Brief History of Indiana
The Indiana was built in 1848 and is the oldest of the diveable wrecks at Whitefish Bay.  It was 146' long with a beam of 23 feet and was launched in Vermilion, Ohio.  It was built with flared sides which are still visible today. This gave the Indiana a very wide deck that could be loaded with deck cargo including iron ore.  The stern is tapered much like the bow which makes it difficult to determine which end of the wreck you are seeing.  The Indiana was powered by a steam engine of very early and historic design.  The engine turned a unique Erickson Screw Propeller.   The Indiana was originally in the passenger service on the lower lakes and after the Soo Locks were opened transported iron ore on Lake Superior.  It foundered on June 6, 1858 off Crisp Point in heavy weather after it started leaking badly around the propeller shaft.   It was down-bound hauling a cargo of iron ore loaded at Marquette, Michigan at the time.  No lives were lost in the accident.

In 1979 the unique steam engine was salvaged for the Smithsonian Institute and is on display in Washington DC.  Unfortunately most of its other machinery including a boiler, steering quadrant, wooden gallows, rudder,  and screw propeller were also salvaged by other maritime museums leaving virtually no machinery except the propeller shaft and a couple of winches on the site.  The hull is intact and interesting especially the flared sides that support the wide deck.

The Site: The Indiana hull sits fairly intact in the sand in 115 feet of water.  The deck is at about 100 feet and since it sits in the open lake the visibility is usually quite good 20' to 40'.  As mentioned previously all the machinery is gone, but this unique example of early hull construction is still very interesting.  From the flared deck supports to the pointed stern the Indiana is a very unique wreck  The deck and holds still carry a lot of iron ore and at least the propeller shaft and a couple of winches are still visible.

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