Shipwreck to be listed on National Register of Historic Places

Wed, Mar 26, 2008

The wreck of the steamship Hennepin, discovered two years ago in Lake Michigan by Holland-based Michigan Shipwreck Research Associates, has been named to the National Register of Historic Places.

It is the first shipwreck in the Michigan waters of Lake Michigan to be listed on the national register.

"While the listing doesn't place any significant legal restrictions on a vessel, it does bring a certain validity to the discovery and the research that went into the designation," said Craig Rich, co-director of the MSRA.

The Hennepin, determined to be the first self-unloading steamship ever built, lies in 230 feet of water off South Haven. It was located by Great Lakes shipwreck hunter David Trotter in June 2006. It was positively identified a week later by MSRA's technical dive team of Jeff Vos of Holland, Todd White of Saugatuck and Bob Underhill of Kalamazoo.

The National Park Service listed the historic vessel on the national register on Feb. 1.

The Hennepin was built in 1888 in Milwaukee as the George H. Dyer and renamed after the turn of the century. By the 1920s, the vessel was owned by Construction Materials Corp. and based in Grand Haven, where it was used mostly to haul stone and gravel as a tow barge.

The 208-foot-long cargo ship sank in 1927 while being towed from Chicago to Grand Haven. Capt. Ole Hansen and his crew escaped unharmed — although many of those involved died just two years later when the Hennepin's replacement, the Andaste, also sank.

"This marvel of engineering radically changed the way goods were shipped throughout the Great Lakes and the world," said MSRA co-director Valerie van Heest. "Even today's 1,000-foot-long self-unloading cargo ships owe their design to the Hennepin."

The group has received a grant from the Michigan Department of Humanities to create a museum display, curriculum guide, video and book on the discovery. The museum exhibit will be on display at the Heritage Museum in St. Joseph later this year.

More information about the Hennepin and other discoveries will be presented at the MSRA's annual shipwreck film festival, "Mysteries and Histories Beneath The Inland Seas," at the Knickerbocker Theatre in downtown Holland on Saturday, May 3, at 7 p.m. Tickets are $12.50 in advance through the group's Web site (www.michiganshipwrecks.org) or $15 at the door. All proceeds go toward the discovery and documentation of shipwrecks, and the creation of video documentaries and other educational materials.

Michigan Shipwreck Research Associates is a nonprofit corporation, which has a mission to preserve and promote the state's submerged maritime history.