LAKE HURON — The Civil War was only seven months old on Nov. 9, 1861, when the sidewheel steamer Keystone State passed into oblivion. 
 
 Nobody even knew the ship had sunk until more than a week later, when wreckage was spotted off Port Austin and the Keystone State's wheelhouse washed ashore. 
 
 Since then, the ship has remained one of the many Great Lakes shipwreck mysteries; a tragedy that claimed the life of 33 crew members and sparked rumors about a clandestine cargo load of gold and war materials. 
 
 This year, part of the mystery has been solved. On Monday, Dec. 9, shipwreck hunter David Trotter announced the discovery of the Keystone State in Lake Huron, about 50 miles north of Michigan’s thumb in less than 200 feet of water. 
 
 “She wasn’t where she was supposed to be,” said Trotter, an avid shipwreck sleuth with more than 100 discoveries to his name. “I probably thought I’d never find her.” 
 
 Trotter’s Undersea Research Associates team discovered the wreck in July using side-scan sonar and has since made several dozen dives to document the site and attempt to answer questions about the ship’s mysterious cargo, which some believe was intentionally mislabeled on the manifest. 
 
 The 288-foot-long Keystone State, luxurious for her day, was the second largest ship on the Great Lakes when she was launched in 1849 and is one of the largest side-wheel steamers to disappear into their depths. 
 
 The ship was bound for Milwaukee, Wis., when she left Detroit on Nov. 8, 1861, carrying what was labeled “iron implements,” or farm machinery, on the cargo manifest. Since the sinking, rumors have persisted that the Keystone State was actually carrying military supplies destined for the battlefield. 
 
 A cargo of farm machinery in November on a special run — the ship normally moved between Detroit and Buffalo, N.Y. — invites a natural suspicion, Trotter said. 
 
 “Farm implements are not heavily used in the winter,” he said. 
 
 Unfortunately, Trotter’s team found an empty cargo hold. The reason probably won’t ever be fully known, but he said ship crews of the time would likely dump cargo in an effort to save a vessel in dire straits. 
 
 The ship left Detroit in a hurry, without any lifeboats, he said. 
 
 According to the historical record, the Keystone State was last seen off Port Austin rolling heavily in rough water. The fact that she was found further north of where most believed she’d sunk “tells you she made quite a fight of it,” he said. 
 
 The ship’s captain, Wilkes Travers, may have been reluctant to turn the ship toward land for fear of being capsized in a sea trough, Trotter said. Control of a sidewheel steamer would be difficult in heavy seas due to the ship’s design. 
 
 Trotter said the wreck has “settled-in” quite a bit, and his team is still trying to sort out how much damage was caused by the storm, how much happened when the hull hit the bottom and what has occurred over the last 152 years. 
 
 The team hasn’t found any gold yet, but the wreck is surrounded by a large, yet-to-be-explored debris field, he said. 
 
 Due to the water depth, divers only have about 15 to 20 minutes to explore the wreck before they must decompress for more than an hour on the way back up. 
 
 Trotter, a retired Ford Motor Co. executive who lives in Canton, has been shipwreck hunting for more than 35 years. 
 
 His recent Great Lakes shipwreck discoveries include the 238-foot steamer New York about 25 miles northwest of Harrisville in July 2012, and a joint discovery with the Michigan Shipwreck Research Association of a 90-foot double-masted schooner in deep water off the coast of Grand Haven in October 2011. 
 
 “The most exciting shipwreck I’ve ever found is the next one,” he said. “There’s an exciting sense of discovery about being able to touch historical events that fascinates all of us.” 
 
 Garret Ellison covers business, government and breaking news for MLive/The Grand Rapids Press. Email him at gellison@mlive.com or follow on Twitter & Instagram ||||| The S.S. Connaught — a luxurious ocean liner considered the Titanic of its era — has finally been discovered. The 380-foot iron-hulled side-wheeled steamer sunk in 1860 after it caught fire en route to Boston. The ship hadn't been seen in 154 years. 
 
 The Endurance Exploration Group started their search in earnest last year with a summer sonar scan covering over 700 square miles. That's roughly equivalent to searching an area of ocean bottom 30 times the size of Manhattan. Earlier this month, the team returned with a remotely operated underwater robotics vehicle (ROV) to inspect an encouraging signal. 
 
 The investigators were able to identify the wreck by its distinctive hull, paddlewheels, and artifacts within the debris field. 
 
 EEG team member Taylor Zajonc spoke to io9 about the discovery. 
 
 "We knew we'd found it when we spotted the first paddlewheel on video. After being storm-battered, burnt, sunk, hit with trawling nets and 154 years of exposure to the deep ocean, those wheels still stand tall and proud. I got chills." 
 
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 The project will now enter into the recovery phase,which means documenting and retrieving historically significant artifacts and cargo from the wreck. The Endurance Exploration Group is not engaged in marine archaeology; rather, their mission is "to seek out and recover long-lost riches from ships vanished in the ocean's depths." In addition to pulling up lost riches — the ship is thought to have carried upwards of £10,000 in gold coins, possibly bound for a visiting member of the British royal family — EEG also wants to make a documentary film or television special to "fully tell the remarkable story of the loss of the S.S. Connaught." 
 
 "We'll return to the site as soon as possible," said Zajonc. "Any shipwreck in the area gets hit by trawler strikes and this is no exception. In a word, the site is being slowly destroyed. We'll use robotics systems to rescue the gold cargo and document any historically important artifacts. In the meantime, we want to share this story of fire, shipwreck and near-miraculous rescue with anyone who loves the subject as much as we do." 
 
 A Courageous and Daring Rescue 
 
 This ship's final journey was a remarkable one, indeed. At the time, it was one of the largest and most luxurious ocean-going liners in service. The ship departed Galway, Ireland on September 25, 1860 bound for Boston by way of St. John's. Onboard were 50 first-class passengers, 417 in steerage, and a full crew of 125. 
 
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 But during the final leg of her journey, the ship sprung a leak when a storm hit. It was brought under control, but by that point a fire had started below deck. Smoke and flames forced passengers and crew to the top deck. Lifeboats were lowered, but they were smashed by the violent waves. 
 
 All seemed lost, but a small merchant ship sailed to intercept the burning ship. According to eyewitness accounts, the hulls of the Connaught were so hot they boiled the waves as they crashed against her. A line was thrown across decks, transferring women and children first, then the male passengers and crew. Eventually, so many people boarded the tiny fruit transport that they stood on every available patch of deck — some even clinging to the tall masts and rigging. 
 
 Once everyone was off the Connaught, the captain joined them. Safely aboard the merchant vessel, they watched as the ship disappeared beneath the waves. Incredibly, nearly 600 people had been transferred from one of the largest ocean liners of the time to a tiny ship without incurring a single loss of life. The rescue ship arrived at Boston's India Wharf the following day. 
 
 "The Connaught has tremendous significance to the region," Zajonc told io9. "She was one of the largest steam liners of her time, a true Titanic of her era. She was lost on only her second voyage. But unlike the Titanic, every soul aboard her was saved under the most improbable of circumstances. This incredible rescue was due entirely to the courage of her crew and the crew of a tiny fruit ship and is a story that must be told." 
 
 [Global NewsWire] 
 
 All images: Endurance Exploration Group, Inc.
– The Keystone State, which set sail in 1849 as one of the largest and most luxurious steamer ships of its time, sank during a November storm in 1861 with 33 people aboard. No one knew its fate for more than a week, until debris was spotted, and it's been lost since then—until now. A shipwreck hunter found it at the bottom of Lake Huron, 40 to 50 miles from where it was last seen and far from where David Trotter expected to find it. Some historians say the ship may have been secretly hauling Civil War supplies when it sank, the Detroit Free Press reports—and there are even rumors it may have been carrying gold, according to Michigan Live. By 1857, after an economic downturn and the rise of the railroad, many ships like the Keystone State were considered too pricey to operate. By 1861, however, thanks to the Civil War, the Keystone State had been taken out of storage and refurbished. It picked up its cargo in Detroit—officially, farm implements, hardware, and grain, but "it was an emergency shipment," a historian explains; he adds that typically a ship wouldn't have made a trip like that so late in the year. Also suspect: The ship wasn't carrying any lifeboats (everyone aboard died in the wreck), which could indicate it left in a hurry. Trotter's team found her using side-scan sonar in July, and has since made 30 dives at the site—which turned up no gold or cargo. Some speculate that the crew dumped the cargo in a bid to save the ship. (Another ship was found this year in Lake Superior.)