Shipwreck Alley, where you can see wrecks without diving

The number attached to Lake Huron’s “Shipwreck Alley” is easy to misread. NOAA says storms, fog, shoals, fire, ice, and collisions have claimed more than 200 vessels in and around Thunder Bay. That does not mean 200 wrecks have all been found. NOAA’s current count for the 4,300-square-mile sanctuary is 100 discovered shipwrecks, with another 100 thought to await discovery.

Cold, fresh water has preserved many of the wrecks remarkably well. The collection runs from wooden schooners and early steamers to steel freighters. Some sites are shallow enough to explore from a kayak, paddleboard, or snorkel. Non-divers can also use a glass-bottom boat. Thunder Bay’s free sanctuary museum in downtown Alpena is the easiest place to begin and to check current options.

Thunder Bay was the first national marine sanctuary in the Great Lakes when NOAA designated it in 2000. It is still Michigan’s only one, but it is no longer the Great Lakes’ only sanctuary: NOAA now also lists Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast and Lake Ontario.

One wreck shows what the cold water can preserve. The schooner barge Ironton, lost in an 1894 collision, sits upright and intact with all three masts still standing. NOAA’s images of it make the sanctuary’s work feel very real.