A team of divers, including some involved in finding the wreck of the Jane Miller in Colpoy’s Bay last year, have discovered another previously lost shipwreck off the Bruce Peninsula.

This time the coastal steamer J H Jones, which went down in a storm off Cape Croker on Nov. 22, 1906, has been found. All passengers and crew were lost.

Ken Merryman, who was part of the team that found the J H Jones on July 1, said he has been involved in finding many wrecks, but this one was special because they had the great-grandson of the ship’s captain was there to experience the find.

“I have never hunted for a wreck with one of the descendents of the captain or of the people that perished on the wreck,” Merryman said Thursday. “We really enjoy finding these wrecks, but when you make a connection with the descendents of the people involved it really makes it special.”

Merryman and Jerry Eliason of Minnesota, who found the Jane Miller, set out on the trail of the J H Jones along with maritime historian and diver Cris Kohl from Windsor, Ont., after they were contacted by the ship captain’s great-great grandson Dan Crawford. He had learned of the discovery of the Jane Miller last summer and asked if they would come back and look for the J H Jones.

“The Jones was kind of on our shortlist anyway, but being able to make a connection with one of the descendents made it a very important thing to do,” said Merryman.

“It has been a dream of Dan’s as a little kid to find it, and we helped him do that, so that feels pretty good.”

While Dan Crawford couldn’t make the trip up from Warren, Mich., for their search, his 83-year-old father Robert Crawford, who was ship captain J.V. Crawford’s great-grandson and still owns property on the peninsula, joined the team.

While the ship had remained lost for almost 112 years, it didn’t take them long to find it, after Kohl had done considerable research about the wreck.

Merryman, who had a archaeological licence issued by the province of Ontario, said they found the wreck on the third pass with their sonar, after less than two hours of searching in under 200 feet of water.

Merryman said it was an exciting moment for both the searchers and for Crawford.

“He was very excited,” Merryman. “He never thought it would be found in his lifetime.”

Last summer, Merryman and Eliason were involved in finding the Jane Miller, the 78-foot package and passenger steamer that sank on Nov. 25, 1881, killing all 25 onboard. The Jane Miller made runs from Collingwood to Manitoulin, with stops along the way for passengers and freight, similar to what the J H Jones did.

“There is this class of ships we typically call coastal steamers that were all over the Great Lakes,” Merryman said. “Before there were roads around the lakes, this is how goods and passengers got transported around the lakes to the coastal communities.”

The JH Jones was a 107-foot-long steamer built in Goderich in 1888 as a fishing tug. The ship made runs from Owen Sound, up the east shore of the Bruce Peninsula to Manitoulin Island.

She had left Owen Sound to head towards Lion’s Head with a load of cargo and freight when she was lost. The items onboard included a brick-moulding machine, a sleigh, about 20 barrels of coal oil, plus 13 crew. Varying reports had between 13 and 17 passengers onboard as well.

According to newspaper excerpts on the Maritime History of the Great Lakes website, the ship was last seen passing Griffith Island and then the Cape Croker lighthouse.

“We found it near where it supposedly disappeared,” said Merryman. “The story was that the lighthouse keeper saw it as it was rounding the point and when he looked back it was gone.”

Only one body from the wreck was ever found, that of a young businessman from Manitoulin Island named Richard Addison, on Christian Island. The entire crew was from Wiarton.

Ironically, wreckage that washed ashore between MacGregor Harbour and the Cape Croker lighthouse seven years later in November 1913, was thought to be from the Jane Miller, but was determined to be from the J H Jones. Among the items found were three barrels of coal oil, a firkin of lard, a bale of cotton and some blankets. Much of the rest lay at the bottom of the bay, whereabouts unknown, until this past Canada Day.

The day after they found the ship the searchers took video of it with a drop camera and two days later, Merryman and Kohl dove to the wreck and shot video of the hull. A few days later, Merryman made another dive with technical diver Greg Hilliard of Alvinston, Ont., to document the wreck further.

While the shipwreck was heavily encrusted in mussels, it was largely intact and sitting with a heavy tilt to port on the bottom of the bay. It was missing many pieces where its doors and windows had been as well as some hull siding. The team could easily make out features such as the capstan, the stack and whistle which had fallen over, engine, bilge pump, anchor, boiler, rudder and propeller, a luggage cart, a hand truck and the steering post.

The team made a video of the wreck, which can be seen at https://vimeo.com/286302072

Merryman said the upper cabins were gone on the ship and the team couldn’t make out any human remains.

He said it is possible that much of the on-deck cargo and bodies could have been washed away during the sinking and over time. The searchers aren’t permitted to enter the cabin of the ship.

“It is a relatively clean site,” said Merryman. “There are objects covered with mussels in the hold, but I couldn’t identify anything.”

Merryman said that while there weren’t a lot of maritime artifacts or cargo visible, it is special to be able to find such wrecks because of their place in the history of the communities they serve.

“We love these little coastal steamers because they are rich in history and a giant thing isn’t always the most interesting thing to dive,” said Merryman. “There is always a link to the community and that is kind of cool.”