Shipwreck discovery?

[jasondbaker]

Star Tribune
DULUTH — The shipwreck spotted Sunday by anglers walking across clear ice on Lake Superior remains a mystery.

Scuba diver Yan Saillard on Thursday explored the wreck, which sits in about 10 feet of water, 150 feet from the Duluth shore.

"It looks like a tugboat, about 50 to 60 feet long, with a 3- to 4-foot diameter propeller," Saillard said, adding that he didn't see any markings that would help identify the former craft.

Steven Sola, a fisherman among the group that made the find, thought the wreck was the City of Winnipeg, a wooden passenger ship that was intentionally sunk in 1898 after it was damaged by a fire. The Winnipeg's hull has never been located.

But Thom Holden, director of the Lake Superior Maritime Visitors Center, believes the boat is not long enough to be the Winnipeg.

Lacking a proper name, ship buffs have dubbed the find "Sophie's Wreck," after the 4-year-old daughter of one of the discoverers.