LAKE MICHIGAN — There’s not much to see on the Island of Skillagalee.

The spit of land, barely larger than a couple football fields, boasts a lighthouse and an impressive seagull population. Above water, that’s about it.

Skillagalee Island is located in northeast Lake Michigan approximately 7 miles northwest of Cross Village in Emmet County.

Below the surface of Lake Michigan, however, it’s a different story.

Shipwreck diver Ross Richardson says he found a cluster of previously undiscovered wrecks this summer in the waters around Skillagalee, including the remains of a large sidewheel steamer that ran around there in 1850.

"I was looking for wrecks that haven't been discovered and have a decent last known position," said Richardson, a diver and author from Grand Rapids who lives in Lake Ann.

“This is kind of the last place in Lake Michigan where there’s a concentration of wrecks that are undiscovered, but somewhat attainable.”

Richardson, an avid diver who discovered the long lost wreck of the Westmoreland in 2010, spent the summer making trips to Skillagalee in search of shallow wrecks he’d spend the winter researching while sidelined with a knee injury.

Related: Cargo of gold & whiskey fuels legend of the Westmoreland

Located midway between Cross Village and Beaver Island, Skillagalee extends a pair of treacherous underwater tentacles in the form of shallow gravel shoals to the northeast and the northwest. The reefs, about four feet under the surface, proved to be the doom of many ships in the days before advanced navigation.

Once run aground, ships would be abandoned and stripped of valuables. Battered by wind, waves and ice, the hulls would soon slip beneath the water.

Diver Ross Richardson believes he found the wreck of the A.D. Patchin, a sidewheel steamer that ran aground on Skillagalee island in 1850.

Such was the death of the A.D. Patchin, a 226 foot-long wooden sidewheel steamer that grounded on Skillagalee on Sept. 27, 1850. The crew escaped but weather thwarted attempts to refloat the vessel. The wreck prompted the construction of the island lighthouse.

Richardson believes he found the Patchin’s remains in 30- to 35-foot water off the Skilagalee shoal. The ship's remains are lying on its port side, with roughly half the wreck, the bow end, protruding from the sand and gravel. Identification as the Patchin is an educated guess based on its size and location.

He surmises that ice and waves over the years pushed the Patchin’s remains off the reef and into the deeper water, where it lay hidden with Skillagalee’s other victims.

Elsewhere around the island, Richardson found four other wreck sites.

• Wreck Site B is the largest Skillagalee wreck sites and has the most artifacts present, he says. Three major hull pieces can be seen and the area is strewn with mast hoops, chain and shackles. Richardson believes it to be the wreck of the 150-foot brig Julia Dean, which stranded at Skillagalee on October 6, 1855.

He said the Dean’s captain accused Beaver Island pirates of luring the ship to its doom, although the island’s Mormon population vigorously denied the claim.

• At Wreck Site C, Richardson found the keel of sailing vessel, measuring 63 feet in length with a beam of 22 feet. A couple artifacts were present at the site, which rests in 30 feet of water. The wreck is unidentified.

• At Wreck Site D, Richardson found a 95-foot long high side of a ship's hull in 35 feet of water. The wreck is unidentified.

• At Wreck Site E, he found the side of a very old sailing vessel in 20 feet of water. The wreck is unidentified.

In his three trips to the island this summer, Richardson found other manmade targets around the Skillagalee reefs while “moving the lawn” with side-scan sonar but was not able to dive them. He believes there to be even more wrecks in the area, “probably buried in sand and gravel.”

He dove the wreck sites solo this summer, documenting each trip with a GoPro camera attached to a clear acrylic pole. The videos are posted on YouTube afterwards and feature a dive-suited Richardson manipulating the camera using a handle grip at the end of the pole.

Richardson modeled the technique after a South African diver who makes similar videos. He’s hoping it catches on with other divers in the region.

“I thought the technique was brilliant,” he said. “Great Lakes wreck filming has pretty much stayed the same for decades — you move the camera slowly over the wet wood. I wanted to get the diver in the shot for perspective.”

Filming the wrecks, he said, is a way to share the history and experience.

The wrecks, he said, “are right here in our backyard.”

“You only have to travel a few hours to come across a place that people haven’t been to in a really long time.”

Garret Ellison covers business, government and breaking news for MLive/The Grand Rapids Press. Email him at gellison@mlive.com or follow on Twitter & Instagram