John V Moran Shipwreck: Vessel That Sank in 1899 Nearly Completely Intact

The historic John V. Moran shipwreck was discovered last month in the depths of Lake Michigan and, on July 8, a scuba diver positively identified the nearly completely intact vessel after it stubbornly eluded researchers for 116 years.

The 214-foot, iron-reinforced Moran floated into trouble around midnight on Feb. 9, 1899, when wads of ice punctured the ship’s hull and began flooding it with water, according to the Detroit Free Press. Captain John McCleod and his 24-man crew managed to walk across the surrounding ice in -30 degree weather and catch the attention of nearby steamer Naomi as the Moran slowly sunk through the icy water, never to be seen again for more than a century.

But on July 8, a Michigan Shipwreck Research Association (MSRA) team led a coalition of scuba divers on a journey 365 feet below the surface to positively identify the vessel with the state’s approval, which ultimately led to the discovery that the Moran is one of the best-preserved shipwrecks in the Great Lakes, according to Syracuse.com.

“Not a railing is missing,” said Craig Rich, a master diver and co-director of the MSRA, according to Syracuse.com “The mast is standing. The lights are standing. The anchors are in position. There's even glass still in the windows. The only thing missing from this wreck is the smokestack.”

“What's so amazing is when you spend years studying something, and looking at historic photos, then to see it in the flesh, so to speak, is a moment of revelation," said Valerie van Heest, a maritime historian and co-director of the MSRA, according to the Detroit Free Press. “We now had the opportunity to look at things that the historic photographs had never captured. We could literally go up to the pilothouse windows and peek in.”

The Moran was one of several steamships owned by Captain Edward Gifford Crosby, who, after canceling a booked passage on a ship home to New York from Europe, opted to travel back in 1912 on the RMS Titanic on her maiden voyage, instead. Crosby was one of the more than 1,500 passengers who died on the Titanic when she sunk on April 15, 1912.

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