Wreck of the Rescue found in Glen Lake

The Glen Arbor Sun reports that intrepid underwater explorer Ross Richardson has found the resting place of the Rescue in Big Glen Lake. Richardson is an accomplished diver from nearby Lake Ann who chronicled his discovery of the 1854 Westmoreland shipwreck in his book The Search for the Westmoreland.

Rescue owner Ralph Dorsey intentionally sank the vessel Big Glen Lake in 1914, but nobody knows why he did it. The Sun has posted some of the many theories:

“Ralph was a heavy drinker, and his passengers refused to ride with him any longer,” goes one legend. Ralph’s nephews, Jim and John Dorsey, who took a joyride on the lake during the 2003 community search, confirmed that their uncle liked to tip back the bottle, even in his latter years living in Frankfort after he brought his boating business here to an abrupt halt. “We were known to drink a little hard cider whenever the neighbors came for a visit,” recalled Jim.

“Nightmares of drowning children haunted Ralph, so he sank his boat before tragedy could strike,” is another theory, introduced by Taghon, the proprietor of the Empire Area Historical Museum. “Some say he had a premonition that something bad was going to happen.” According to Barb Siepker, who owns the Cottage Book Shop in Glen Arbor, Ralph had six brothers, one of whom disappeared while boating in northern Lake Superior.

“Ralph lost the boat in a card game, but didn’t want anyone else to ride off in his mahogany-lined craft,” suggested Dottie Lanham. “I heard they played a lot of cards in those days because of the idle time on their hands,” she added. “But these stories have probably been exaggerated as they were passed down through generations.”

“Business was bad, and the frustration of cruising around the lake, only to find no one on the docks waiting for him in need of a lift to Glen Arbor, finally got to Ralph,” is yet another explanation. Dr. Chuck Olsen, who initiated the 2003 search, recalls a story told to him by the late John Tobin, who claimed to be fishing where the Narrows Bridge is today when Dorsey paddled ashore in a rowboat, minutes after having chopped a hole in Rescue’s hull with an axe, muttering “If they won’t ride with me, they won’t ride with anyone else!”

Read on for more including how the boat was discovered and what shape it’s in and also watch the video of the dive below!