A 5-year-old and her father accidentally discovered a shipwreck that had been missing for more than 150 years

A typical weekend fishing trip ends with stories about what went wrong. When Tim Wollak and his six-year-old daughter, Henley, took their boat on a trip near Green Island on Lake Michigan, they landed an important piece of American history which had gone lost for more than 100 years. What Henley first thought to be the fabled Green Bay Octopus on their Sonar screens turned out to be something more terrifying and incredible, a shipwreck from the pre-Civil War era that was linked to one of the most devastating but largely ignored catastrophes of climate change that has ever occurred in American history.

The Wisconsin Historical Society recently confirmed that the wooden hull of 122 feet sitting in less than 10 inches of water belonged to George L. Newman. The barkentine was destroyed on the 8th of October, 1871, at the exact time that a catastrophe erupted across the entire region.

For millennials and young adults these days, who are intrigued by hidden histories as well as the strange ways that our planet's changing climate is unravelling our past, the revelation seems like a realistic plot surprise. The reality is that shifting sands, as well as changing conditions on lakes, are acting like an excavator that naturally peels off the layers of the Great Lakes to reveal secrets which we thought had been lost forever.

In the night, the sky began to turn to ashes

For a better understanding of why George L. Newman ended up at the bottom of Lake Michigan, you have to take a look at the macro-environmental factors in 1871. That fateful night in October, when the ship was carrying huge loads of timber across Green Bay. The crew was expecting a normal journey, but instead they went through a glaring black smoke.

It wasn't just accidental fog. It was the adolescent card of the Peshtigo Fire, which was a huge firestorm that began to rage on the same day as the Great Chicago Fire. The pop culture of the time remembers Chicago and the legend of the cow owned by Mrs O'Leary; Peshtigo is a far more significant event. The Peshtigo fire was much more destructive. It ravaged 1.2 million acres, and killed more than 1,200 people, which officially declared it the most deadly wildfire in United States history.

In a previous report in the Wisconsin State Climatology Office, a powerful low-pressure system turned a string of brush fires that were smaller into a huge self-sustaining tornado of fire. The atmosphere was so suffused with toxic smoke and ash that the Newmans' crew was unable to maintain vision. As they sailed blindly through the night, the boat ran over the rocks on the shoals that comprised Green Island.

The lighthouse's guardian, Samuel Drew, kept the lamps on throughout the day, so that they could cut through the fog. He was quick to think of ways to save the crew from a slumber at the lighthouse for an extended time while watching their boat collapse under the weight of ice from the winter months and the autumn storms. Then, the water took over the entire vessel.

The shifting sands of the desert and the modern climate create echoes

The George L. Newman sat at a distance, hidden beneath a thick layer of sand. What made it appear this time?

The answer lies in the changing nature of water in the Great Lakes. An exhaustive study of the environmental impact in BioScience explores the ways that extreme weather, changes in water levels, and shifting water currents are drastically changing the ecosystems of lakes. The intense movements of the water act as a huge broom, cleaning away decades of sediment and uncovering the long-lost artefacts of history.

A six-year-old during a fishing excursion can spot a pre-Civil War vessel in the shallows, which is a sign of how easily accessible these time capsules from the past have become. The maritime experts say this Newman is among 13 shipwrecks discovered within the area. They were almost every one of them was discovered by chance by everyday citizens. As it's located in small water depths, it can provide the most complete, concrete view of 19th-century American shipping as well as the beginning of the log industry that shaped the Midwest.

The protection of a treasure that was recently discovered

After the sand has gone, an archaeological team is gearing up for spring dives that will map the area. Divers are planning to make use of the highest resolution underwater imagery to record each and every inch of the wooden structure before making the area eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places.

Since the site is close to a well-known spot for fishing and swimming, local authorities are encouraging everyone to treat the wreck with care. The wreck is an incredibly fragile part of our shared history, protected in the frigid freshwater that flows from Lake Michigan.

In the case of Henley, the father of her child says that she was thinking that the shape of the sonar would bring her to the location of a treasure chest full of precious gold or sunken treasures of pirates. But instead, she discovered something more exciting, that is, a direct connection to a historical story that has been forgotten, which proves that some of the most fascinating secrets can be found just beneath the surface of our favourite destinations for weekend getaways.