had noticed an anomaly on their sonar readout \u2013 basically an unusual bump on an otherwise flat lakebed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe honestly expected to find a pile of rocks,\u201d said Ms Drebert.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were down for only a few minutes when a huge structure loomed up from the depths \u2013 it was a shipwreck. We couldn\u2019t believe it.<\/p>\n
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\u201cEveryone onboard was floored \u2013 and more than one expletive was thrown around! We really couldn’t believe our eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe ship is in pristine condition \u2013 sitting upright on the lakebed, as though it’s just fallen straight from the surface and is resting on the bottom.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Africa was found using an underwater ROV (remotely operated vehicle) at a depth of some 280 feet.<\/p>\n
But the ship is covered in invasive quaggas, which arrived in the Great Lakes some 30 years ago, so identifying her was a challenge.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThere are so many quaggas filtering the Great Lakes, that the lakes are up to three times as clear as they were before the mussels,\u201d said Yvonne.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe quaggas are the reason we\u2019re able to see the shipwreck in almost 300 feet of water without any additional lights.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut they\u2019re also responsible for making wreck identification in the Great Lakes incredibly difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n
She continued: \u201cThe quagga mussels are slowly but surely causing the deterioration of the ship.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have small, hairy protrusions called byssal threads which they use to attach themselves to surfaces, working their way into wood, which causes deterioration.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn some cases, the weight of millions of mussels can cause ship components, or even whole vessels to collapse.\u201d<\/p>\n
To identify the ship, the filmmakers enlisted the help of historian, Patrick Folkes, and marine archaeologist, Scarlett Janusas.<\/p>\n
One clue was the enormous dimensions of the wreck \u2013 which is 148ft long, 26ft wide and 12.5ft high.<\/p>\n
There is also a debris field of coal surrounding the vessel \u2013 the same cargo carried by the Africa and the Severn that fateful night.<\/p>\n
Having identified the wreck as the Africa, Ms Drebert can now shed some light on the mystery of why she sank, taking her crew of 11 with her.<\/p>\n
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She said: \u201cThe Africa sank during an early season snowstorm.<\/p>\n
\u201cIntense winds would’ve been pounding the ship, driving it into the trough of the waves, and causing it to take on water.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn our video we can see that there is some hull damage to the ship, however that could’ve been caused by the ship settling on the lakebed.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost likely, it was taking on water that brought the Africa down.\u201d<\/p>\n
In their documentary, All Too Clear, Mr Melnick and Ms Drebert explore how quaggas are re- engineering the Great Lakes\u2019 ecosystem on a scale not seen since the retreat of the glaciers.<\/p>\n
Mr Melnick said: \u201cBefore discovering the Africa, our work focused on the ecological impacts of the mussels \u2013 which have devastated fisheries around the lakes.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe hadn\u2019t considered the effect they could have on our cultural heritage.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut the mussels have truly changed everything in the deep waters of the Great Lakes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Built in 1873, the Africa was carrying coal from the US city of Ashtabula, Ohio, to Owen Sound in Ontario, Canada, when she sank.<\/p>\n
Quagga mussels are originally from the Black Sea region and are listed as “alien to North America” on the US National Park Service website.<\/p>\n