From the May 13, 2010, Ann Arbor (Mi) Chronicle (In the Archives: Ypsi's Submarine Divers" by Laura Bien.
In the summer of 1856, there was $36,000 in gold bars 165 feet deep in Lake Erie, worth $920,000 today, in the wreck of the steamship Atlantic, once the fastest ship on the lake which could make the Buffalo-Detrot run in sixteen and a half hours.
On August 20, 1852, it was struck by the steamer Ogdensburg and sank with the loss of 130 to 250. Another 250 survivors were picked up.
Lodner Philips was a shoemakers in Michigan City, Indiana. In his spare time, he invented and built submarines, one of which was 85-feet long.
Philips tried to get at the Atlantic's treasure. His Marine Cigar, nicknamed Fool Killer, had made an unmanned test dive at the Atlantic's wreck and it sank itself and today rests next to the steamship.
Then came Elliott Harrington, another submarine man. He made a dive on the site and was underwater for 40 minutes, finding bodies near the ship. He found the safe with the treasure in the ship's office, attached a chain to it and raised it. Unfortunately, he lost nearly all the the gold and money in court and later moved to Iowa.
During the Civil War, Harrington was reportedly paid between $5,000 and $8,000 for discovering where blockade-runners were slipping into and out of Charleston, South Carolina.
Harrington is buried in Volusia Cemetery near Westfield, New York
A book was written about the steamship Atlantic "Interrupted Journey: The Saga of the Steamer Atlantic" by Dr. David Freur.
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