How Many Shipwrecks Are In The Great Lakes?

The Great Lakes have served as a crucial trading route throughout the Midwest and Canada out to the Pacific Ocean. While there is a history of swashbuckling piracy on the Great Lakes, generally, the biggest threat to sailors on these freshwater lakes was weather and human error. 

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The Great Lakes don't experience hurricane-level storms, but they can still be perilous waters at times. Considering that trading has been taking place along the lakes since the Fur Trade in the 1600s, and in recent years, there has been a surge in shipwreck discoveries in the Great Lakes, you'd think that eventually we'll run out of wrecks to discover.

According to estimates by researchers, numerous wrecks still lie along the lake floor.

6,000 Wrecks In The Lakes

According to the Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy, boats ranging in size from "canoes to car ferries and steamers, and modern ore boats" have traversed the Great Lakes over the years. Much like a car on the highway, if something is being driven, it can be involved in an accident.

READ MORE: 132-Year-Old 'Titanic'-Like Shipwreck Discovered In Lake Superior

Across the Great Lakes' 38,000 sq ft bottomlands, an estimated 6,000 vessels have sunk, with approximately 1,500 ships sinking in Michigan waters. Michigan waters, as indicated by the light-colored waters below, are wrecks that occurred within the Great Lakes within Michigan's borders.

For example, there are over 40 discovered shipwrecks in the southeastern part of Lake Michigan; however, there are even more lost wrecks that researchers know the general whereabouts of but have yet to locate.

NOAA researcher Steve Ruberg states that only 15% of the bottom of Lake Michigan has been mapped, and there are numerous wrecks in this lake and the other Great Lakes that are just waiting to be discovered.