In August 1892, the Western Reserve was sailing across Lake Superior when it got caught in a late summer storm. The 300-foot vessel was roughly 60 miles north of Whitefish Point when a powerful gale swept in and broke up the ship,

After searching for two years, researchers discovered the shipwreck of the Western Reserve, an early all-steel ship that broke apart in a gale in 1892 with a sole survivor.

In 1892, a gale overtook the ship Western Reserve, causing it to sink within a matter of minutes with only one of the 28 aboard at the time surviving. The ship was lost to Lake Superior until 2024.

Twenty years before the Titanic changed maritime history, another ship touted as the next great technological feat set sail on the Great Lakes. The Western Reserve was one of the first all-steel cargo ships to traverse the lakes.

Twenty-seven people died as a result of the wreck, and what happened is only known because of its lone survivor.

Every shipwreck has its own story, but some are just that much more tragic,” the executive director of the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society said.