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Romp's Hosts Research Team for Anthony B Wayne

VERMILION, Ohio (AP) — For more than a century, no one knew exactly where the sidewheel steamer Anthony B. Wayne came to rest.VERMILION, Ohio (AP) — For more than a century, no one knew exactly where the sidewheel steamer Anthony B. Wayne came to rest. Now researchers are diving 60 feet below the surface of Lake Erie to explore the wreckage discovered in 2006 and identified last year. “It’s one of the earliest examples of a passenger and cargo steamer that we have, probably one of the oldest in Lake Erie,� said Brad Krueger, who is spending the summer learning about the steamer. Krueger, working on his master’s degree in Texas A&M University’s Nautical Archeology program, and two other researchers dive at the site about six miles off the coast of Vermilion nearly everyday. The passenger vessel went down in 1850 after an explosion, killing up to 80 people. The ship was heading from Sandusky to Buffalo with wine, whiskey and livestock. “Shipwrecks are important because they truly tell our story,� Carrie Sowden, archaeological director of the Peachman Lake Erie Shipwreck Research Center in Vermilion. “It’s interesting to think that it had not been seen since 1850.� Thomas Kowalczk, an amateur shipwreck prospector, used sonar on his boat to discover the Anthony Wayne. It takes hours of research and searching to find a wreck, Kowalczk said. “You kind of know where they are. You have a general area, but there is no X marks the spot,� he said. Underneath the surface, two large paddlewheels rise upward from the wreckage. “To see these two great structures looming on the bottom and coming into focus ... to see them rising up is impressive,� Krueger said. Krueger hopes to learn all he can about the steamer and how it was built. The native of Ann Arbor, Mich., said growing up around the Great Lakes led him to study nautical archeology.