NathanAnother Death
And after the terrible accident took place, the group had to be forced to drift in the life raft for 60 hours before they could be helped. They were fortunate because they were finally saved by a passing steamboat. But during this time, there was yet another tragedy that struck. One of the survivors, chief engineer Thomas McCutcheon, passed away due to exposure to the elements.
The Rescue Mission
The sinking of the Manasoo was indeed a tragic moment of grave proportions. There were quite a few rescue teams that went to look for survivors. “No quest devoted to the saving of human lives was … ever carried out more unselfishly and more faithfully,” a local historian William Fox had stated regarding this incident in 1952. “To the deep regret of all who were engaged in it, not another survivor of the disaster was found.”
After 90 Years
There have been countless superstition on the topic of this unfortunate happening. The location of this sunken ship was also a mystery for a long time too. In 2018, Maritime historian Cris Kohl and shipwreck hunters Ken Merryman and Jerry Eliason found the ship 200 feet underwater. In the past 90 years, the ship had remained untouched at the bottom of Lake Huron off the coast of Griffith Island in Ontario.
A Unique Discovery
The discoverers the found the car covered in mussels but there was absolutely no sign of animal or human remains. “It is very rare to see a car, an automobile, on a shipwreck,” Kohl explained. “The very unique thing about the wreck of the Manasoo is that it sits on the lake bottom at the very same dramatic angle at which it sank,” Merryman further stated, “The stern is embedded up to its railing in the soft bottom, while the bow points up towards the surface, rising high above the lake bottom.”
Was It Cursed?
Man theories rose regarding the reason behind the ship sinking. The first being that Manasoo was under a curse after having new owners. “There is a long-held superstition among sailors that if someone changes the name of a ship, that person and/or that ship will encounter bad luck,” the shipwreck hunters were quoted, “Under its new name, the vessel lasted less than one year before sinking with tragic results in September 1928. The Manasoo proved to be a classic example of the bad luck that will plague a vessel after its name has been changed.”
Some Compromising
Another reasonable explanation for the ship to sink was that the extension made the ship unsteady after being added to the ship. Hence, when the ship met with the harsh winds and strong currents, it ended up leaning and leaned too far making the cattle shift the weight on deck to one side. This second theory is more widely accepted but no one knows for sure what became of the ship and why it sank so quickly…