Wreck Dive or Snorkel Albany Shipwreck, Thunder Bay, Michigan

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By the 1840s, tens of thousands of settlers arrived yearly in Buffalo, New York, in search of passage and opportunities further west. Fast, reliable and often opulent steamers, such as the sidewheeler Albany, carried these passengers across the Great Lakes to rapidly growing cities such as Cleveland, Detroit, Milwaukee and Chicago. On November 26, 1853, a gale swept Lake Huron and drove Albany ashore as it struggled toward refuge in Presque Isle Harbor. After surviving a harrowing night of fierce wind and waves, the nearly 200 passengers and crew were rescued by local boats. Salvage efforts, winter ice, and storms eventually tore the wooden ship apart. Today, sections of the steamer rest in as little as five feet of water less than two miles from shore in Albany Bay, named in honor of the wreck. A seasonal mooring buoy marks a 100-foot section of Albany's lower hull and provides access to the wreck for paddlers, snorkelers, and divers.

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