I was doomscrolling last night, as one does, and I happened upon the Humans of New York Instagram account. Well, not so much happened upon it, because I actually follow them—but I digress. Anyway, it got me thinking about the entire purpose of the account. You see all these people every single day. In New York, sure, but everywhere: big towns or small, Chicago or the suburbs, just a sea of faces. It’s so easy for us to take one look and then continue about our day, not thinking much about them again.
Even if something stands out to you—a wild hairstyle, a striking tattoo, or an elderly couple holding hands as they walk down the street—it might elicit a quick flash of emotion that’s gone in a moment. What Humans of New York does is take those people and share their stories. That woman with the wild hairstyle might be embracing her look because that hair grew back after a particularly tough fight against cancer. That striking tattoo might symbolize a man’s childhood dog who was with him through the good times and the bad. And that elderly couple who seemingly spent a lifetime together? They’ve actually just started dating and are experiencing a brand-new relationship, neither of them knowing where it’ll go next.
These are the stories that give meaning to the faces. They allow us to connect to people we may only ever see once in our lifetime. Let’s be honest, maybe we just read their story on Instagram and keep scrolling, but because we know their story, a part of them will always stay with us long after we forget their faces, hair, or tattoos.
This is a very long way of saying that shipwrecks are a lot like those people we see online and on the street. As I scroll through photos of shipwrecks taken by divers in the Great Lakes and around the world, it’s cool to see these relics of the past. But, like the people I pass by, they don’t always stick with me. I truly think they’re amazing, but I’m going to be really honest with you: I could see amazing photos of two completely different wrecks, and my brain will just flash the “They’re the same picture” meme.
That has nothing to do with the quality of the images. It’s because while a picture is worth a thousand words, there are times when I actually want to read the words—or hear them.
I want to know the stories behind the ship, the routes they took, and the people that were aboard. Was it ferrying cars, a cruise ship filled with the richest of the rich (and a few stowaways), or was its main goal to transport bushels of corn across the Great Lakes? How did the ship go down? Tragically during a storm? Scuttled on purpose after serving its time? Who was the captain, and what was their story? What about the stories that may have been cut short—the ones that have possibly only been passed down through the families of those lost?
And what of the ship now? What’s still there waiting to be discovered? Had it been cleaned out by would-be treasure hunters before it became illegal to do so (which is a lot more recent than many people probably think)? Or maybe there’s still something new to see, an artifact that has only just been uncovered by the constant flow of the water.
Moving beyond the shipwreck itself, think about the photographer who took the photo. We’re not talking about someone documenting people on the street; this photographer is a diver. Maybe it was her very first wreck dive, and she wanted to photograph something to always remember the hard work it took to get her to this point. Maybe it was a historian who has always been fascinated by maritime lore, and this was his chance to see it outside the pages of a book. Then again, it might be a photographer on his 237th dive who just wanted to snap a few shots out of habit.
I guess where I’m trying to go with this is that diving shipwrecks and photographing them is only a small fraction of the picture. The real story is about the humans who built the ships, the humans who manned them, the humans who survived them, the humans who did not, and now, the humans who continue to visit the wrecks. Those are the stories that we should be telling.
So, I invite you to join us at Double Action Dive Charters for one of our next Greak Lakes wreck dives. Learn the stories of the ships we explore and be prepared to write your own.