SS Kamloops

underwater view of the Kamloops wheel — Wheel of the SS KAMLOOPS
NPS

Introduction

For decades, the location of Kamloops remained one of the mysteries of Lake Superior. Almost half of a century after it had disappeared, on August 21, 1977, Minneapolis sport diver Ken Engelbrecht finally spotted the dark shadow of the wreck during an exploratory dive. Engelbreht, along with dive partner Randy Saulter of Mounds View, was carrying out a systematic search for the Kamloops in the area known as Twelve O'Clock Point. The dive team had been directed to the possible site of the wreck by Roy Oberg, captain of the Voyageur II. Oberg had made a fathometer tracing several years earlier in the area that indicated a shipwreck lying on its side (Press release by Ken Engelbrecht and Thorn Holden, 1977).

The wreck was found while diving off Ken Merryman's boat Heyboy, on the second day of the search. On earlier dives, bits of cargo, such as a brass barrel and a ladder, were sighted. Then, "enough pipe to fill a semi-truck." On the last dive of the weekend, Engelbrecht, at a depth of 195 feet "saw this really big shadow, the Kamloops, and this other shadow coming out of it, which was the flagpole. I got a really big rush and started trucking over there" (Minneapolis Star, Oct. 13, 1977).

The next dives on the wreck were done September 5 and 6, 1977, but there was some doubt that the wreck was indeed Kamloops. The real proof, he [Ken Merryman] said, came after the second dive when pictures, on close inspection, showed the ship's name peeking out through the years of accumulated rust and underwater debris on the freighter's stern ...

Excerpt from "Kamloops Goes Missing No Longer" by Katie Schutte, "Anchor News" May/June 1979, page 41

Later dives by those and other divers add to what is known of the last moments of KAMLOOPS. A party led by John Steele filmed the wreck in 1978. This expedition discovered that the engine telegraph was set at the "Finished With Engines" position, indicating the engines may not have been operational at the time of sinking, or that the vessel was laid to before the disaster. Steele's party made the following speculations based on their observations:

In the position of her last sighting and in the raging storm, a guy wire attached to the port side of KAMLOOPS' stack snapped or tore free. The stack, no longer secure and positioned only by gravity, toppled to the starboard side shearing off the ventilators and crashing overboard breaking through the starboard railing atop the stern cabin. The coal fired, forced draft engine could not function without the stack. The crew was forced to "finish" the engines. If there had been power available, they would have been put on "Standby" not "Finished With Engines." KAMLOOPS' power plant was shut down before she sank. With no power, she was at the mercy of the raging storm and the northeast gales tossed and blew her toward Isle Royale.

She hit Isle Royale broadside, smashing her starboard bow. Temporarily, she remained fixed on the reef, quickly taking on water she rapidly sank bow first to rest at the foot of the reef. The crew probably thought themselves safer aboard rather than facing the icy seas and sub-zero temperatures. They probably hoped she would remain foundered on the reef, leaving a potential for rescue. However, the opened cabin door may indicate a hasty departure of crew members as they realized their doom .... The other twelve crew members probably remain trapped in the stern house, yet to be opened