Lighthouses and the SS America Wreck

The lights stood at Passage Island, Rock Harbor, Rock of Ages, and the Isle Royale Lighthouse on Menagerie Island. Several of them can still be seen from the water today.

Rock Harbor Lighthouse marks the channel into Rock Harbor and is the most viewed and most visited of the group. Ferry passengers bound for Rock Harbor on the Ranger III spot it at the mouth of the channel. Rock of Ages Lighthouse sits on a rocky reef outside Washington Harbor, and riders heading to Windigo catch sight of it just before the boat turns into the harbor.

Passage Island Lighthouse guides ships along the northeast side of the island, and visitors can reach it by boat. The motor vessel Sandy runs an eight-mile tour that crosses one of the island's shipping lanes. Once ashore, a guided two-mile round trip leads to the lighthouse through ground where moose are seldom seen. The path is rugged and rocky, so pack sturdy hiking shoes and plenty of water.

Off the western tip, a cluster of wrecks draws scuba divers, and the SS America is among the ten most famous in the park. The National Park Service Submerged Resources Center mapped those ten wrecks. Most of the ship's middle and rear sections survive, with the engine room, galley, and many cabins still in place. The center also published a survey titled Shipwrecks of Isle Royale National Park: The Archeological Survey, which lays out the area's maritime past.

Harsh weather, rough underwater ground, the island's place on old shipping lanes, and cold fresh water have kept many of these wrecks in good condition. Divers are asked to leave whatever they find exactly where it lies, and some wrecks lie broken across the bottom while others stay fairly whole. Venturing inside a wreck is risky, since tight passages can tangle a diver in debris, wire, or line, and silt with darkness can leave no visibility at all.