Shipwreck Hunters Find Missing 1800s Barge in Lake Superior

DULUTH -- Three shipwreck hunters' six-year search of Lake Superior for a 1800s schooner barge has ended successfully.

Jerry Eliason, Ken Merryman and Kraig Smith found the ship, called the Antelope, resting 300 feet below in the waters near the Apostle Islands earlier this month.

Eliason says the find is remarkable because it's one of the only wooden schooners found at the bottom of the lake with its masts still standing.

The trio began their search for the Antelope in 2010 partly because they'd already found another shipwreck, the Marquette, near where the Antelope reportedly sank while en route to Duluth from Ashland, Wisconsin, in 1897.

The ship's entire crew was taken to safety on the Hiram W. Sibley steamer, which had been towing it.