The wreck of a steamship that went down in Georgian Bay during a storm 136 years ago has been found, with what could be human remains onboard.

American shipwreck hunters Jared Daniels, Jerry Eliason and Ken Merryman revealed their summer discovery to coincide with the anniversary of the Jane Miller’s sinking Nov. 25, 1881.

The 24-metre package and passenger steamer went down with 25 people aboard, including the crew.

The wreck was found in Colpoys Bay, an inlet of Georgian Bay leading to Wiarton on the east side of the Bruce Peninsula north of Owen Sound in Georgian Bay.

The ship mostly is structurally intact with its mast still standing, rising within 23 metres of the surface. The shipwreck hunters also reported spotting what could be remains of bodies.

Merryman, who’s hunted shipwrecks for more than 40 years, said it was exciting to find the missing vessel.

“People call these things time capsules and they absolutely are,” he said from his home in Minnesota.

“That ship took on 10 to 20 tonnes of cargo, so now the archeologists have a snapshot of 1880s life on the Bruce Peninsula with what kinds of things are there.”

Finding the ship is a major discovery for the area, said local marine history author Scott Cameron.

He said there aren’t many ships left from that era and it holds substantial archeological significance.

“It certainly tells a story and there is a big story to go with it,” said Cameron.

The Jane Miller was launched in 1879 on Manitoulin Island. Cameron wrote a story about the ship, available on his website at steamboatstories.ca.

The coastal steamer ran between Collingwood and Manitoulin with stops along the way, taking on passengers, farm goods and other freight.

“Rather cranky,” the ship was short and stumpy with a high profile and shallow draft that made it roll heavily in stormy seas and made it difficult to handle, Cameron writes. The night it sank it carried a heavy load from Owen Sound to Meaford, where more freight and passengers were picked up.

Witnesses on shore last saw what was assumed to be the Jane Miller heading toward Wiarton.

The hunters aren’t disclosing exactly where or how far down they found the wreck, to allow government officials time to determine how to proceed with preservation and protection.

The wreck was found upright, all but one of its davits that held the lifeboats still standing.

The hull and main deck cabins are intact, but the upper cabins have collapsed.

Their Ontario permit didn’t allow the hunters to enter the wreck, but they saw what could be bodies.

In a post at scubaboard.com, Daniel said he made out 16 bodies in different parts of the ship, while Merryman said identification was difficult because of mussel encrustation.

“I kind of suspected we might see human remains, and maybe we did, but it was hard to tell from the zebra mussels,” said Merryman. “It is hard to say.”

Merryman and Eliason have hunted wrecks together for about 27 years and found 20 working together.

Merryman, a founder of the Great Lakes Shipwreck Preservation Society, said history told them the Jane Miller went down between Big Bay, at the mouth of Colpoys Bay inlet, and what was Spencer’s dock. They looked past the dock location, theorizing the captain might have shot past it in order to drift into Wiarton.

It was on about the second or third pass that their sonar picked up the wreck.

“We found it fairly quick and it was in a diveable depth,” said Merryman. “Nowadays, that is fairly unusual. We weren’t expecting that.”

Owen Sound Sun Times