![Filmmakers expecting "to find a pile of rocks" in Lake Huron discover ship that vanished with its entire crew in 1895](https://assets3.cbsnewsstatic.com/hub/i/r/2023/10/10/4b48e6e8-414d-4689-914a-f5be44e2d1d3/thumbnail/1200x630/b0d794d00a485293acafd9cc69b541bf/bow-wideside.jpg?v=69042d5753ca4b526d6a54f60ee177ca)
Filmmakers expecting "to find a pile of rocks" in Lake Huron discover ship that vanished with its entire crew in 1895
CBSN
Documentary filmmakers using a remotely operated vehicle to search the lakebed of Lake Huron said they found the wreck of a ship that disappeared 128 years ago, losing its entire crew.
The ship has been identified as the Africa, which was built in 1874 and sank two decades later while traveling from Ashtabula, Ohio to Owen Sound, Ontario, according to a news release announcing the find. The Africa was towing a barge, named the Severn, and both vessels were carrying coal during the fateful trip in 1895. The towline connecting the vessels was cut by a powerful snowstorm, and the Severn ran aground. Its crew was rescued. However, the Africa was never seen again, and its 11 crewmembers were never found.
The documentary filmmakers, Yvonne Drebert and Zach Melnick, started investigating the lakebed when scientists doing an offshore fish survey in the area noticed an "anomaly on their sonar readout," according to the news release. The husband-and-wife team specialize in underwater videography using remotely operated vehicles, according to the release. The vehicle they use is "one of only a handful like it in the world," with an ultra-low-light high resolution camera system.
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