Major Discoveries by Dave Trotter's Team
Table of Major URA Finds
The following table is a partial listing of major finds by the team over the years
Click on ship name links on left menu to see ship's webpage with additional details.
Click on ship name links on left menu to see ship's webpage with additional details.
Ship |
Discovery Year |
Comments |
Barbara Lynn |
? Early URA |
Salvaged |
Emma Nielson |
1980 |
|
1979 |
In 2019 & 2020 the URA team dove both the bow & stern of the Morrell in support of the newly opening full room exhibit to open at the Great Lakes Maritime Shipwreck Museum in White Fish Point upper Michigan. John DeBeck was a key participant & he wrote a 2020 updated history of the Morrell ... including many marine archaeology "finds" and research performed by URA. See the Morrell page for more details of this fascinating human history of the lakes. Fitting as URA discovered the Daniel J. Morell (bow & stern) in 1979. |
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Goliath |
1980's |
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1980's |
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Rocket |
1980's |
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Multiple Schooners |
1980-94 |
There's about a dozen or so schooners from 80-94 that are unaccounted for. (Blame Dave as he believed they were unworthy dive sites) |
Albany |
1981 |
John Steele assisted URA |
Unidentified |
1982 |
|
Troy |
1983 |
Troy was found by fisherman first. Dave's team locked the GPS coordinates with secondary discovery. |
Waverly |
1984 |
Gilcrest steamer sunk 1902 … her entire stern washed ashore |
1984 (? See Comment) |
Disputed: The WH Gilbert was supposedly found in 1984 by John Steele or divers that were involved in that group. However another story was recently brought to my attention that local divers in the Alpena area discovered the Gilbert by using hang numbers from fisherman. How many boats were equipped with LORAN C at that time is unknown but not many I suspect. However, while Dave's was not the first to dive her URA did "re-find" and GPS locate her as well as video document her. |
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John McGean |
1985 |
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Santiago |
1987 |
One largest barges in Great Lakes at 300' … loaded with iron ore when she sunk |
Illinois |
1988 |
Massive sidewheel steamer cut down to barge. Crushed by stones dumped on her accidently & unknown until URA dove her. |
E.P. Door |
1989 |
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Hercules |
1990 |
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City of Milwaukee |
1990 |
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1991 |
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1992 |
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Fred Lee |
1994 |
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Detroit |
1995 |
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G.F. Becker |
1998 |
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Zeus |
2000 |
Approx 38' Cabin Cruiser |
2000 |
Value |
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Avchea Crane Barge |
2000 |
Salvaged: The Schooner/barge Avchea was discovered in 2000 however it was not dove on by URA team immediately and was later "identified" by the local divers. |
2002 |
The SH Kimball discovery was in 2002 when she was found and dived by URA. |
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2002 |
When first discovered she was though it was the Hydrus. First steel freighter found upright on lake bottom vs on side our upside down as most shipwrecks. |
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2002 |
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2003 |
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Francis Berriman |
2003 |
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Massilon |
2003 |
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Nina |
2004 |
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Everrett |
2004 |
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2005 |
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Airplane 1 |
2005 |
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Airplane 2 |
2006 |
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2006 |
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Dudley |
2008 |
The Dudley was identified once it was dove on from the first dive in 2008 |
Egyptian |
2010 |
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New York |
2010 |
The Egan, Hale, and New York were discovered on the same weekend in 2010 |
2010 |
The Egan, Hale, and New York were discovered on the same weekend in 2010 |
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Marion Egan |
2010 |
The Egan, Hale, and New York were discovered on the same weekend in 2010 |
2014 |
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2013 |
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2015 |
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2015 |
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Target 24 (Clifton) |
2016 |
URA dove the Clifton in 2016, 2017, & 2018. Announced in fall 2017 & public location announced spring 2019. Also in top 5 or 10 of most sought-after shipwrecks in Great Lakes |
Pre-1850 Schooner |
2018 |
Still in RESEARCH - very old |
Old UNIQUE Working Barge |
2020 |
Still in RESEARCH - most unusual barge - OLD |
Mid 1850's two masted Brigantine |
2020 |
Still in RESEARCH - a beautiful brig in pristine shape |
Large late 1890's schooner barge |
2020 |
Still in RESEARCH - a huge 275' long schooner barge in pristine shape |
Water Witch |
2021 |
One of the top five most sought-after Great Lake's shipwrecks - stunning video & new research on her design |
Disputed Shipwreck Discoveries
As one might expect there are a number of shipwrecks that become disputed as to the first find. This occurs most frequently due to the extreme secrecy held by shipwreck explorers of date/place of their discovery … and held secret until a public announcement is made. Hopefully these disputes are "friendly" in nature and legitimate disputes should share credit. Here are a couple of such finds where others also claimed a find by URA.
Ship |
Discovery Year |
Comments |
Car Ferries |
1988-89 |
The John Curran & John McPhail car ferries. Believed first discovered by Stan Stock & subsequently by URA |
W.H. Wilcox |
2003 |
Discovered by URA while looking for the Franz, but was not dived for several years and subsequently Cramer & Ellison who published location. |
Anna Dobbins |
1996 |
Tug discovered by URA that was busted up & in extremely poor shape so never dived by URA until quite later. Not sure who first found or published location besides URA. |
Small Steamer New York |
2010 |
Not the larger New York URA found above. URA had location but did not immediately dive or publish its find immediately. Sunk 1876. |
Checotah/ New York |
2010 |
URA claims 2 weeks after Stayers independently. See Small Steamer New York above … very close to one another. |
Egyptian |
2010 |
Large wooden steamer found by URA but was not dove upon. It was later independently found by NOAA & they published the location. Same steamer found by URA in same location. |
Corsair |
2007 - 2009 |
Three shipwrecks all closely linked. All due to collision, all cargo of coal, and all 2 masted schooners. The three shipwrecks are within 10 miles of one another. Rob Ballard & NOAA and URA both found a couple of the schooners. NOAA labeled them red, green, yellow until identifies can be confirmed. Initial finds could be either URA or NOAA. |