Steve Linley's Great Lakes

Site of the Month #3

part 3, the conclusion

The Newell A. Eddy

The last big find in the Straits of Mackinaw

Imagine the trouble the NAE was in with fierce winds and heavy seas assaulting the boat. Captain Burton would have ordered the crew to reef sail and drop anchors. Measures such as these would get the bow into the waves and prevent her from capsizing. As the anchor clawed into the deep water the ship must have come about yet the wind and waves pushed the NAE away from her tow.

Captain Jenkins of the CAE, under limited steerage by block and tackle, headed for Cheboygan, MI to the South East. As he looked back upon his tow barge drifting away, he thought she might be doing as well as the steamer. She probably was and would have made it though the storm.

However, drifting back she sailed upon a Reynolds Reef where her 16 foot draft could not sail over the 11 foot water depth. The NAE struck her bottom hard, somewhere near the stern. So hard the Newell A. Eddy was coming apart forward of her cabin.

The capstan drive has remained motionless for nearly 100 years but appears to be in working condition. The time spent on the bottom has done little to age it.

He knew their only hope was to keep the schooner on the reef in shallow water. However, the anchor kept slipping and the Newell Eddy drifted off the reef into deep water. Captain Burton must have known that if the CAE didn't come about soon all hand would be lost.

The crew would have climbed the rigging in a desperate search for high ground hoping the boat would sink to the bottom before they ran out of mast.

Fate trapped the helpless men between death by drowning and death by exposure. The NAE sank to the bottom as the highest part of the mast ended up 45 feet under water.

Within ten minutes the 35 degree water would have chilled their bodies into unconsciousness and they drown.

The Newell A. Eddy is a perfect example of what shipping life was like on the Great Lakes. We only hope that the diving community will not rob her so that others can see her as we have.

Special thanks to Matt Meighen for trusting us and inviting us to film the Eddy.

Please contact me with Questions and Comments