Diver Claims Noted Great Lakes Wrecks

A salvage expert says he spent 16 years battling the stormy waters of Lake Michigan to uncover “the find of the century”--two 19th-Century passenger steamers. But now he must fight the state to lay claim to the historic shipwrecks.

“All I want to do is see this wreck preserved,” Harry Zych said. He was referring to the Lady Elgin, a luxury steamer that sank with 287 passengers and their valuables when it was rammed by another vessel in 1860.

In August, Zych filed a claim in U.S. District Court in Chicago seeking title under federal admiralty law to the Lady Elgin and the Seabird, another sunken luxury boat he discovered.

He already has removed some artifacts from the two wrecks and believes more should be brought to the surface for preservation. The recovered items are under claim of the court until ownership is decided.

But Illinois officials claim that the wrecks are state property and should remain at the bottom, untouched except for authorized archeological work and recreational sightseeing by divers.

“To go in and strip them of artifacts and sell them is just not palatable to the state and is not in the best interest of the state,” said William Kane, an assistant state attorney general.

Kane said his office is seeking to intervene in the case on behalf of the Illinois Department of Transportation and the Illinois Historic Agency. He said a 1987 federal law gives states the rights to any shipwrecks found in their territorial waters.

The state also is citing an Illinois law that prohibits the desecration of unregistered graves.

Zych, who won’t disclose the exact location of the wrecks, said he doesn’t believe there is anything of great monetary value aboard either ship. He declined to say what items he had brought up already.

The sinking of the Lady Elgin on the night of Sept. 8, 1860, somewhere off Chicago’s North Shore suburbs, still ranks as one of the worst disasters in Great Lakes shipping.

The wooden, side-wheeled steamer was rammed by the lumber schooner Augusta, which was running without lights. The Lady Elgin sank rapidly, taking the lives of 287 passengers, mostly members of a Milwaukee political group returning from an excursion to Chicago. A handful of passengers made it to shore in Winnetka.

In a lesser-known tragedy, the Seabird caught fire and sank April 9, 1868, killing all but one of the 100 passengers. Also a side-wheeled steamer, the Seabird was making its first run of the season to Chicago after wintering in Manitowoc, Wis.

Zych said he has found no human remains on either wreck and cited newspaper and other historical accounts that all the bodies were recovered soon after the sinkings.

The 41-year-old Chicago native, who runs the American Diving and Salvage Co., said he first started looking for the Lady Elgin in 1973.

“It’s been a long-term love affair. Nobody really knew where it was,” he said.

He also was looking on and off for the Seabird, and found it in 1988.

Then in May he found the Lady Elgin using sonar. In 42-degree water, divers found a spoon engraved with the ship’s name.

“It was pretty exhilarating,” he said. “It’s the find of the century in the Great Lakes.”

Neither Zych nor his lawyer would say what they plan to do with items retrieved from the wrecks. Nor would they say whether Zych would accept compensation for the wrecks and turn them over to the state. According to court documents, Zych has spent $100,000 on the salvage operation.

But Kane said that under the 1987 law, Zych is not entitled to any compensation.