Posted to Facebook February 8 at 6:27 PM  · 

We have just added a popular Apostle Islands dive site to our 3DShipwrecks.org website and database. The 195 ft large three masted schooner Lucerne was built in 1873 in Tonawanda, New York. It hauled grain early in its career then eventually switched to haul primarily coal and iron ore. Like most vessels it was involved in at least one collision and rebuild in its 13-year career. The Lucerne is one of many victims of a November storm on Lake Superior.

On November 15, 1886, the Lucerne departed Ashland, WI with a load of iron ore. It was later spotted by the crew of the steam barge Fred Kelly struggling in a snow storm off Ontonagon then spotted again off Long Island attempting to make the shelter of Chequamegon Bay. On the morning of November 19th, the LaPointe lightkeeper spotted the vessel aground in shallow water off Long Island. When rescuers arrived, they discovered three of the crew ice-covered and frozen lashed to the rigging where they attempted to save themselves from the storm. It was never clear if the vessel grounded on the 17th or 18th of November, 1886.

The anchors and anchor chains were eventually salvaged but little else. In the 1970’s amateur archaeologist Monte Florenz excavated and salvaged many of the small personal artifacts from the site which were displayed for years at the Duluth Canal Park Museum (Now Duluth Visitor Center) and are now part of the Apostle Island National Lakeshore collection. Today the site is a popular dive site and is buoyed annually. The visibility varies widely at the site and was only ten feet at the time of the model survey. The model was created from 2,400 30-megapixel images shot in May of the 2024 season as part of a cooperative WHS and GLSPS project. The link to the new model is: https://3dshipwrecks.org/shipwreck-lucerne/ and the location is shown in the second image.