Kyle Spangler (schooner) Shipwreck Site
{{Short description|Shipwreck in Lake Huron, US}}
| {{Infobox ship begin|display title=Kyle Spangler (schooner) Shipwreck Site}}
{{Infobox ship image | Ship image = Kyle Spangler.jpg | Ship caption = Kyle Spangler wreck }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header = |Ship country = United States |Ship flag = {{USN flag|1856}} |Ship name = Kyle Spangler |Ship operator = B. L. Spangler Co. |Ship ordered = |Ship builder = William Jones |Ship yard number = |Ship laid down = |Ship launched = May 12, 1856 |Ship completed = 1856 |Ship acquired = |Ship in service = |Ship out of service = |Ship fate = Sunk in collision November 5, 1860 |Ship notes = }} {{Infobox ship characteristics | Hide header = | Header caption = | Ship type = | Ship tonnage = 349 tons | Ship displacement = | Ship length = 130 feet{{citation | title = SPANGLER, KYLE; 1856; Schooner | publisher = Great Lakes Maritime Database | url = http://quod.lib.umich.edu/t/tbnms1ic/x-134692.169040/0134692_001_F_SPANGLERKYLE.TIF}} | Ship beam = 26 feet | Ship height = | Ship draught = | Ship draft = | Ship depth = 11 feet | Ship decks = 1 | Ship deck clearance = | Ship ramps = | Ship ice class = | Ship sail plan = | Ship power = | Ship propulsion = | Ship speed = | Ship capacity = | Ship crew = | Ship notes = }} {{Infobox NRHP | embed = yes | name = KYLE SPANGLER (schooner) Shipwreck Site | nrhp_type = | image = | caption = | location = Lake Huron, {{convert|4|mi|km}} northeast of Presque Isle | coordinates = {{coord|45|23|1|N|83|26|7|W|display=inline,title}} | locmapin = Michigan#USA | built = | builder = William Jones | architecture = shipwreck site | added = August 22, 2016 | area = }} |
The Kyle Spangler was a wooden schooner; its 1860 wreck site in Lake Huron was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016.
History
Basil L. Spangler, born in 1817, was a dry-goods merchant from Cleveland who ran his own form, B. L. Spangler and Company.{{citation | title = National Register of Historic Places Registration Form : Schooner KYLE SPANGLER Shipwreck Site | author = Russ Green | date = January 11, 2016 | url = http://www.nps.gov/nr/feature/places/pdfs/14001098.pdf}} In 1856, Spangler commissioned William Jones, a shipbuilder from Black River Ohio (now Lorain), to construct a schooner. The schooner was named Kyle Spangler, after Spangler's son, born in 1851. The ship was launched on May 12, 1856, and departed Cleveland with a cargo of coal two days later.
The Spangler was a traditional mid-nineteenth century cargo schooner that hauled various cargoes on the freshwater Great Lakes,{{citation | title = Kyle Spangler Wreck | publisher = Thunder Bay Wrecks | url = http://www.thunderbaywrecks.com/wrecks/spangler/}} and on to saltwater ports along the east coast.{{citation | title = Kyle Spangler | publisher = Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary | url = http://thunderbay.noaa.gov/shipwrecks/kyle_spangler.html}} including iron ore, salt, coal, corn and wheat.
Like many schooners of the time, the Spangler endured a series of shipping incidents. In May 1856 she tore a hole in her bottom on a reef in Lake Huron. In 1857, she spring a leak in Lake Michigan, and was run aground just south of Sleeping Bear Bay before she sank. It was almost a year before she was refloated. The ship was dismasted in 1858, and later that same year collided with another schooner in the Straits of Mackinac. In 1859, the Spangler sailed into the Atlantic Ocean with a load of lumber, and returned the following spring.
On November 5, 1860, while upbound on Lake Huron on a dark night with a load of corn, the Spangler collided with the downbound schooner Racine, crushing the Spangler's bow and sinking her. All crewmen were rescued safely.
The wreck
The wreck was discovered in 2003 by diver Stan Stock while searching for the semi-whaleback freighter Choctaw.{{cite web |url = http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/17thunderbay/summaries/final/final.html |title = Two Historic Shipwrecks Discovered in Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary |publisher = Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180305063523/http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/17thunderbay/summaries/final/final.html |access-date = March 4, 2018 |archive-date = March 5, 2018 |url-status = bot: unknown }} Over the next few years, Stock and a team from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary documented the wreck. In 2008, it was decided to release the location of the wreck to the general public, and the location has become a popular scuba diving attraction.
The Kyle Spangler lies upright in {{convert|185|ft|m|abbr=off|sp=us}} of water, and much of the wreck is undamaged save the bow. The cold, fresh water of Lake Huron has kept the wreck well preserved, and the ship looks much as she did during the 1850s, with both masts (including crosstrees) intact and upright. The wreck lists twenty degrees to the starboard side.
The ship's wheel, steering gear and rudder are intact, as are two bilge pumps and the main winch and capstan. The interior cabin structure is relatively intact, but the woodwork has collapsed, making small items difficult to discern. The cargo hold hatch covers are displaced, giving easy access to the hold.
References
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Images
File:Kyle Spangler nameboard damaged - Thunder Bay NMS Michigan.jpg|Kyle Spangler nameboard
File:Kyle Spangler winch quagga mussels - Thunder Bay NMS Michigan.jpg|Winch
File:Kyle Spangler anchor quagga mussels - Thunder Bay NMS Michigan.jpg|Anchor
File:Kyle Spangler photomosaic - Thunder Bay NMS Michigan.jpg|Kyle Spangler photomosaic
{{1860 shipwrecks}}{{National Register of Historic Places}}{{NRHP Lake Huron shipwrecks}}
{{Recreational dive sites|wresit}}
Category:Shipwrecks on the National Register of Historic Places in Michigan
Category:Great Lakes freighters
Category:Maritime incidents in November 1860
Category:Ships sunk in collisions
Category:Shipwrecks of Lake Huron
Category:Ships built in Lorain, Ohio
Category:National Register of Historic Places in Presque Isle County, Michigan
Category:Wreck diving sites in the United States