discovered by Wayne Brusate in the fall of 1987
As she lies on the bottom.
The Sport lies 3.0 miles from Lexington Harbor on a heading of 98 degrees.
LORAN 30824.9 / 49569.2 - LAT/LONG 43*15'98"N / 82*27'93"W
The wreck lies in 49 feet of water with only 33 feet of water over the port rail.
The Sport lies upright leaning to her starboard side, completely intact except for the missing cabin. Her anchor and winch lie on the bow and the propellor, steering chain and wheel lie in easy view withing a few feet of the ship.
On December 13, 1920, the weather was fair when the Sport left Port Huron enroute to Harbor Beach. By 6 pm she had reached Lexington and found herself in the midst of a gale. The tug was taking on more water than the pumps could handle. It was decided that they would return to Port Huron. The Sport started south plunging into the raging seas. With waves breaking over her bow, a fireman tending to the fire in the boiler became seasick and crawled into his bunk. As the tug lost steam, it slowed and settled. The captain was unable to leave the pilot house when the fire in the boiler, their only source of steam power, was extinguished, the steam driven bildge pumps shut down. The Sport took on water at an ever increasing rate. The crew managed to abandon the ship and made it through the towering waves to shore just north of Lexington. However sometime that night, the Sport, the first steel tug on the Great Lakes, sank silently to her final resting place on the bottom of Lake Huron.
The Sport is another popular dive site in the Sanilac Shores Underwater Preserve and is a great dive for beginners. The Sport was honored with Michigan's first underwater historical marker. If you plan to dive this site, be sure to check out the underwater statue honoring the Sports.
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Copyright © 1996, Bob Brobst, Last Updated - 11/3/96 4:37:57 PM