SS Russia was an iron-hulled American Great Lakes package freighter that sank in a Lake Huron gale on April 30, 1909, near DeTour Village, Michigan. The swift actions by the captain and crew prevented the loss of life with all 22 of her crew and one passenger surviving.
At 7 p.m. today, you have the opportunity to learn about that day, and the finding of the shipwreck, with Sault Ste. Marie native Tom Farnquist at the historic Soo Theatre in downtown Sault Ste. Marie.
"The Russia is a shipwreck that everybody has been looking for.....for about six decades," Farnquist said.
The 80-year-old Farnquist is Director Emeritus at the Great Lakes Historical Shipwreck Society and has been researching and diving for shipwrecks for over six decades. He first started diving at age 16.
Farnquist has discovered the locations of about 20 shipwrecks during his very active career as a diver.
Many other shipwreck hunters spent decades on the same quest, and Tom led a team in 2022 that finally succeeded in finding her, resting on the bottom in 220 feet of water, about eight miles south of DeTour Passage in northern Lake Huron.
"People have looked for it for a long time. I made up my mind to go find it and put together the research. Got together some friends from Minnesota that had a research boat with a side-scan sonar they were operating in Lake Huron....so they came on up and looked for this. We found it in two days," Farnquist said.
Farnquist will discuss the effort of many to locate the wreck, and show videos made during five dives on the Russia by technical divers John Janzen of Madison, Wisconsin, John Scoles of Minneapolis, and Ken Merryman and his son Andrew, also from Minnesota, and also Dusty Kliman.
Tom will be taking questions after his talk. The scheduled program will run for about one hour.
Farnquist will soon be researching on locating the Comet steamship which sunk off Whitefish Point in 1875.
The cost of tonight's event is by donation. Proceeds of the event will benefit the Soo Theatre and the Chippewa County Historical Society.
