Posted by Jim Koch on September 07, 19101 at 10:48:34:
In Reply to: part of old ship found! posted by Billy Castle on September 06, 19101 at 23:42:27:
: I found some wreckage of a ship in Lake Erie and am in need of some help finding the ship it came from. I found A huge anchor, a winch(double geared,3 ft dia.), 2 coils of thick cable 2", A cleat 150Lbs.- in water, a rats hole; where anchor chain passed through the hull, and a large piece of metal that obviously held the winch that is still attached to two 1ft.x1ft. beams that were ripped out of a large vessel. As this is quite a find and I'm a beginner at wreck identification I could use a little help.
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First of all you need to date your find.
If the parts are not too badly rusted you may be able to discern a patent number or date of some sort.
The items found will be of that date or later.
Next you will have to consider where it was found.
From the sound of it, the anchor tackle in question was likely attached as a refit to a barge or work boat.
Check with the local towing companies.
You will likely have a certain amount of difficulty tracking down the vessel from which this equipment was lost.
Damage of this sort would not have made the papers.
You might try contacting the insurance companies which deal with the lake boats.
Of course you are unlikely to find anyone who remembers such damage.
I once went down to Great Lakes Towing in Cleveland to discuss one of their tugs which lost a barge 30 years earlier.
No one there remembered the incident, the barge, or even the tug.
Ancient history!
They didn't even have records going back that far.
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Jim Koch