Silver Lake and Walter B. Allen (PM individual sign-ups)

How to join this trip Silver Lake and Walter B. Allen | June 28 2025 (PM individual sign-ups):

Sign up using the online Registration Form.

Technical Dive Trip

• Dive Type: Technical (Decompression)
• Typical Depth
  • Silver Lake: 190 to 200ft
  • Walter B. Allen 150 to 160ft
• Required Certification: Trimix
• Note: Cold water diving experience is recommended.

Silver Lake (1889)

Dive the Silver Lake, the Great Lakes’ only double-centerboard scow schooner, now resting in two intact halves about 8 miles east of Sheboygan. Built in 1889 and tragically cleaved by the Pere Marquette, her hull lies upright broken in half on the bottom between 190 ft and 200 ft. Here you’ll find one mast still standing upright—an increasingly rare sight—alongside a pronounced bow with intact bowsprits, a large anchor, and a clearly visible rudder thanks to the wreck’s resting angle. Served by an official NOAA mooring, it’s a photographer’s dream in crystal-clear water that normally boasts over 100 ft of visibility.  Read more, see photos.

Walter . Allen (1866)

Dive the Walter B. Allen, a 136-ft two-masted “canaller” built in 1866 for E.B. Akken & Son. After grounding in South Manitou Harbor on April 10, 1880 and a heroic steam-pump salvage by the tug Caroline Williams, she sank under a northwest gale and settled upright on a sandy bottom at 160 ft. Today one mast suspends elegantly above the deck while the other leans against the hull. Though her anchors were salvaged long ago, her graceful bow and prominent bowsprit remain striking, and the very steam pump installed after the grounding still lies chained to the deck—her original capstan now lives in the Smithsonian. With water clarity often exceeding 100 ft, the Walter B. Allen is a rare, remarkably intact time capsule and a photographer’s dream for advanced deep-wreck explorers. Read more, see photos.