SS Hydrus found 102 years after it sank in Lake Huron

A shipwreck hunter from Michigan says he's found a sunken freighter that has been sitting on the bottom of Lake Huron for more than a century.

David Trotter has revealed that he has located the SS Hydrus, a freighter that sunk at this time of year in 1913.  

"I always wanted to find the Hydrus, but I really didn't think at this point I was going to live long enough to do it," Trotter told CBC Radio's Windsor Morning by telephone from Canton, Michigan.

Everyone who was on board the ship died, including five people who Trotter said made it to a lifeboat, but ended up freezing to death out on the water.

The long-lost ship was actually located in the summer, in what Trotter describes as being in "the middle third of Lake Huron."

Trotter said a lot of work had to take place before any conclusions could be drawn about what happened to the ship on the day that it sank. And some of that work is continuing.

"We still have some mysteries that we want to solve," he said.

The ship is missing its portside anchor, which Trotter believes implies that it was deployed and ended up becoming detached.

Trotter said the Hydrus was found upright, which was unusual in comparison to other ships that sank on Lake Huron around that same time.

He believes that its cargo may be a clue to why the ship ended up coming to rest in this position.

"The iron ore was in her belly, very low on the water, and this probably prevented her from turning over."

While Trotter said there is nothing worth salvaging on the ship, he believes its value lies in what it can tell us about the events of the past.

"Our shipwrecks in the Great Lakes are historical events, they are part of our legacy, part of our history," he said.