This morning, Dave Trotter, of Undersea Research Associates, shared thrilling news: he and his team have discovered the remains of the giant ore boat SS James Carruthers, which vanished during the legendary Great Lakes Storm of 1913.

Highlights:

• The Carruthers was the largest ship still missing on the Great Lakes and the biggest Canadian vessel lost in that catastrophic storm.
• Remarkably, she was brand new when sunk, with crew noting “the paint was still tacky in their staterooms” as she departed Fort William for Midland, Ontario.
• The 1913 storm—often called a 500-year event—brought sustained 75 mph winds and 35-foot waves. It sank 12 major ships and claimed approximately 250 lives.
• The Carruthers vanished from near the Lake Huron north end, off Detour, and wasn’t seen again. Debris only appeared days later—starting November 12—some 175 miles away on the lake’s southeast shores.
• Tragically, 22 Canadian sailors lost their lives when the Carruthers disappeared.
• Trotter’s team found her during their ongoing high-probability mapping of Lake Huron’s bottom—a method that has uncovered over 100 shipwrecks since the early 1970s.
• The wreck—not where many expected—lies in U.S. waters, well off Michigan’s “thumb,” upside-down, its giant hull unmistakably visible in sonar imagery.
• Built at Collingwood, Ontario and launched in May 1913, the ship measured 529 ft (though records vary between 529–550 ft) and 7,862 GRT, yet she served less than six months.

For more on the James Carruthers and her tragic loss, see https://shotlinediving.com/docs/james-carruthers/