The team that brought you the schooner Trinidad has discovered another near the shoreline of Algoma. On Friday, the Algoma Chamber of Commerce announced that the Wisconsin Underwater Archaeology Association has located the schooner Margaret A. Muir 150 years after it is believed to have sank. Using similar techniques to what they used to discover the Trinidad last summer, Brendon Baillod, Robert Jaeck, and Kevin Cullen found the ship in May using historical records and high-resolution cameras. According to the chamber, the Muir was a 130-foot ship built in Manitowoc to supplement the grain trade across the Great Lakes. The ship was on its way to South Chicago with a full load of bulk salt from Michigan when it encountered rough winds after clearing the Straits of Mackinac. It was not until the Muir was near Ahnapee (present-day Algoma) that it was realized that the ship was taking on water, and it eventually sank on September 30th, 1893. Baillod, Jaeck, and Cullen discovered the wreck in about 50 feet of water just outside the Algoma Harbor entrance. The group will now try to help the Muir follow the same course the Trinidad did by nominating it to the National Register of Historic Places, a feat the Trinidad accomplished earlier this month.
