WHAT LIES BENEATH

Chris Roxburgh

We are delving deep underwater

Maitland

STRAITS OF MACKINAC DEPTH 70’ TO 80’ DATE LOST - JUNE 11, 1871 to see what lies beneath with Traverse City native, Chris Roxburgh. Chris spent most of his life exploring the water surrounding Leelanau County. At just five years old, Chris’s parents Andi and Bob Roxburgh taught him how to swim in Lake Michigan. Today his partner in crime is his wife Bea, together over the last few years they have explored many miles of Lake Michigan documenting shipwrecks they uncovered along the way. Enough to publish his own book, Leelanau Underwater. With his technical diving ability and armed with his camera to record his findings he has put northern Michigan waters on the map. He has been featured multiple times in local and national news for his photography and environmental work. He has helped raise awareness to the growing plastics pollution problem in the Great lakes and continues to be an advocate for protecting our water. We are thrilled he was so willing to share these stunning images with us. Thank you, Chris and Bea.

Bea and Chris Francisco Morazan

SOUTH MANITOU ISLAND DEPT 20’ DATE LOST - NOV 29, 1960

The Great Lakes are overwhelming in their magnitude, holding 5,400 cubic miles and 20% of the world’s freshwater. Within the expansive waters that reach as far down as 1,333 feet are an incredible 6,000 estimated shipwrecks. During centuries without the modern avenues that would predict storms or the tools that allow greater nautical safety, every venture on the lakes was a risk, and many ended in tragedy. As a passionate advocate for the history and discovery of these untold tales, photographer and scuba diver Chris Roxburgh details his many discoveries on the lake floors.

“The excitement and history behind Michigan’s shipwrecks compelled me to dive,” Chris explains, “but my wife Bea is the reason I got into this. She located the George Rogers shipwreck and took me there, and we’ve been a dive team ever since.” Finding these wrecks takes significant planning and preparation. “The majority of shipwrecks I dive are not buoyed, and knowing the GPS coordinates and having good sonar helps in locating them. Finding a shipwreck is exhilarating and intriguing,” Chris says. With a lifetime of freediving behind him, he was able to enroll in diving classes to gain the experience he needed to spend more time underwater, capturing images of the wrecks.

Congress

SOUTH MANITOU ISLAND DEPTH 165’ DATE LOST - OCT 4, 1904 Each photograph Chris takes tells a story. On the seemingly lifeless lake floor, the scene of each wreck is reminiscent of a ghost town, eerie and abandoned. Appearing like a toy ship accessory in a household aquarium, every vessel rests partially submerged, covered in algae, and nearly iridescent in the reflection of the camera light. The photos illuminate the disconcerting reality of lost lives, and serve as stark reminders of the dangers and unpredictability of sailing the lakes. For those viewers with imagination, these haunting tributes to history can be resurrected in the mind, by imagining these ships gliding proudly over the water, directed by men on missions of trade and travel. The unfathomable number of casualties is shockingly surreal, and Chris is able to produce photography that’s both awe-inspiring and touchingly human. A bracing poignancy is present while looking at these ships that succumbed to the depths, and now serve only as glowing underwater decorations.

Photos of Chris looking minuscule alongside the length and breadth of the ships demonstrate the immensity of each wreck. Every ship is a true marvel, unique in its story, tale, and even century. “The oldest shipwreck I have been on was the Sandusky, built in 1848, and it sank on September 20th, 1856, in the Straits of Mackinac,” Chris recalls. “The strangest thing I ever found was the Great Lakes Stonehenge in Grand Traverse West Bay.” These rocks found in Lake Michigan are arranged like a miniature Stonehenge, and could have been created over 9,000 years ago. Their enigmatic origins have made them infamous in the area.

Sandusky

STRAITS OF MACKINAC DEPTH 70’ TO 80’ DATE LOST - SEPT 20, 1856

Eber Ward

STRAITS OF MACKINAC DEPTH 110’ TO 140’ DATE LOST - APRIL 20TH, 1909

There’s a certain daring that Chris has perfected through some of his more alarming sessions, as he explains his most nervewracking dive at the schooner Cornelia B. Windiate. “My most eerie dive was the Cornelia B. Windiate in Thunder Bay, Alpena, in pitch black darkness at 185 feet deep, knowing her crew had vanished and she had many ghostly stories about her,” he says. The ship had left Milwaukee in November of 1875 en route to Buffalo, NY, but the dangers of the autumn season took it down in an unknown location. It was discovered in 1986, in perfect, preserved condition, but sitting on the bottom of Lake Huron.

Despite the safety of today’s scuba diving ventures, Chris has had his fair share of terrifying moments while photographing the wrecks. “I’ve had a few close calls while diving,” he admits. “I was doing my first deep dive in the Eber Ward shipwreck in the Straits of Mackinac, when my dive partner was taking too long to come down on the deck, and I was looking up for him in the pitch black water and low visibility. As I looked up, the line ripped my mask off my head at 125 feet deep. I choked as water went down my nose. I got the water out of my lungs and put my mask back on as the line jerked around from the boat getting hit by waves on the surface. I finished my dive alone in the dark with a small flashlight.” The water’s temperature also presents certain dangers, which Chris experienced in a winter’s dive in Eagle Harbor. “It was -20°F windchill and only 5°F out. My regulator had a free flow when I located the Traveller shipwreck, and I had to switch to my backup air tank that also had a free flow. Both regs were bleeding out air uncontrollably from ice crystals that form in the diaphragm. When I came back up to the surface, a standing wave pulled me away from the land and I had to struggle to get back to shore.” Undeterred from these near misses, Chris returned to the water armed with his experience and temerity.

Eber Ward

Chris believes that the Great Lakes have the best wreck diving in the world. Among Chris’ favorite shipwrecks is the ghost ship Westmoreland. The Westmoreland sank on December 7th, 1854, as she made her way into the Manitou Passage in a blizzard with astonishing 20 foot waves. She was delivering gold and whiskey to the garrison stationed on Fort Mackinac. Half of her crew went down with the ship, and the survivors told a story of loss and survival. While Chris is more of a photographer than a wreck hunter, he dreams of the discovery of the barque ship Le Griffon. The vessel was used in fur trade and armed with seven cannons, and her location has been unknown since her disappearance in 1679.

Westmoreland

MANITOU PASSAGE DEPTH 180’ DATE LOST - DEC 7 1854

Walter L. Frost

SOUTH MANITOU DEPTH 10’ TO 12’ DATE LOST - NOV 4, 1903

Boiler | SOUTH FOX Chris and Bea | FOX ISLANDS

Through the publication of his book, Leelanau Underwater, Chris is able to share his photography that specifically tells stories of shipwrecks in Leelanau County and the Manitou Passage. He’s expanding his explorations and working with experts to memorialize and document more wrecks. Chris adds, “I’m representing the Manitou Passage Underwater Preserve, and working on creating a new preserve or expanding its existing boundaries to include the Fox Islands and Cat Head Bay. On this project, I’m collaborating with the Michigan Underwater Preserves Council, and diving with Bea Roxburgh, Dan Vaught, Brian Koski, and Adam Bryce.”