Illinois Bicentennial, 20 Oddities: The Boeing 727 From "U.S. Marshals" Movie

I hadn't heard of any of these first three oddities.

BOEING 727 FROM "U.S. MARSHALS"

Belknap, 6724 North U.S. Highway 45

There's a piece of Hollywood in southern Illinois, but you'll have to venture fifty feet underwater to see it.  The ill-fated Boeing 727 that crashed in the 1998 film "U.S. Marshals" was laid to rest in Mermet Springs, a spring-fed limestone quarry that draws around 6,000 scuba divers a year.

There are also planes, a train and automobiles as attractions at the site in the more than 8 acres of water. (Hey, there was a movie about them too.)  Also you can see paddlefish (one real strange-looking fish), bass and albino catfish there.

So, you don't scuba.  Well for $25 you can get a 25-minute shallow dive with an instructor or for $50 get this dive and a full day's access to the quarry and snorkle equipment.

The Plane, The Plane.  --

Shipwreck Coast On Michigan's Upper Peninsula-- Part 4: About the Commode

The ships may be well preserved, but the cargoes are another story.  Crews of wrecked ships would salvage as much as they could.  Other cargo items were looted, many by divers over the last century.  It was not illegal then to bring back items that could be sold or used as souvenirs.  These were in the days before the modern divers credo "Take only pictures, leave only bubbles."

One funny story, though is the toilet and anchor from the barge Herman H. Hettler, which sank in 1926.  A local diver snatched these two items in the 1960s and proudly displayed them on his front yard until he retired to Texas 30 years later.

That's when Munising locals retrieved them (plucking flowers from the commode that the wife had planted) and re-sank them in the ship.  This explains why the toilet sits perfectly upright on the wreck.

Sounds Like An Interesting Place to Visit.  --RoadDog

More on the Steamship General Anthony Wayne

June 21st I wrote about the finding of the wreck of the 156 foot long steamship General Anthony Wayne under How Deep Can We Go. Yesterday's Chicago Tribune had an article with more info on it. Since I'm very interested in sunken ships, I'll go into more detail.

The ship, which sank April 27, 1850 in Lake Erie, about eight miles north of Vermillion, OH, was rumored to be carrying millions of dollars worth of GOLD!!! Forty million to be exact. As such, it was one of the most sought-after ones in the lake. Tom Kowalczk, who found it, said that isn't true, there is none. Plus, the Great Lakes Historical Society in Vermillion also does not believe there is any truth to the tale.

The wreckage, however, might provide some insight into the old side-wheel technology as well as why exactly the ship sank. Personal effects will give a good cultural history.

It was carrying domestic wine, cattle, and 93 passengers and crew and had left Sanduskey, Ohio, on its way to Cleveland and then Buffalo. It is known that the high-pressure boiler exploded and that preceded the sinking. Within a five year period, four more high-pressure boiler ships had fires or explosions. Shipbuilders liked these boilers because they were small and cheap to make. (Some things just don't change.)

The Federal government created the Steamship Inspection Service because of this. In 1915, the SIS became part of the newly formed US Coast Guard. The Historical Society (which has a great museum in Vermillion) will do a survey of it for the state of Ohio this summer. Once completed, the exact location will be revealed to the public so divers can see it for themselves.

Artifacts have been brought up and will be displayed in the museum.

Kowalczk discovered the ship last September after a lot of research and long-hours of looking. He won't make any money off it and won't even recover the thousands of out-of--pocket expenses he's incurred. "That's not why I go out there. It's just that anticipation of finding that shipwreck that keeps you going-- until you start after the next one." Way to go, Tom. My feelings exactly. I imagine this is how Ballard felt while looking for the Titanic and Bismarck.

The article also had a picture of the ship and a list of 5 other ships "missing" on the Great Lakes. Included were the Griffon which was lost in 1679 on Lake Huron or Lake Michigan. It was built for French explorer LaSalle. Also, there was the Lodner Phillips submarine which was lost in Lake Erie in 1853, one of the earliest working submarines. Now these two would be VERY interesting to find.

Chicago Tribune June 22nd- "No treasure, but the 1850 ship is historical gold" by Sean Hamill.

Congratulations to Tom Kowalczk for a Great Job. --RoadDog