A Sudden Squall Doomed This Stone-Hauling Vessel in Lake Erie. More Than 150 Years Later, Divers Just Found the Shipwreck

The “Clough,” a 125-foot-long bark, sank in September 1868 near Cleveland, with just one crew member surviving to explain what had happened

Sarah Kuta | Daily Correspondent

April 16, 2026

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Experts in Ohio say they have identified the wreck of the Clough, a 125-foot-long ship that sank in Lake Erie more than 150 years ago.

The discovery, announced in February, comes after years of searching by the Cleveland Underwater Explorers, a nonprofit made up of divers, historians and archaeologists, with support from the National Museum of the Great Lakes.

Over the past decade, the group has covered 250 miles while using sidescan sonar to search the lakebed for signs of the wreck, reports Cleveland.com’s Peter Krouse. In June 2024, two underwater explorers—David VanZandt and Chris Kraska—set out to explore a site that looked promising.

VanZandt, the group’s founder, director and chief archaeologist, died in a diving accident that day. The surviving members of the Cleveland Underwater Explorers decided to continue their work in VanZandt’s honor, and they later identified the vessel as the Clough.

“In the months following his passing, both organizations committed to completing the identification process with care, accuracy and respect,” according to the announcement of the discovery. “Through collaborative research and documentation, the vessel has now been formally confirmed.”

The exact location of the shipwreck has not been revealed. However, the vessel is submerged roughly 70 feet deep several miles northeast of Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport, per Cleveland.com.

The Clough was built in 1867 in Lorain, a western suburb of Cleveland located on the lake. It was named after Baxter Clough, who owned a quarry in nearby Amherst. Concerned about the costs of shipping his stone by rail, he also ordered the construction of his own rail line that would transport his cargo to the lakeshore, where it could be loaded onto the Clough. From there, the stone was likely taken to Buffalo, where it was loaded onto barges or trains and shipped farther east.

The 125-foot-long ship was a bark (also spelled barque), a sailing vessel with three or more masts. The Clough sank on September 15, 1868, just a year after being put into service. When a powerful wind gust tipped the vessel over, the unsecured, heavy stone cargo slid across the deck. The eight crew members on board could not right the ship, which quickly filled with water and sank.

“The wind was so violent when it hit the sails of the boat that it keeled it right over on its side,” Tom Kowalczk, principal director for the Cleveland Underwater Explorers, tells WTOL’s Davis Wells. “The force of the wind was so severe that it laid the railing of the deck right down into the lake and allowed the water to rush in quickly.”

Only one person—second mate Rush Reid—survived the accident.

“There were a lot of people whose lives were affected by that shipwreck back in 1868,” Carrie Sowden, director of archaeology and research for the National Museum of the Great Lakes, tells the Chronicle-Telegram’s Garrett Looker. She adds that locating the wreck offers some satisfaction “that you are … able to finish their story.”

When divers eventually explored the Clough, they found a “time capsule” waiting for them beneath the waves, Kowalczk tells WTOL. The ship has been well preserved by the chilly waters of Lake Erie, and it’s still loaded with its original stone cargo.

“Most of the superstructure still stands up off of the bottom,” Kowalczk says. “The main steering wheel is there, capstans and hatch covers. It’s like the entire boat is just sitting there.”

He adds, “There’s something about descending through the lake, and then having this ship materialize in front of you.”

The National Museum of the Great Lakes and Cleveland Underwater Explorers have investigated numerous other Great Lakes wrecks, including the Lake Serpent, a 47-foot schooner that sank in 1829, and the Argo, a tank barge that sank in 1937 with 1,500 tons of oil and benzol onboard.

More than 6,000 vessels sank in the Great Lakes between 1875 and 1975, claiming an estimated 30,000 lives.

“There’s a lot of missing history under the lakes,” Sowden told Smithsonian magazine’s Vince Guerrieri in 2018. “You increase the history that’s known by examining what’s out there.”

Sarah Kuta | Read More

Sarah Kuta is a writer and editor based in Longmont, Colorado. She covers history, science, travel, food and beverage, sustainability, economics and other topics.