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129-year-old vessel still tethered to lifeboat found on floor of Lake Huron

smithsonianmag.com

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Re: 129-year-old vessel still tethered to lifeboat found on floor of Lake Huron

#21

Post by Kon-Peki »

nonethewiser wrote: post #3

It would be awesome to go back in time and see some of these remote port cities in their heyday (such as Marquette, Duluth).

> go back in time and see some of these remote port cities in their heyday

It would be a sight to see. For scale, in the 1860s and 1870s Chicago was the busiest port in the US; "In 1871, more ships arrived [in Chicago] than New York, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Charleston, and Mobile combined" [1]. I imagine that Marquette or Duluth would have a top-10 busiest port in the US at that time - where else would all those ships be coming from?

[1] http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/300010.html

Re: 129-year-old vessel still tethered to lifeboat found on floor of Lake Huron

#22

Post by _qua »

kashunstva wrote: post #8
lytfyre wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The NOAA page on the wreck ( https://thunderbay.noaa.gov/shipwrecks/ironton.html ) just has depth listed as "TBA", but the Ohio that it collided with is in >100m. assuming it's in similar range, that's serious depth. Way into hypoxic trimix zone (ie: you'll be breathing gas that'd kill you if you were breathing it on the surface) Looks fascinating, but almost certainly out of reach for all but the most extreme techni…

I’m not a diver; but the physiology of these depth effects is fascinating! TIL that these hypoxic mixes are needed because of a combination of two effects: nitrogen narcosis[0] and oxygen toxicity[1]. The former is due to diffusion of any gas, apart from helium, into neurons in the CNS under high pressure, while the latter is due to the raised partial pressure of O2 at depth. 100% O2 is cumulatively toxic at sea leve…

If you're interested in the physiology of respiration at the limits this lecture by John West is fantastic https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRN124iuqZ8 . It has been some time since I watched it in med school but if I recall correctly, I think it is pretty accessible to anyone who is technically/scientifically minded.

Re: 129-year-old vessel still tethered to lifeboat found on floor of Lake Huron

#23

Post by wpietri »

twh270 wrote: post #20
Melkman wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair it is 100m vertical. Stand on a 25 story building and look down. That's not a small distance.

It's not really about the distance; it's about how drastically conditions change in 100m depth of water -- to the point that very specialized equipment is necessary for humans to survive, and if we're not careful on the way up it's gonna be a Very Bad Time possibly (or even likely) resulting in death.

For sure. This got me thinking about how humans need special equipment to survive long even 1m below the surface, and the problems just get worse with depth. Wikipedia has nice coverage of the way we've iterated deeper and deeper: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_underwater_diving

Re: 129-year-old vessel still tethered to lifeboat found on floor of Lake Huron

#24

Post by sandworm101 »

lytfyre wrote: post #5
nradov wrote: post #2

I'd love to dive there someday.

The NOAA page on the wreck ( https://thunderbay.noaa.gov/shipwrecks/ironton.html ) just has depth listed as "TBA", but the Ohio that it collided with is in >100m. assuming it's in similar range, that's serious depth. Way into hypoxic trimix zone (ie: you'll be breathing gas that'd kill you if you were breathing it on the surface) Looks fascinating, but almost certainly out of reach for all but the most extreme techni…

>> almost certainly out of reach for all but the most extreme technical divers.

Diving that deep isn't going to become easier anytime soon. But have a look at the consumer-grade "underwater drones", formerly called ROVs. I wouldn't be surprised to see people in small boats doing youtube videos of such wreaks in a couple years.

Re: 129-year-old vessel still tethered to lifeboat found on floor of Lake Huron

#25

Post by xattt »

samatman wrote: post #16

If you're from the Great Lakes, you know The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald . If not, maybe not. But it's what you want to listen to while reading this article.

Nitpick, but the Fitzgerald sunk in Lake Superior. Also, I am thrown off by an area called Thunder Bay being in Lake Huron.

Re: 129-year-old vessel still tethered to lifeboat found on floor of Lake Huron

#26

Post by kevmo »

nonethewiser wrote: post #3

It would be awesome to go back in time and see some of these remote port cities in their heyday (such as Marquette, Duluth).

I was in Marquette last May. There were lots of folks there! Nice town, rented a cabin for a few days.

I wanna go run their ultramarathon sometime! https://www.marquettetrail50.com/

Re: 129-year-old vessel still tethered to lifeboat found on floor of Lake Huron

#27

Post by chronicom »

samatman wrote: post #16

If you're from the Great Lakes, you know The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald . If not, maybe not. But it's what you want to listen to while reading this article.

There's a very intriguing podcast episode by Stuff You Should Know about the Edmund Fitzgerald. I would definitely recommend giving it a listen to anyone who is interested in the story of the wreckage.

They also touched on how Lightfoot modified the lyrics in his song to reflect new findings, which was a very kind thing of him to do, especially when you consider that many families lost loved ones in the tragic accident.

Re: 129-year-old vessel still tethered to lifeboat found on floor of Lake Huron

#28

Post by ChoGGi »

samatman wrote: post #16

If you're from the Great Lakes, you know The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald . If not, maybe not. But it's what you want to listen to while reading this article.

If that's the one I remember (burned down while docked) we took a canoe overtop of the wreck when I was young. That was an interesting experience.

Re: 129-year-old vessel still tethered to lifeboat found on floor of Lake Huron

#29

Post by UI_at_80x24 »

If you are interested in this make sure you check out Fathom Five Provincial Park in Ontario (on the Bruce Peninsula that separates Lake Huron from Georgian Bay.

It's an awesome dive location and enough pristine wrecks to keep you fascinated for a long time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fathom_Five_National_Marine_Pa...

Re: 129-year-old vessel still tethered to lifeboat found on floor of Lake Huron

#30

Post by westurner »

westurner wrote: post #7
jamiek88 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Crazy how 100m is such a short distance in most walks of life except for underwater. It’s seriously non intuitive to a layman the whole pressure thing.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decompression_sickness#Ascent_... : > DCS [Decompression Sickness] is best known as a diving disorder that affects divers having breathed gas that is at a higher pressure than the surface pressure, owing to the pressure of the surrounding water. The risk of DCS increases when diving for extended periods or at greater depth, without ascending gradually and making the decompression stops n…

> It’s seriously non intuitive to a layman the whole pressure thing.

Is there an issue with the above explanation?

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