Large Crack Discovered In The Hull Of Lake Superior Freighter

The ship that was in distress over the weekend on Lake Superior, the Michipicoten, was believed to have hit something in the water, causing the boat to take on water. That isn't the case, as divers just discovered a huge crack in the hull of the ship, below the water line.

A Canadian news station in Thunder Bay had the story last night that a 13-foot crack was discovered by divers looking over the ship after it began taking on water over the weekend as it hauled taconite pellets from Minnesota across Lake Superior.

The ship was able to engage its bilge pump system and remove enough water to bring the ship back to a list of 5 degrees. The boat was reported to have been leaning nearly 15 degrees in the water as the boat was still taking on water.

Luckily no one was injured in what is believed to be 'hull failure'.

A page dedicated to shipping on Lake Superior had a post that detailed more information from the Thunder Bay news station.

Image Credit: Paul Shea/TSM

Bruce Symington posted to the page that:

"This appears to be a result of fatigue/structural failure," a spokesperson for the Transportation Safety Board of Canada told TBnewswatch in an email Monday.

In an interview with TBnewswatch, US Coast Guard spokesperson Lorne Thomas said the rupture is from "the turn of the bilge, which is where the side shell turns to the bottom plate. A 13-foot-long crack was detected by the divers, which is clearly indicative of a hull failure."

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Thomas said a loud bang the ship's crew reported hearing while the vessel was in deep water likely happened at the time of the hull failure.

The Michipicoten, according to the ship's Wikipedia page, "was built in 1952 by Massachusetts Heavy Industries in Quincy, Massachusetts. It was one of three vessels built to similar plans for the Interlake Steamship Company. It was launched as Elton Hoyt II." It's name was changed to Michipicoten in 2003.