Huron County View

Sheriff’s office uses ‘historic’ shipwreck to train diving




Sheriff’s office personnel prepare to dive during a training session near Port Austin on Monday. Photo by Ben Muir

Sheriff’s office personnel prepare to dive during a training session near Port Austin on Monday. Photo by Ben Muir

PORT AUSTIN – The Huron County Sheriff’s Office on Monday used a historic shipwreck to practice diving.

On Monday, July 1, at around 7:30 a.m., around nine divers took the sheriff office’s 28-foot Boston Whaler and 31-foot Grady-White about 10-minutes northeast of the harbor in Port Austin, near Turnip Rock.

Sheriff Kelly Hanson followed behind in his private boat, noting the water was 53 inches above what charted data indicates the levels should be. When Hanson approached his deputies – as well as a few officials from other counties – the two boats were tied to each other. The two boats were then anchored with a line connected to the Barbara Ann, a tug boat that sunk in 1990.

“This tug boat has a lot of history,” Hanson said.

The U.S. Coast Guard came across the ship on accident while working another case. It came across two barges in the middle of the lake, a pickup truck on one and a cable going into the water. Apparently, their tug boat had sank and its captain died, Hanson said.

Huron County Sgt. Brandon Kadar sits on the back of the sheriff office’s 31-foot Grady-White boat. Photos by Ben Muir

Huron County Sgt. Brandon Kadar sits on the back of the sheriff office’s 31-foot Grady-White boat. Photos by Ben Muir

He went on to credit a salvager named Jimmy Moore, who recovered the tug boat and worked for years to move it into the shallow water it is in now.

As a result, the sheriff’s office often uses this shipwreck to practice diving, where some reported staying under the water for around 25 minutes at a time, depending on the person and depth.

Hanson directs his team to train on ice diving and open-water diving each year. He often references recent cases when bolstering the decisions to keep his divers up to date. Like a few ago, when a person drowned in the Port Austin harbor on the Fourth of July weekend. Or this year, when a man fell through ice and died in Sebewaing.

“It’s not if, it’s when the day comes,” Hanson said, “everybody is confident with what they’re doing.”

Tuscola County Sgt. Justin Nitz prepares to dive during a training session with the Huron County Sheriff’s Office on Monday. He’s one of two deputies that were pledged by the Tuscola County Sheriff’s Office to area airboat and dive operations.

Tuscola County Sgt. Justin Nitz prepares to dive during a training session with the Huron County Sheriff’s Office on Monday. He’s one of two deputies that were pledged by the Tuscola County Sheriff’s Office to area airboat and dive operations.