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    Researchers Just Found the Most Dangerous Shipwreck in Lake Erie

    On Sunday, the National Museum of the Great Lakes, US Coast Guard, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced a significant discovery in the middle of Lake Erie; the wreck of the lost cargo barge Argo. For almost 80 years, the Argo has been missing beneath the water, all the while holding toxic cargo within its hull.

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    According to the NMGL announcement, NOAA once considered the missing Argo, “the greatest potential environmental threat by a shipwreck on the Great Lakes” because of its cargo; an estimated 100,000 gallons of crude oil and benzol. The Coast Guard is now investigating reports of a mysterious substance leaking in the vicinity of the shipwreck.

    What is the Argo?

    We know the Argo was built in 1911 in Baltimore, Maryland, and that it sank in a storm off Pelee Island, Canada, on October 20, 1937 while it was being towed by a tugboat across Lake Erie. Two people were on board when the barge sank; the tugboat managed to rescue both of them after a two-hour search.

    Other than those precious few details, however, we know next to nothing about the Argo’s final voyage. It’s unknown where the boat departed from, where it was going, and for how long it had been sailing when it sank. The barge was not built to sail on the Great Lakes, and the press release issued by the National Museum of the Great Lakes refers to the Argo’s voyage as “a controversial and perhaps illegal operation.”

    The biggest mystery of the Argo, of course, was that for 78 years, no one knew where exactly it came to rest.

    How was it found?

    On August 28, Tom Kowalczk, director of remote sensing for the Cleveland Underwater Explorers (CLUE), located a shipwreck approximately 12 miles northeast of Sandusky using side scan sonar technology. The wreck appeared to match the description of the lost Argo. Cooperating with the National Museum of the Great Lakes, the shipwreck hunters of CLUE have identified over a dozen different Lake Erie wrecks in the last ten years.

    Recorded dimensions of the Argo compared with those of the wreck, as well as eyewitness accounts of the barge’s 1937 sinking, gave the CLUE team more evidence that shipwreck was the Argo. CLUE and NMGL then contacted the Coast Guard with news that the lost and potentially toxic barge may finally have been found.

    On October 23, Kowalczk and David VanZandt, CLUE’s director and chief archeologist, officially confirmed the newly discovered wreck was the long-lost Argo. The team also observed an unknown substance leaking to the surface, and reported the leak to the Coast Guard.

    “[The] speed at which NOAA, the United States Coast Guard and other agencies have reacted to the discovery of the Argo is remarkable,” said Christopher Gillcrist, executive director of the National Museum of the Great Lakes. “This collaboration between government and the not-for-profit sector is a powerful example of the success that can be achieved for the benefit of hundreds of thousands of people whose health and livelihood depend on the waters of Lake Erie.”

    What happens next?

    The Coast Guard announced Sunday that it was responding to the potential leak by establishing a safety zone around the site of the shipwreck, three nautical miles from Kelley’s Island Shoal. Coast Guard pollution responders reported smelling a solvent odor at the site over the weekend and on Saturday a USCG aircraft “reported observing a 400 yard discoloration on the water near the site.”

    No fumes or discoloration were detected at the site when Coast Guard crews examined the area Monday morning.

    The mystery substance appears to be “a lighter-end petroleum-based solvent that would quickly dissipate when it reaches the air,” according to Lt. Cmdr. Anthony Migliorini, commanding officer of Marine Safety Unit Toledo. The Coast Guard believes the primary danger the substance poses right now is an “inhalation hazard” for the responders at the site.

    The next steps according to the Coast Guard announcement will be to identify and secure the leak. USCG has contracted a salvage company to examine the wreck, and if the weather holds, a dive team will begin searching for the leak Tuesday morning.

    What’s at risk?

    According to the 2013 NOAA report, if the Argo’s oil were to bust loose, it could pose a serious risk to the wildlife, the shoreline economy and the shipping industry of Lake Erie. Pelee Island, not far from the Argo’s final resting place, is famous for its migratory birds, some of which would be at high risk from an oil slick on the water’s surface.

    The NOAA report notes that a spill from the sunken wreck could impact the economy and culture of the region as well as its ecology and that, “socio-economic resources in the areas potentially affected by a release from the Argo include lakeshore communities on Lake Erie, as well as state parks, that utilize the coastal areas of the lake.”

    Recreational fishing, boating and vacation spots along the Lake Erie shoreline would be at risk from a catastrophic oil spill, along with power plants that have industrial water intakes on the lake and the lake’s commercial fishing industry. The report also predicts commercial shipping lanes would be disrupted by a spill, and says that, “disruption of the shipping lanes in Lake Erie could conceivably affect shipping traffic in and out of ports on Lake Huron, Lake Michigan, and Lake Superior.” An oil spill from the Argo in Lake Erie could affect the entire Great Lakes region.

    The NOAA assessment of the Argo’s danger was largely hampered by the fact that for 78 years no one knew where it was or the structural integrity of its hull. Although the lost barge’s cargo remains an environmental and economic danger to Lake Erie, at the very least it’s no longer a danger shrouded in mystery.

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    Jesse Bethea
    Jesse Betheahttps://columbusunderground.com
    Jesse Bethea is a freelance features writer at Columbus Underground covering neighborhood issues, economics, science, technology and other topics. He is a graduate from Ohio University, a native of Fairfax, Virginia and a fan of movies, politics and baseball. Jesse is the winner of The Great Novel Contest and the author of Fellow Travellers, available now at all major retailers.
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