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What lies beneath ending explained: why the ghost was haunting claire.

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Director Robert Zemeckis ' 2000 ghost movie What Lies Beneath has several layers to its mystery, but here's why Claire was being haunted. What Lies Beneath has oddly faded a bit from the popular consciousness in recent years, despite being directed by one of the most decorated filmmakers in Hollywood, and starring two hall of fame-caliber A-list actors in its leading roles. While reviews from critics were mixed, What Lies Beneath was a big box office success, nearly tripling its $100 million budget worldwide.

It's possible this fading away is the byproduct of the 2010s introducing so many options of things to watch that something like What Lies Beneath , a good but not excellent ghost story, fell by the wayside. Whatever the cause, Zemeckis' film is now streaming on Netflix , offering its millions of subscribers a way to either get reacquainted with the once very popular film, or discover it for the first time. After all, What Lies Beneath wouldn't be the first time a movie got a second life thanks to streaming.

Related: The Sixth Sense Wasn’t 1999's Best Ghost Movie

For those who have seen What Lies Beneath , there's a chance the twisty plot led to some confusion over what exactly happened to Claire ( Michelle Pfeiffer ), and why the ghost was haunting her. It's time to clear that up.

What Lies Beneath Ending Explained: Why the Ghost Haunted Claire

Throughout What Lies Beneath , Claire (Pfeiffer) is haunted by a female ghost, and at first believes it to be her neighbor, who's seemingly disappeared after a fight with her husband. However, the neighbor eventually returns, and it turns out this haunting is a lot more personal. The ghost is a young woman named Madison Elizabeth Frank (Amber Valetta), who was having an affair with Claire's professor husband Norman ( Harrison Ford ). As is often the case in horror, Norman and Claire's bright suburban existence was only a facade covering a dark reality, as not even a seemingly ideal marriage was enough to prevent Norman from cheating on his wife.

Since Madison is a ghost though, Claire quickly begins to suspect Norman was involved in her demise. Norman denies this, and being acted by Ford, he's pretty convincing, especially after Claire comes home to find him seemingly attempting suicide out of guilt over the affair. Alas, it's all a ruse, as Norman did indeed kill Madison, dumping her body in a lake, explaining why the haunting incidents kept revolving around water. Madison, Norman's student, had threatened to tell the dean at Norman's college about their affair

His dirty deeds exposed, Norman attempts to murder Claire too, but his plan fails, and the couple ends up in the lake, leading Madison to get revenge on her killer. While it's certainly been the message of more than one horror movie, What Lies Beneath 's ending again reinforces the idea that secrets tend to get revealed, and crimes tend to get uncovered, and attempting to (sometimes literally) bury them only leads to worse problems for all involved.

More: Why Harrison Ford Is Angrily Pointing In Almost Every Movie

• What Lies Beneath

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

What Lies Beneath

The wife of a university research scientist believes that her lakeside Vermont home is haunted by a ghost - or that she is losing her mind. The wife of a university research scientist believes that her lakeside Vermont home is haunted by a ghost - or that she is losing her mind. The wife of a university research scientist believes that her lakeside Vermont home is haunted by a ghost - or that she is losing her mind.

• Robert Zemeckis
• Clark Gregg
• Sarah Kernochan
• Harrison Ford
• Michelle Pfeiffer
• Katharine Towne
• 762 User reviews
• 136 Critic reviews
• 51 Metascore
• 7 wins & 7 nominations

Top cast 30

• Norman Spencer

• Claire Spencer

• Caitlin Spencer

• Warren Feur

• PhD Student #1

• PhD Student #2

• PhD Student #3

• PhD Student #4

• Dr. Stan Powell

• Madison Elizabeth Frank

• Dr. Drayton

• Mrs. Templeton

• Dean Templeton
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Did you know

• Trivia Director Robert Zemeckis filmed this while production for Cast Away (2000) was shut down (so Tom Hanks could lose weight for his character).
• Goofs The bite Claire takes out of the apple is gone when she forces Norman to take a bite out of it.

Jody : [showing off her new convertible] It's a beautiful thing, alimony. You lose a husband, you get a car. Think it'll help me pick up dudes?

Claire Spencer : [later] Pick up any dudes yet?

Jody : I have one in the trunk!

• Crazy credits When the movie title first appears on screen, the word 'Lies' appears just before the rest of the title.
• Connections Featured in Siskel & Ebert: X-Men/The Five Senses/The Eyes of Tammy Faye/Chuck & Buck (2000)
• Soundtracks Too Late Written by J.C. Brandy (as Justine Brandy), Katie Harris, Lissa Beltri, Claudia Rossi & Doug DeAngelis Performed by Lo-Ball (as LoBall) Courtesy of Doug DeAngelis

User reviews 762

• Oct 21, 2012

Everything New on Prime Video in August

• How long is What Lies Beneath? Powered by Alexa
• Why didn't the production acknowledge its source material Of Ghosts and Angels (from which too many elements were borrowed to be pure coincidence) from Charlie's Angels?
• What is 'What Lies Beneath' about?
• Is 'What Lies Beneath' based on a book?
• July 21, 2000 (United States)
• United States
• Hồn Ma Báo Oán
• Lake Champlain, New York, USA
• Dreamworks Pictures
• Twentieth Century Fox
• ImageMovers
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $100,000,000 (estimated)
• $155,464,351
• $29,702,959
• Jul 23, 2000
• $291,420,351

Technical specs

• Runtime 2 hours 10 minutes
• Dolby Digital

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What Lies Beneath — Is a Strange Object on the Bottom of a Canadian Lake Really a WW2 U-boat?

“Many from Labrador maintain that the recently discovered object is a Nazi sub that, according to local folklore, slipped into the inlet during the early 1940s and was somehow lost.”

THERE’S SOMETHING large and mysterious resting on the bottom of a deep coastal inlet in Labrador on Canada’s east coast. Could it be as some locals believe a German U-boat from the Second World War ?

The massive object was accidentally discovered in 2010 by sonar operators trying to locate the remains of three area residents who had recently drown in Lake Melville, a large salt water inlet.

While searching for the bodies, the recovery team detected portions of a 30-metre-long mass resting on the lakebed, but thick sediment prevented any sort of positive identification.

Many from Labrador maintain that the recently discovered object is a Nazi sub that according to local folklore slipped into the inlet during the early 1940s and was somehow lost.

Such a hypothesis, while certainly incredible, doesn’t seem all that far-fetched at first glance, especially when considering how many of Hitler’s U-boats operated along eastern seaboard and deep inside the Gulf of the St. Lawrence throughout the Second World War. However the fact that the supposed U-boat wreckage lies in the far southwestern end of the inlet near the mouth of the Churchill River — more than 100 miles inland from the Atlantic — certainly raises doubts that the unknown object is in fact an enemy submarine.

If the curious shape entombed in the murky depths does turn out to be a wartime U-boat, it would be the deepest a German sub ever penetrated into North American waterways.   Yet according to the Labrador newspaper The Aurora , German U-boats have long been rumoured to have ventured into the inlet, possibly to reconnoiter the large Allied airbase at Goose Bay.

Skeptics point out however that there are no official Canadian wartime records indicating that any enemy subs were ever detected in those waters.

A fascinating story in last weekend’s National Post delves into this long-running mystery, while examining a host of other famous Canadian U-boat myths from the period.

“Almost since the opening shots of the Battle of the Atlantic, the Maritimes and the coast of Quebec have abounded with legends about U-Boats that prowled the East Coast in the latter half of the Second World War,” writes Tristan Hopper, the author of the piece.

The story presents other nuggets of Canadian U-boat lore, including:

The recurring tale that captured U-boat crews produced bus transfers from Halifax, ostensibly obtained while the submariners infiltrated the port city, possibly to hoist a few pints at sea side taverns.

Another popular myth holds that German submariners re-provisioned their vessels with fruit and vegetables obtained from French-Canadian grocery stories?

The story is well worth the read .

By the way, this sort of U-boat mythology is by no means unique to Canada.

A website dedicated to German submarines describes how Americans, the Irish and even New Zealanders swap U-boat tall-tales of their own. Consider these:

• As recently as 2011, the Irish Independent was investigating local legends that at least one U-boat refuelled in a harbour on that country’s west coast.
• A recurring myth emanating from the United States suggests that U-boat crews often went ashore to buy food in general stores up and down the coast.
• Another tall tale reports that the crew of the U-862 operating deep in the Pacific went ashore in New Zealand and milked cows.

Sadly, these folk tales, and others like them, have all been disproven. But they certainly make for fascinating reading.

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8 thoughts on “ What Lies Beneath — Is a Strange Object on the Bottom of a Canadian Lake Really a WW2 U-boat? ”

Hey man; those are some stories that will grab you right where you’ll remember them. You certainly know how to write about these tales of daring and do. All your stories and essays are real easy to follow.

I don’t think I’ve read a dull or uninteresting post here. Thanks for your hard work.

Always interesting stuff here! I would be very curious to learn of whether or not it was a scuttled Nazi sub. Perhaps (if I can let my imagination run free) when peace was declared, the sub’s crew left the ship in groups about the coast to seek a new life here, then the last crewmembers scuttled her! 🙂

One article I would be very interested to read would be one on the USS Wolverine and USS Sable…

Aside from a recon of the airbase at Goose Bay (at the time, the 2nd busiest airport in North America), I can’t imagine why a U-boat would ever go so far up an inlet. They’d be fish in a barrel. I personally don’t think it’s a U-boat — probably just a sunken ship. But it’s fun to speculate.

there is a youtube vid of this report. it shows the images on the monitors of the crew who have been investigating it. the image on the screen certainly looks as if it is submarine shaped, and the length and dimensions certainly tally with records from the second world war.

Whether it is or not, we shall probably never ascertain with any certainty, but if it is, it certainly would spark an intriguing mystery

I love the idea that a u-boat made it that far into North American waters, but I find it a little too hard to believe. I’d like to be proven wrong someday though!

im not convinced that the image on the video, is a uboat, or submarine. it is the right shape, but it is too indistinct for my liking.

have a look at the vid and decide for yourself though!

Search on “nazi weather station in canada” and read the top hits. Those are only the ones that have been found.

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Hooked on Houses

A Fun Place to Get Your House Fix

A House to Die For: “What Lies Beneath”

Scary movies just aren’t my thing, but I made it all the way through What Lies Beneath , simply because I couldn’t take my eyes off the house.

It was pretty fabulous. Too bad it wasn’t a real house and is no longer standing.

Let’s take a look back at the house they built for the movie!

Note: There are Amazon affiliate links in this post that may earn me commission.

The House from “What Lies Beneath”

Filming began in 1999 in Addison, Vermont, on the banks of Lake Champlain.

Screenwriter Clark Gregg says he had always envisioned Claire and Norman Spencer living in Burlington, Vermont, which is an academic community like the one Norman is a part of.

The location was perfect except for one thing: they needed a house.

So production designers Rick Carter and Jim Teegarden worked with director Bob Zemeckis to design the 3,500-square-foot Nantucket-style shingled house, which was constructed from the ground up (and, sadly, torn down after filming).

Here’s the initial sketch they came up with for it:

Zemeckis says the house had to work on two levels.

It had to look like a kind of dream house in the sunlight, but when the shadows or light hit it a certain way, it would turn ominous.

According to the production notes, they duplicated both the exterior and interior on soundstages in L.A.

Michelle Pfeiffer and Harrison Ford play Claire and Norman Spencer, a beautiful, happily married couple who have just moved into this old house in Vermont and renovated it.

It was Norman’s late father’s house, who died and left the house to them.

So at first when strange things start happening, they think it might be his ghost.

Norman jokes that maybe he doesn’t like the changes they made to the house.

The front door keeps opening on its own.

That’s never a good sign….

The sets don’t look too dated over a decade later.

Looking into Norman’s study:

The living room has a view of the water:

The Staircase:

The bathroom is where at least 75% of the scream-worthy things occur.

I may never take a bath again….

They did so much filming in this bathroom that they created five different versions of it for the movie.

Michelle Pfeiffer says that it was hard not to laugh sometimes because she could hear the crew in the bathroom noisily filling the bathtub and setting things up for her to walk in and be scared by, but she had to pretend not to notice.

The Back of the House and the Dock:

It’s hard to believe this fabulous house was just a shell built for the movie, isn’t it? According to the Vermonter , a park pavilion has been built on the site where the house stood. You can watch the movie “What Lies Beneath” on Amazon (affiliate link). Visit my  Houses Onscreen page  to see the others I’ve featured, listed from A-Z.

Are you hooked on houses? More to tour:

10.18.09 at 11:06 am

The house is so lovely but the film……scaring!!! .-= Spanish Preppy Girl´s last blog ..FRIDAY OUTFIT PHOTO =-.

10.18.09 at 1:01 pm

I’ve never seen the movie, but the house is gorgeous!! .-= Dagny @ Beautiful Living´s last blog ..Before and after: dining room chairs! / Før og etter: spisestuestoler =-.

10.18.09 at 1:09 pm

What a great house – I’ll just pretend I don’t know what happens in it.;) I’m racking my brain for a good holiday movie house…..ouch. Too much thinking – I’ll have to get back to you on that. .-= duchess´s last blog ..Busy Times =-.

10.18.09 at 1:18 pm

I saw this a while ago and the only thing I really remember about it is loving the house so much! The blues and brown…just gorgeous! .-= DIANE DUDA´s last blog ..Coming Soon… =-.

10.18.09 at 12:24 pm

I too am such a freak about scary things, I don’t even watch CSI or cop shows. BUT, I made my hubby come with me to this movie on my 30th birthday because I wanted to see that house so bad! It was worth it, because I don’t remember anything about the movie other than the house! Well, if you don’t count the 911 call Norman made 😉 Great choice to feature– you are so good at this!

9.28.10 at 10:40 pm

LOL! That’s all I remember too! The stunningly, gorgeous house. Until I catch re-runs of the movie again!

10.18.09 at 1:45 pm

Oh, that movie is SCARY! I’m not a fan of scary movies (ever), but it has Harrison Ford in it, so I HAD to watch it. The house is gorgeous. GOR-GEOUS! I’d live there (with Harrison Ford). .-= Mom in High Heels´s last blog ..Dear So and So: The naked edition =-.

10.18.09 at 1:53 pm

Funny! I was just talking about this movie last weekend and for the life of me couldn’t come up with what the movie’s name was! Thanks! The house is amazing! I would love to live so close to the water. .-= Jen @ After The Alter´s last blog ..Enough With The Socks!!! =-.

10.18.09 at 12:57 pm

Do you have any idea what happened to the home after filming? I would move to Vermont to live in that house, ghost or no ghost…but I would only take showers!

10.18.09 at 1:22 pm

I love scary movies and I love this one in particular. The house in it is one of my all time favorites. I think I’ve seen the movie at least 5 times because I love looking at that house so much. -Jackie

10.18.09 at 1:42 pm

Thanks for sharing all of these great photos. Movies provide us with so much inspiration for home decorating – I remember loving this home but since it is difficult to go a back and capture those images I have forgotten about it. Great post.

10.18.09 at 3:02 pm

I don’t know how many times I have seen this film – it is one of my all time faves and I love the house. .-= Debbie at the Shabby Bungalow´s last blog ..Crappy day =-.

10.18.09 at 3:55 pm

I hate hate hate horror films with gore/the occult, but I don’t mind movies with some suspense. I thought “What Lies Beneath” sort of sat the fence, b/c it is SCARY!! It is such an amazing house, and I love how the accessories, and layout of the home still come across as current. 🙂 I love the cute little garden and the amazing views. That’s a lake I wouldn’t mind living on!

I went to see that movie with my sister and her friend one summer when we were at the beach. She was the ONLY person to scream in the movie…I was so embarrassed. 😉 .-= Amanda @ Serenity Now´s last blog ..Over the Top =-.

10.18.09 at 4:02 pm

I absolutely fell in love with that house when I saw the movie…. inside, outside….perfect! .-= Linda aka Heartfire At Home´s last blog ..When Your Heart Speaks… =-.

10.18.09 at 4:04 pm

This is one of my favorite movies. It is one of those movies I know I shouldn’t watch when I am home alone but I just can’t seem to change the channel! I am on edge the entire time I watch it. The scenary is just beautiful! Great post. .-= Shell´s last blog ..The Cheese Straw Factory =-.

10.18.09 at 5:12 pm

This has been one of my favorite movie homes for years! I love everything about it; the house, decor, location. It is all perfect except the premise of this very scary film. YIKES! .-= Charlie´s last blog ..Tikau, Bee Mine…. =-.

10.18.09 at 4:21 pm

As soon as I saw your post the memories of this house came rushing back. I loved that house and now I will have to go rent the movie. Thanks so much for sharing, MB

10.18.09 at 5:38 pm

I haven’t seen this movie because I hate scary movies. I’m like you, I scare easily, so I can barely control myself through scary movies. This house is spectacular, though. It’s the house I’ve always dreamed of owning if I ever live on the coast. I love all the blues in it too! Thanks for being brave enough to sit through the movie to show us the beautiful house! .-= Sarah @ Dream In Domestic´s last blog ..Pink Rose-Inspired College Bedroom =-.

10.18.09 at 4:44 pm

One of my favorite homes. I love the boat dock and the porch.

10.18.09 at 5:48 pm

I don’t normally like scary movies but loved this one for three reasons: 1) Harrison Ford, 2) the hourse itself! and 3) the view of the water ~ thanks for posting about it! Now I’ll rent the movie from Netflix and watch it again 🙂 .-= Nancy Hood´s last blog ..Some favorites of the week ~ =-.

10.18.09 at 6:12 pm

I never saw this movie…but now I think I need to! Adding it to my Blockbuster Online Queue as we speak.

Did you see that new movie Stepfather. The movie’s pretty good, but I couldn’t take my eyes off the house. It was chock (chalk?) full of beadboard, molding and fab paint colors (…it’s a sickness, I know) :). .-= AnNicole@OurSuburbanCottage´s last blog ..DIY Monogrammed Door Mat =-.

10.18.09 at 5:19 pm

What a dream house! Nice choice to feature! I really dug that movie more than I thought I would. I remember some great Hitchcockian shots.

I love the house in The Family Stone, but it frustrates me because it’s so cluttered! I know it’s a “real family” house and is meant to look lived in, but I really want to see it all prettied up because the house itself is fabulous.

10.18.09 at 6:23 pm

Uh oh. I’m skeeered.

At first I thought I had seen the movie…but I think not. Should I?…She asks, shaking in her shoes…… .-= Linda @ Lime in the Coconut´s last blog ..For a funny guy…he has some GOOD taste… =-.

10.18.09 at 5:30 pm

Love this house, the backyard, the lake, everything!

10.18.09 at 6:57 pm

What a beautiful home but after watching the movie I have to say that I could never live there! .-= Puna´s last blog ..October 18, Beast =-.

10.18.09 at 6:20 pm

Hi Julia I am a coward when it comes to this movie but I could not keep away from it I get scared watching Ghost Whisperer its my favourite show… The house in the movie is beautiful but eerie I don’t think I would last in there for too long….. Best wishes Esther from sunny Sydney….

10.18.09 at 7:30 pm

I’m drooling over this house! You are so right that it doesn’t look dated at ALL. I feel like some of the things I did SIX years ago look dated. Bravo to the set designers. Of course I’d be too scared to see this movie. .-= anna see´s last blog ..Not Ready for My Close Up =-.

10.18.09 at 7:34 pm

Gorgeous, without the ghost of course. I was just thinking of the house in Practical Magic, then I went to your movie list and saw that it was coming up. Woo hoo, one of my all time faves. Can’t wait, I love these posts. Pam .-= Pam´s last blog ..Too Busy for Blogging!!! =-.

10.18.09 at 7:39 pm

Thank you, thank you for dedicating a post to this gorgeous house! I tried to find pictures of it in the past and never was very successful. Cannot wait to see your post on Practical Magic because that house was a stunner as well. Keep up the amazing work! .-= Kelly´s last blog ..Holiday Traditions =-.

10.18.09 at 7:56 pm

I do remember this movie being a little freaky. The house is gorgeous. I never paid as much attention to houses in movies until I started reading your blog. Sometimes I get distracted from the movie looking too much at the house. .-= Carmen´s last blog ..More pumpkin ideas… =-.

10.18.09 at 8:31 pm

Thanks for the great views of the house. I’m not much on scary movies (never saw this one), but the house is great. They should just ban any evilness and enj0y!

Christi .-= Christi at A Southern Life´s last blog ..Southern Frost =-.

10.18.09 at 9:16 pm

I saw this awhile ago, but I don’t remember the story at all! LOL! The house is beautiful though. I wonder what happened to it after the movie was over? .-= Jenny´s last blog ..Homeschooling Week 9 =-.

10.18.09 at 9:47 pm

I really wanted to see this movie but never got around to it. Now I want to! Gorgeous house 🙂

rue .-= rue´s last blog ..Surprises & The walls talked! =-.

10.18.09 at 9:59 pm

Hi Julia! Oh, what a pretty house — and since I’ve never seen the movie, and probably never will because I am TERRIFIED of scary movies, I don’t see anything threatening about it, even after dark. It’s gorgeous and timeless, too — interiors that look as if they might have been done yesterday, not a decade ago. Classic design lasts! Fun read, thanks! Cass .-= Cass @ That Old House´s last blog ..Sunday Favorite — A Walk Around That Old House =-.

10.18.09 at 10:15 pm

Oh, this movie scares me so much I’ve hardly noticed the house! Except to know that it had a spectacular location. Thanks Julia! .-= Tracy´s last blog ..Jane’s Apron… I mean Plate… Inspires a Room =-.

10.18.09 at 9:33 pm

Wow — that house is fantastic! Maybe I’ll have to watch with the sound off. I *adore* that round window seat.

10.18.09 at 10:42 pm

I have not seen the movie but wow the house is BEAUTIFUL!! .-= Vicki´s last blog ..Workin’ on my game =-.

10.18.09 at 11:24 pm

I agree with you – no scary movies, so I haven’t seen this one. Gorgeous house, though. .-= Porch Days´s last blog ..Fall Foliage in Connecticut =-.

10.18.09 at 11:25 pm

That is SUCH a good movie and I loved that house. The bedroom window seat was amazing — my favorite part! Oh, that movie was so scary, I’m all spooked now!! .-= Sarah @ Thriftydecorchick´s last blog ..A mantel, spookified! =-.

10.18.09 at 11:44 pm

I saw this movie years ago and I feel in love withthe house too, Julia! I was so shocked to read it was all a set. It was so perfect. The move was scary but not is a gorey creepy way…I enjoyed it! .-= Pat´s last blog ..Angels and Accordions at Green-Wood Cemetery =-.

10.19.09 at 7:01 am

The house was a welcome distraction while I was watching this film! What you wrote about the building of it made me wonder; if I wrote a great screenplay, do you think they’d build me a house, too – but let us live in it afterwards? .-= janice´s last blog ..Clutter: What are You Really Holding Onto…and Why? =-.

10.19.09 at 7:29 am

So glad you shared this gorgeous house with us because I hate scary movies! I can’t even sit on the computer while my husband watches one because I get scared just listening to it. I’d have nightmares for weeks but then I miss out on great homes like this one. Glad you were so brave for us! ~Michelle .-= Michelle´s last blog ..A Guest Post For Those Old House Lovers =-.

10.19.09 at 7:35 am

beautiful home, very “US” to me too! in a good way of course… lol .-= Annie@A View on Design´s last blog ..Prestige Lifestyle at Springfield, SA =-.

10.19.09 at 7:27 am

Julia–You’re so funny!! Love your commentary!!!

10.19.09 at 7:59 am

Great post, Julia! I had almost forgotten about this movie. The house was gorgeous, as well as the outside {that view!}. I may have to dig this out of my DVD collection and watch it on the weekend {or at least add it to my winter viewing list}.

10.19.09 at 9:16 am

I love Burlington…What happened to the House after filming? Shame if they tore it down….It is so wonderful!!!! Thanks for the post. Suzy .-= Suzy´s last blog ..Fall Cookies from the Cookie Jar… =-.

10.19.09 at 8:24 am

I would love to see this movie just to see the house. Thankfully you’ve done a fabulous job documenting it so I can live peacefully in my house and NEVER watch it. I HATE scary movies. I did LOVE this house though.

10.19.09 at 9:20 am

Usually homes built for movies like this are torn down after filming because they are empty shells. I didn’t run across any information about this one specifically, though. Does anyone else know? -Julia

10.19.09 at 9:40 am

Thank you, thank you for showing this house. I have loved it from the moment I saw the movie and it has always been one of my favorites! Like you mentioned, it’s a ten year old movie and the house is timeless. Nothing is dated, just classic. Love it!

10.19.09 at 11:08 am

I am so happy you did this house, it is my favorite movie house, location and all!! Thank you!!!

10.19.09 at 11:15 am

I had to laugh at Amanda’s comment about her sister being the only person who screamed at the showing of this film! For sure my sister and I would be screaming right along with her:) This is a great suspense film and of course the house . .

One sad film to watch (although the acting was superb!) is “One True Thing” (w/Meryl Street and Renee Zellweger. The old house is so wonderful and the Halloween scenes are great. And sometime find the Woody Allen film, “September” – entire filming takes place inside the cottage, the set is as neat as it sounds! And on other Meryl Streep film (again – great acting with Liam Neeson) – another gorgeous house and for me another plus – a lot of winter scenes! It’s called “Before and After”. All are a bit older films.

You do SUCH a wonderful job with the movie pictures Julia! I am so appreciative of your efforts.

10.19.09 at 12:21 pm

I loved this post Julia – I haven’t seen that movie and you didn’t spoil it for me (I avoided the text and just looked at the pictures – LOVED that round window seat! What a dreamy feature!) I’m adding this to my queue for sure. So they built this house for a movie? What happened to it when they were done? Did they sell it to some lucky soul? .-= christy´s last blog ..Monday morning Foo-fest =-.

10.19.09 at 1:06 pm

Great house! I love your movie house features.

My husband and I watched The Proposal this weekend and I think the family house in the movie would be a great future feature! My husband kept saying how much he loved the house. It had a great rustic yet elegant feel. .-= Mrs. B´s last blog ..Decoupage Poe Pumpkin {from the archives} =-.

10.19.09 at 2:02 pm

Yeah I’ve seen that movie…creepy. Great house though. Thanks for the tour! .-= Becky @ Farmgirl Paints´s last blog ..Brave Girl Camp =-.

10.19.09 at 3:54 pm

Your post inspired me to watch the movie last night! Loved getting a second look at the house, even though parts of the movie still scared me to death.

10.19.09 at 4:32 pm

I don’t think I’ve ever seen this movie…my husband agrees..so it’s certain! I don’t like scary movies, but I may have to make an exception and watch this one, just to look at the house. It looks breath taking, and the surroundings and lake are beautiful. Yep, I think I need to rent this one.

10.19.09 at 6:14 pm

Thanks so much for posting my all time favorite horror flick. I absolutely love the house! It is amazing that it isn’t dated at all. That is timeless style. .-= Shannon´s last blog ..Waiting =-.

10.19.09 at 6:50 pm

I could barely stand to even look at the pictures of the set..this movie made me scream out loud …SOL…? I love the bedroom, especially the builtins and the window seat. Now do you have a picture of the kitchen in Fatal Attraction??? Thanks for another great Monday!! .-= susan´s last blog ..The Telltale Signs =-.

10.19.09 at 8:04 pm

I saw that movie in the theaters and don’t even remember the house. I think I was too scared! You’re right, it doesn’t look dated at all. Hmmm… maybe I need to watch it again. .-= micah´s last blog ..Let There Be Light =-.

10.19.09 at 9:07 pm

I’m really glad you featured this house because I saw this movie in the theatre when it came out and all I can remember thinking was that I didn’t like the movie. This house is great, I can’t believe I didn’t notice it more when I watched the movie! I’m in love with that window seat. .-= Erin´s last blog ..An Oasis of Clean =-.

10.20.09 at 9:01 am

Since you brought up the subject of scary movies, I was reminded of the horrific movie, “House of Sand and Fog.” Wouldn’t you think a movie with House in the title would feature some online photos of said house? Nope. Couldn’t find a thing but I’ll bet you can. Such a movie it was! Not a fan of scary movies and didn’t see What Lies Beneath but love the house!

Ellen .-= Nouveau Stitch´s last blog ..It’s a Pillow Plight! =-.

10.20.09 at 10:33 am

I watch this movie with the sound off just because of the house! Julia — a couple of suggestions for other movie homes: the beautiful Bucks County house in the second half of Marley and Me. And Meg Ryan’s home in The Women! Really stunning!

10.20.09 at 10:38 am

Oops! My bad! You already did Marley and Me. But you should definitely check out the other movie home I mentioned. Thanks!

10.22.09 at 1:55 am

Man, did I love this house! I kept playing the bathroom scenes over and over, scary as they were, just so’s I could see all the gorgeous gray tile! Thanks x

10.22.09 at 7:23 am

Love this house, your post reminded me that when I first saw the movie it reminded me of Harrison Ford’s character’s house in Patriot Games; a movie that also ends on a dark and stormy night near the water. According to IMBD the house for that film was located on the “Pengerine Cliffs in North Beach on the coast of Maryland, about 30 miles south of Annapolis on the Chesapeake Bay.” The final scenes are shot in night vision glassed and I kept wishing they would just turn on the lights so I could see more of the house!

10.22.09 at 7:14 pm

Thank you so much for posting this. I think this might be my dream house. I’ll take the ghosts. I don’t mind.

10.22.09 at 8:33 pm

Hey there- I decided to come over here after reading about this bog at Black-Eyed Susan’s. I have seen this movie, and I too, love this house. I also loved the color of paint used in the foyer. Gorgeous. In and out. .-= jenny´s last blog ..Tidbits -and a Blogging Break (?) =-.

10.23.09 at 7:16 am

LOVE this house!! I think this is the only scarey movie I own!!

~angela @ peonypatch .-= Angela´s last blog ..Big Banking =-.

10.23.09 at 8:25 am

Okay, I rented this movie just because of this post. It is an awesome house, if a little dismally decorated.

I gotta say, though, I think this is a TERRIBLE movie. Way, way too long and boring. I had to fast-forward through a lot of it.

The gardens were even better than the house. Just gorgeous.

8.14.11 at 4:35 pm

I couldn’t agree more! I wasn’t scared (come on, Miranda Otto [warrior of Rohan from LOTR!] freaks out over a domestic spat and Michelle goes nuts? And the CGI ghosts…meh: seen ’em, not scared of ’em!). And yes, the house was dismally decorated. I mean, if you want gray, scary places, watch “Dark Water” or “The Grudge”.

10.24.09 at 8:15 pm

Great tour thanks for sharing. Sandy

10.25.09 at 12:59 pm

I LOVE this movie too, not just because of the story, but because of the house too!! I absolutely love the built in cupboards in the bedroom and the round window seat is to die for! .-= Bomberryr´s last blog ..Baby Blues =-.

10.26.09 at 8:53 am

I read this on IMDB regarding what happened to the house:

The house depicted in the film was used for day scenes only. It was torn down after filming because it didn’t meet local building codes. The rooms were duplicated on an L.A. sound stage for night scenes.

What a shame!!!

12.4.09 at 4:05 pm

Hi….I have always been in love with the house in “what lies beneath”, and I loved the movie to. My friends and I have often tried to replicate features of this house in our own homes. Can anyone tell me the grey blue interior paint color that was used throughout much of that house? I would almost bet my life that it is Benjamin Moore’s “mount saint anne”. I really want the exact color they used. Thanks

1.20.10 at 2:56 am

I loveeeeeeeeeeeeee this house.DH is such a baby when it comes to horror films.I make him watch this one all the time.He always grunts “you just want to watch it to see the house again”. Maybe so…well and of course HARRISON FORD!

P.S….whenever I want to slip into a day dream….I come to your blog.

1.31.10 at 6:30 pm

This is one of my all time favorite movies!!!!!! I love Harrison Ford & Michelle Pfeiffer the house was an absolute bonus in this movie…. Every time I see it I see something in the house I love… Thanks for your post!!!!!!!!!!!

3.23.10 at 9:34 am

A reader named Angela just sent me this note about the paint color in the house:

For those of you who are looking for the grey/bluish paint color in the movie What Lies Beneath, well I do believe I have it or very very close to it. I painted my kitchen and nook area in the Mount Saint Anne by Benjamin Moore that was suggested by a post on this website. It is gorgeous and looks exactly like the color in the movie. I’ve had so many compliments and people asking for the color. Don’t be fooled by the color shown on the website. It looks nothing like it. I love it so much that I’m thinking about doing one of my bathrooms. If you have white cabinets in your kitchen, this is the perfect color.

(Thanks, Angela!)

4.1.10 at 6:40 pm

I am obsessed with this house. That is what brought me to this site. We may remodel our very old, very small sigle story “bungalow” & I am trying to find plans for this home or at least as close as I can get to it. It is beautiful and thank you for having this site!!!

8.14.10 at 3:49 pm

Just watching What Lies Beneath at home in Roscommon, Ireland. The decor is so fantastic in the house that I looked it up online to try and find some pictures and happily came upon this blog. It’s fantastic – thank you!

8.16.10 at 2:45 pm

I really like this house. My family lives about 5 miles from where this was filmed, and I was in high school at the time. The filmed “Me, Myself and Irene” the same summer, in the same area. This house was actually built in a state park/campground, at the state parks “day use area”– the picnic area with access to the lake. My understanding was that it wasn’t a real house at all, that they used the existing picnic shelter and also built a “shell.”

The presence of the crew and cast made camping there that summer quite fun, even if swimming wasn’t available because of filming. I for one never caught a glimpse of anyone, but many people that lived in the area did.

9.11.10 at 12:24 am

I am hooked! Now I can see pictures of the movie set houses instead of playing the dvd’s and pausing them just to look at the details of these awesome homes! Thank You!

11.26.10 at 2:16 am

This is my utmost favorite house on film. I watch this movie very often just to see the house (the setting is great too, especially the little town of Adamant in Fall). I am SO glad to see someone else shares my love of this house and took the time to break it down, room by room. I agree, I would have liked to have seen more of the kitchen, but thank you for sharing what you have!

11.30.10 at 1:39 pm

I live nearby to this area in Addison and one of my best friends lives right down the road. They did indeed have to tear this house down. It was built at D. A.R state park. The spot that they picked had a stone built bathroom, which they were given permission to tear down with the condition that they rebuild it, which they did. This is a very rural community but very beautiful. There is a scene where they decide to go into NYC to meet friends for dinner- the bridge they drove over was recently torn down as it was considered unsafe. They now have a ferry service running until the bridge is rebuilt in 2012. Bu the way there is only a few houses and lots of open fields on the other side of that bridge! Lol! I also don’t recall a 2nd house bring built that would have been their neighbors on the other side of the fence, that might have been something on the LA set. I loved this movie and I love this site! I was so excited to see the Father of the Bride house as it is my dream home! Thanks for such a great site!!

11.30.10 at 1:43 pm

Interesting! Thanks for the additional info, Heather! -Julia

3.12.11 at 3:24 am

This is a gorgeous house, but I don’t think I could ever live there. It’s just way too big and any creaking or strange sounds at night would freak me out too much. I prefer cozy cottages! Small, with a nice garden 🙂

4.1.11 at 5:11 pm

Thank you so much for creating this!!!

This has been my dream house ever since I saw the movie in theaters – I don’t have to explain any further as you clearly understand 🙂

I too agree, 10 years later nothing looks dated – The power of a classic style!

4.28.11 at 3:47 am

Most movie houses (or mead halls, for that matter, as in Peter Jackson’s “The Two Towers” part of “The Lord of the Rings”–an entire village, really) get torn down due to environmental regs or other reasons. My favorite “tear-down” was Quint’s shack on Martha’s Vineyard from “Jaws”. The townies were horrified that such a low-life structure would “ruin” their perfect town and made Spielberg & Co. sign a promise to take it all out. Then the tourists started flooding in (I think the town was Menemsha) and asking to SEE QUINT’S SHACK! It was still there at that point, but the movie folks just said, “Sorry, they are making us tear it down!” Heh-heh! (I think the town built a replica. Typical).

There IS a scene in this (rather flawed) film–I don’t find ghosts OR Harrison at all scary–that bugged me. When they take the sailboat out for its final run in the fall, they sail under a REALLY high bridge which in all likelihood is the one on a reservoir near Brattleboro, VT…above the West River–quite a long way from Burlington. Nobody sane would ever sail there either, in a boat that size. That’s bass-fishing country.

I was also not a big fan of the house’s decor (all gray and white). Blah! If you want to see see a great example of spooky, deranged production design, check out “Cold Creek Manor” with Sharon Stone & Dennis Quaid. Truly creepy, with its rotting , brick, pseudo-Gothic mansion and menacing locals from upstate NY!

6.12.11 at 12:15 pm

Hey, you know the horse-waggon shaped figure in the wall of the hallway, its actually a window that was covered over; it would have looked into the front room (the room with the balcony window in it). Even though this isn’t specified in the movie, there are a few scenes in which you catch the glare of the glass. Who would cover that up ?!

7.26.11 at 11:39 am

I made a house on the sims inspired by the house from this film, please have a look and tell me what you think 🙂

7.26.11 at 2:29 pm

Wow! I’m impressed. Nice job, Jasmine!

9.5.11 at 4:44 pm

I did a little research and it appears that the paint colors are all from Nantucket. I have spent many a summer on the island and have seen these interior colors as they are a staple of Nantucket and Cape Cod. Claire and Normans Master Bedroom and Norm’s Study wall appear to be painted 93-3C Lyndhurst Mushroom from Valspar. Their Entrance Hall and much of the rest of their interior appears to be painted in a blue gray color called ICC-66 Quiet Moment from Behr. Hope this helps.

9.6.11 at 7:55 am

Thanks so much, Richard!

9.12.11 at 4:11 am

Its like you read my mind! You seem to know a lot about this, like you wrote the book in it or something. I think that you can do with some pics to drive the message home a bit, but other than that, this is wonderful blog. A great read. I’ll definitely be back.

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What Lies Beneath: Detroit River Narratives Emerge Through Schooner Trips, Boat Building

(University Record, 1/10/22) Helping to hoist the sail on the tall ship Inland Seas was a unique experience for Leya Phinisee, a sixth-grader from Flint. She and her dad, Jason, joined one of the three educational sail outings aboard the 77-foot schooner on the Detroit River that the University of Michigan sponsors for local nonprofit groups in the summer. “I learned about the plankton in the water, and I learned about climate change,” she said. “I went on a sailboat today, and it was super cool.”

The drone boat of ‘Shipwreck Alley’

Meet ben, the self-driving boat that’s been tasked with helping lay bare the long-lost secrets of the lakebed.

By Matthew Braga

Illustrations by Zoe van Dijk

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It was just past midnight when the Ironton punched a 200-square-foot hole in the side of the Ohio. It was dark, the waters were rough, and the Ohio, a wooden bulk freighter loaded with flour and feed, was no match for the Ironton, a schooner heavy with coal. The Ohio sank within half an hour, and the Ironton soon followed, taking five of its crew down too. 

Their ghostly hulls have sat largely undisturbed at the bottom of Lake Huron since colliding in late September 1894 — just two of the many wrecks that lie in a treacherous stretch of water called Thunder Bay off Michigan’s northeastern coast. Some are so well preserved by the lake’s frigid freshwater that their unbroken masts point definitely towards the surface, rigging still intact. Others have dishes in the cupboards, a century late for dinner. A few years ago, local media reported that divers found a 1927 Chevrolet Coupe amid the wreckage of a steamship, covered with algae and barnacles, but nonetheless pristine. You can thank the rocky shoals, frequent fog, and sudden gales of Thunder Bay for turning what was once the bustling marine interstate of America’s early industrial age into a modern-day museum of Great Lakes maritime history. Locals called it “Shipwreck Alley.” 

BEN is a self-driving boat that’s been tasked with making maps

Divers flock from all over the world to see the wrecks for themselves each year — and last spring, they were joined by an unusual interloper: an autonomous boat named BEN. The boat was developed by researchers from the University of New Hampshire’s Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping, with funding from the the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Office of Coast Survey. Its name is short for Bathymetric Explorer and Navigator, but it also honors Ben Smith, the former captain of the university’s research vessel Gulf Surveyor , who unexpectedly died in 2016. BEN is a self-driving boat that’s been tasked with making maps, and it was brought to Thunder Bay to help lay bare the long-lost secrets of the lakebed.

On land, we are spoiled for maps. A few hundred imaging satellites now orbit the Earth, collecting new imagery each day, some at startlingly detailed resolution. Our maps go far enough back that we can see how the planet has changed, and how we’ve changed the planet. But on water, maps of this detail simply don’t exist. Mapping is still largely done by boat, and unlike satellites, boats need crews. It’s expensive, time-consuming work, and especially difficult in water that is shallow, rough, or remote. It’s why we know comparatively little about what lies beneath the surface of our oceans and lakes — by some estimates we’ve mapped just 9 percent of the world’s oceans to modern standards — and why BEN and vehicles like it hold so much promise. The thinking is that fleets of tireless, automated, uncrewed vehicles could one day criss-cross our waters, making maps where humans can’t or won’t. 

Ask oceanographers about our lack of maps, and they’ll tell you it’s hard to know what’s important until you know what’s there in the first place. Having the capacity to map more of our oceans, more often, and in higher detail than ever before, would give scientists an unprecedented amount of data — data crucial to our understanding of climate change, and the effects it has had on everything from melting Arctic ice to undersea life. It would also be a boon for nautical safety and navy intelligence, for deep-sea miners in search of untapped resources, and for the telecom companies unspooling undersea cables from coast to distant coast.

For now, the researchers have set their sights on the more modest locale of Thunder Bay. While the Ohio was discovered in 2017, the Ironton’s final location is still unknown. As a test of its nascent map-making abilities, BEN was tasked with looking for the Ironton’s remains. But the robotic explorer is more than just a seaworthy self-driving car. It is an ambitious little boat with its own challenges to overcome and opportunities to seize.

In our oceans, there are countless more mysteries waiting to be solved, waiting for boats like BEN.

At the local marina, there was no shortage of curious onlookers drawn to the sight of the tiny, strange-looking boat.

BEN is about 13 feet long, or the length of a compact car, and a bright banana yellow. It reminded me of an oversized jet ski — but with a tower of cameras, antennas, and other important sensors where a person would normally sit, and an array of computers packed inside.

The harbormaster, laughing from the driver’s seat of his pickup truck, asked if the research team had charged BEN’s batteries (in fact, BEN runs on diesel). Another truck pulled alongside the boat launch, three small dogs jostling for position in the open window of the back seat. “There’s no one in there?” the woman on the passenger side asked, eyes wide. The man driving it asked if we could use BEN to catch fish. 

It’s here in Alpena, Michigan, a small town of 10,000, that the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary is based. The sanctuary is overseen by NOAA, and it protects some 4,300 square miles of freshwater — basically, the top half of Lake Huron on the American side. Like the world’s oceans, much of it has never been mapped.

There are 99 known wrecks in the sanctuary’s waters, but at least 100 more that have yet to be found

“If you can believe it in this day and age of technology, we have only surveyed about 16 percent of the sanctuary,” said Stephanie Gandulla, the sanctuary’s research coordinator. Gandulla told me there are 99 known wrecks in the sanctuary’s waters, but at least 100 more that have yet to be found — the Ironton among them. That’s not even including the countless wrecks that lie outside the sanctuary, which litter the lake’s Canadian side. “There’s lots of work yet to be done,” she said.

Leading BEN’s sojourn on Lake Huron was Lindsey Gee, the mapping and science coordinator of the Ocean Exploration Trust , the ocean research nonprofit founded by explorer Robert Ballard of Titanic discovery fame. Gee and his colleagues don’t typically map freshwater lakes, but they decided to collaborate with the sanctuary, and the University of New Hampshire researchers, in anticipation of using BEN at sea.

The boat’s size makes BEN well-suited to coastal waters, and regions too shallow for larger boats yet too deep for divers. They planned to spend two weeks in and around Alpena mapping points of interest to the sanctuary’s staff — the Ironton among them. The hope is that BEN — tireless, automated — will eventually be able to collect more data for analysis than the sanctuary’s own crewed research vessel Storm could collect on its own. When I visited, the researchers were preparing to map some shallower shipwrecks that were close to Alpena’s shores. It was a dry run of sorts for the Ironton search to come.

BEN’s minders sat across the marina, inside a small white tractor-trailer parked by a break wall — the mobile command and control center that is crucial to BEN’s operation. It is much more spacious on the inside than it seems from outside, crammed with computers, tables, tools, and a trio of giant screens that let the researchers monitor BEN’s vitals and see what its cameras and radar see. Blessed with a day of clear weather in an otherwise dreary week, the researchers offered to show me how BEN makes maps.

BEN’s automatic identification system declares itself a “pleasure craft”; there’s no option yet for “self-driving boat”

Val Schmidt, the university research engineer who leads BEN’s development, helped ease BEN down the boat launch and into place alongside one of the marina’s docks. BEN’s automatic identification system declares itself a “pleasure craft”; there’s no option yet for “self-driving boat.” Fully fueled, it weighs about 2,000 pounds and can run for around 16 hours.

Should they ever lose contact, there’s also a kill switch on the side of the boat — a simple lanyard of red string tied to a cap. Pull the string, the cap comes off, and the fuel stops flowing. That way it can’t run away to Canada, one of Schmidt’s colleagues joked.  

They turned the boat on, and Schmidt used his foot to push BEN away from the dock. For the sake of expediency — and to minimize any chance of damage before reaching open water — a colleague back in the trailer manually guided BEN out into the lake using a knock-off Xbox controller, like a very expensive remote-controlled boat. Once BEN is free of the break wall, they let the ship’s onboard computer take control.

“Mowing the lawn” is what oceanographers call the slow, tedious craft of making maps at sea.

You drive your boat in a straight line while your sonar repeatedly pings the seafloor below with sound. At the end, you loop around and start a new line, going back the other way next to the line that was just completed. With each line, you collect more data until you’ve covered the area you want to map — like filling the outline of a shape in a coloring book.

BEN, however, can do all of this on its own, and neither waves nor wind can conspire to push the boat off course. The whole process is mundane, but the researchers have to remain alert, continually looking for any potential hazards that might require them to take manual control. Though BEN may be able to drive itself, it is still learning how to understand and respond to the world around it.

“Mowing the lawn” is what oceanographers call the slow, tedious craft of making maps at sea

The idea is that, eventually, BEN will not only be able to tell the difference between a sailboat and a container ship, but also decide how to alter its path in response. BEN only tops out at about 5 and a half knots — if it were a runner, it could race a 30-minute 5K — whereas big merchant ships might move at a swift 20 knots. Realistically, BEN would only have a few minutes to identify a potential hazard — its location, what it is, whether it’s moving — and then figure out where to go.

Working to tackle this problem is Coral Moreno, a PhD student on BEN’s development team. Her specialty is sensing and perception. Moreno has been taking all of BEN’s various sensors — cameras, LIDAR, radar, GPS, and sonar — and attempting to fuse the data together into a comprehensive picture of potential hazards above the water, and eventually, below. “There is no single sensor that can provide you all the information that you need,” Moreno said. “They really complement each other because they are good for different ranges, and they provide you [with] different kinds of information. So you really need to use all of them.” 

While there’s lots to learn from the world of self-driving cars, it’s not as simple as putting car technology on a boat. Water is rarely still, and BEN is constantly moving. There are no stoplights, and no clearly marked lanes. Getting good data to train BEN’s image recognition algorithm has also been challenging. Images taken by BEN’s cameras are sometimes distorted by splashes and glare on the surface of the water. Existing image sets — what researchers use to train their neural networks to recognize, say, faces — weren’t created with the marine environment in mind.

A small window on Moreno’s laptop flashed possible matches, giving me a glimpse at what BEN thinks it’s seeing. Close to shore, it seemed to work, correctly identifying dogs and their owners walking along the pier, the boats in the marina, and the trucks that trundle along in the distance with a high degree of confidence. But out on the lake, it’s mostly false positives. Much to the researchers’ amusement, BEN mistook lighthouses for fire hydrants during early tests. Less amusing is the possibility that BEN could misidentify a potential hazard, and meet the same fate as the wrecks it’s supposed to hunt.

Getting good data to train BEN’s image recognition algorithm has also been challenging

BEN is so small that — here, Moreno made a splat noise — a larger boat could run into BEN “like it was nothing, and not even notice.”

While Moreno and her colleagues keep an eye out for any splat -worthy boats, they also have their eyes on the sonar data BEN is sending back. BEN is equipped with a multibeam sonar, which uses sound to ping the seafloor in a wide, fan-like area, and then measures the reflection of each ping. The time it takes for a ping to return is used to measure depth, and the strength of the ping’s reflection — the backscatter — can be used to characterize the makeup of the lakebed or seafloor. Those measurements are then rendered, roughly, and visualized in real time on one of the trailer’s screens.

We could see what’s in the water column directly below BEN — that is, everything the pings hit on the way down — and the current depth. In another window, an isometric, rainbow-colored cutaway of the seafloor slowly extruded, in cool colors for the valleys, and warmer ones for the peaks. The operators are constantly watching the data to ensure the sonar is properly configured. Shallow water requires different settings than deeper water.

Temperature and salinity can also cause sound to bend as it moves through the water, resulting in inaccurate readings, so any environmental changes — measured as soundspeed — must be accounted for too. The idea is that BEN will eventually be able to set and correct these values itself, so it can not only drive — and successfully avoid hazards — but also make maps by itself. Another graduate student, Lynette Davis, has been working on the feature, called “Don’t run aground BEN.” They plan to test it this spring, but for now, the researchers set the values themselves.

It’s all very interesting, but I was mesmerized by the backscatter the most. New data slid into view like a side-scrolling video game, or the way images used to load over dial-up modems, line by line. Rocks and mud reflect sound differently — as do the ghostly hulls of long-lost wrecks — and these differences can shed light on what makes up a lakebed or seafloor (or, in this case, what lies on top).

My eyes scanned the incoming telemetry, rendered in different shades of gray, and tried to make sense of the data. I looked for tell-tale ripples and anomalies in the backscatter, any beams or fragments that might suggest a wreck. As we passed over one of the sanctuary’s chosen sites, I saw what I thought was a hull. But it’s easy to see ghosts in the backscatter — to my untrained eye, a lot of things looked like a wreck — and we won’t know for sure until later. What we could see in real time is only a rough approximation of the polished data to come.

Once BEN is done here, the team’s mapping specialist, Erin Heffron, will process the collected data, and render it into a higher quality, more magnificently detailed map of the lake floor. Until then, I looked for ghosts in the backscatter, imagining how it would look to see the Ironton slowly emerge, largely intact, like traveling back in time.

BEN isn’t the only autonomous boat in operation, nor even the only boat to have emerged from the University of New Hampshire’s engineering department. An international team led by researcher Rochelle Wigley of the Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping won first place in the Ocean Discovery XPRIZE , sponsored by Royal Dutch Shell. The multiyear challenge required participants to map a 250-square-kilometer patch of seafloor in less than a day, without any human intervention. Rather than map from the surface, Wigley’s GEBCO-Nippon Foundation team deployed an underwater mapping vehicle from an autonomous boat. They were awarded a cool $4 million for their work.

Students at Denmark’s Arctic Research Centre, part of Aarhus University, have also been developing an autonomous vehicle similar to BEN for the purpose of researching ocean currents near icebergs and glaciers, which pose safety risks for larger crewed vessels. There’s an ambitious project to build fleets of wind-powered boats, called Saildrones , that could rove the oceans in fleets for months at a time — mapping among their many potential capabilities. Another company, SeaMachines, demonstrated an autonomous firefighting boat in 2018, and an autonomous oil spill skimmer in 2019. The company said it’s currently testing its navigation assistance and perception technology on an A.P. Moller-Maersk container ship, where it makes more sense to augment the crew’s ability to safely navigate a busy port than automate them out of existence.

As for oceanographers, some believe that even a handful of these vehicles set loose on the ocean could fill a sizable gap in our seafloor maps

As for oceanographers, some believe that even a handful of these vehicles set loose on the ocean could fill a sizable gap in our seafloor maps. Roland Arsenault, a software engineer on the BEN research team, recalled the time he spent on a NOAA research vessel in the summer of 2018. Each day, the NOAA crew sent a few people out on a smaller boat to do mapping surveys. They would come back at night, process the data, and do it all again the next day. But what if they had a fleet of boats like BEN they could send out instead? A small crew could run five or six boats at once.

“I’m not talking about the whole ocean filled with them yet,” he told me, “but heading in that direction, right?”

The data collected would aid in the study of our changing climate and the prediction of storms, yield safety improvements for fishing and freight vessels, and help oil and gas companies cut their survey costs. An international organization of ocean mapmakers — the General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO) — has estimated that a collaborative effort between commercial shipping operators, international hydrographic organizations, oil and gas surveyors, fishing boats, scientific research vessels, and, yes, autonomous boats, could yield a complete map of our oceans by 2030 .

Back at the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary, it will be a while before researchers can say if the Ironton is present among all the data collected last spring. The sanctuary’s own research vessel Storm covered an area of nearly 80 square kilometers in ten days, while BEN covered just over 73 square kilometers over 11 days — and the post-processing required to make sense of it all has been delayed by other mysteries.

After their time in Alpena, the researchers took BEN to sea aboard the Ocean Exploration Trust’s research vessel Nautilus. In August, BEN aided in the search for another wreck — the long-lost plane of storied pilot Amelia Earhart. They spent two weeks around Nikumaroro, a remote island in the western Pacific, but they came up empty this time, too . Like the wreckage of the Ironton, it’s not clear where, exactly, Earhart went down, and searches have been limited by cost and time. It’s the kind of mystery that would be perfectly suited for a fleet of autonomous boats like BEN.

It’s the kind of mystery that would be perfectly suited for a fleet of autonomous boats like BEN

I knew I couldn’t leave Alpena without seeing a wreck myself, so I visited one of the few you can see from shore: the remains of the Joseph S. Fay. It lies about an hour north of Alpena, behind a lighthouse on the beach, a lattice of wood and bent iron rising from beneath the surf.

When the waves fell back, they revealed the twisted metal and weathered, blackened wood of the century-old wreck. Though it was swept onto the rocks in 1905, there’s still a remarkable amount left. It stretches like a scar down the beach, only a fraction of the ship’s total length.

I had a few seconds at a time to study the wreck before it was obscured by the waves, like an Etch A Sketch the length of the shore. Then the wreck emerged again, and my eyes had a few seconds to adjust, to focus anew on a different part — like the backscatter from BEN’s sonar, looking for signal amid the noise.

Update March 23rd, 8:35AM ET: Added information about primary funder of BEN’s development, NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey.

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What Lies Beneath: London Boat Race Marred by Sewage Concerns

Rowers in the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race this weekend have been warned of dangerously high levels of E. coli in the River Thames, the latest sign of England’s polluted waterways.

By Stephen Castle

Reporting from London

The warning was stern: Do not enter the water. Not because of the tide. Not because of sharks. Because of the sewage.

For almost two centuries, rowers from Oxford University have raced their rivals from Cambridge in a contest that typically ends with jubilant members of the victorious crew jumping into the River Thames in celebration.

This year they will be staying as dry as possible.

After the discovery of elevated levels of E. coli in the river, rowers have been urged to stay out of the water, to cover any open wounds and to wash themselves down at a dedicated cleansing station at the finish.

The warning from organizers of the annual competition known as the Boat Race is the most striking symbol of the dire and deteriorating state of Britain’s rivers and coastlines. E. coli, which can be contracted from inadequately treated water supplies, can cause a number of symptoms including diarrhea, stomach cramps and occasionally fever. According to Britain’s health service , a small number of people can also develop hemolytic uraemic syndrome which can sometimes lead to kidney failure and death.

In recent years, England’s private water companies have faced fierce criticism for discharging sewerage and untreated rainwater into waterways and onto beaches when rainfall is heavy — a tactic they use to prevent the system from backing up.

Water firms in England were privatized in 1989, and critics accuse them of paying out huge sums in dividends to their shareholders while failing to make vital infrastructure investments.

While campaigners have long highlighted the problem with water quality, few Britons will have expected contamination to impact the Boat Race, a fixture of the sporting calendar which attracts up to 250,000 spectators as well as a TV audience of millions, organizers say.

Rowers from the two ancient universities will compete over the 4.25-mile course on the Thames on Saturday afternoon, the 169th men’s and 78th women’s races.

The first Boat Race took place on 10 June 1829 at Henley-on-Thames, west of London, and was won by Oxford. However, for the next 25 years, contests happened irregularly and, from 1836, in the national capital. They became annual events in 1856. A women’s boat race was introduced in 1927 but only took place intermittently until the mid-1960s.

The new guidance follows testing of the Thames by River Action, a charity that campaigns for cleaner waterways and said that its tests revealed levels of E. coli up to 10 times higher than the minimum accepted standards for bathing water.

The testing locations suggested that the source of pollution was from Thames Water, the local water company, “discharging sewage directly into the river and its tributaries,” River Action said in a statement.

“We are in a tragic situation when elite athletes are issued with health guidance ahead of a historic race on the capital’s river,” said James Wallace, chief executive officer of River Action. “Our water quality results show what happens after decades of neglect by an unregulated water company, Thames Water.”

The Boat Race, a company that puts on the race and was set up by the Oxford and Cambridge Rowing Foundation, said that it “and the universities involved love rowing on the Thames,” but that “water quality is an ongoing concern.”

In a statement it added: “We have put in place a series of precautionary measures this year to protect the health of our athletes, which includes guidance regarding the covering up of open wounds, regular hand washing, a cleansing station at the finish area and highlighting the risks of entering the water.”

Most of Britain relies on a combined sewer system that pushes both rainwater and human waste along the same set of pipes.

When rainfall is heavy, water firms are sometimes permitted to discharge some of this into rivers or the sea to avoid the pipes being overwhelmed, something that could cause sewage to back up and flood roads and homes.

Critics accuse the water firms of spilling sewage even in dry weather and, according to figures released on Wednesday, last year there were on average 1,271 spills a day across England, compared with 825 in 2022.

In a statement, Thames Water, the utility that is responsible, blamed “higher than average long-term rainfall across London and the Thames Valley.” It said overflows were designed to operate automatically when the sewer network was about to be overwhelmed, so that diluted wastewater would be released into rivers instead of flowing “back up into people’s homes.”

The company added that it was “working hard to make these discharges unnecessary” and had announced plans to upgrade one sewage treatment plant, in southwest London, “to treat the high volumes of incoming sewage and reduce the need for overflows during wet weather.”

That may be of little comfort to this year’s rowers who know that, even if they take all the precautions advised, history suggests there is no guarantee they can stay out of the Thames.

In 1912 both crews were submerged by bad weather, and the most recent sinking took place in 1984 when the Cambridge men’s boat hit a barge before the race had even started.

Stephen Castle is a London correspondent of The Times, writing widely about Britain, its politics and the country’s relationship with Europe. More about Stephen Castle

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Summer 2016

What lies beneath.

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Want to find hidden treasures in the ocean or scuba dive through a shipwreck? The Submerged Resources Center is here to help.

Last spring, a team of National Park Service divers puttered about the shallow aquamarine waters of Buck Island Reef National Monument, in the U.S. Virgin Islands, in an aluminum boat. They cut the engine, dropped a buoy and a line, and, with scuba gear, hopped in and descended. Swimming in neat circles on the sea floor, they weren’t looking for technicolor fish, sea turtles or eagle rays. They were looking for hidden archaeological treasures.

Earlier that week, the team, from the Submerged Resources Center, had surveyed the area using a magnetometer, a torpedo-like instrument that drags behind a boat and detects iron on the sea floor. Now, over dozens of dives, team members were investigating coordinates where the magnetometer had sensed metal. In some places they found discarded fish traps and other trash; elsewhere their high-tech gadgets led them to a sandy sea floor studded with soft corals. But they also discovered anchors, anchor chain and even the skeletal remains of a shipwreck that date to at least the 19th century — and possibly much earlier than that.

“These are resources the park never really knew were there,” said Bert Ho, supervisory archaeologist for the Submerged Resources Center. “Each time you jump in, there’s an opportunity to find something really amazing.”

When most people think of national parks, places like Yosemite and Yellowstone come to mind, but the Park Service also manages more than 5 million acres of underwater lands. More than half of the park system’s 411 sites have underwater resources, including coral reefs in Biscayne National Park, shipwrecks in Dry Tortugas, crashed airplanes in Lake Mead and a water-filled cavern in Death Valley National Park that harbors some of the world’s rarest fish. In Yellowstone, spectacular geothermal vents spew streams of bubbles underwater, and in Montezuma Castle National Monument, in Arizona, layers of sand bubble and swirl in a spring-fed desert sinkhole. Few visitors know about these underwater worlds, but the Submerged Resources Center, a special unit of the Park Service, is on a mission to change that. And with the help of new 3-D modeling tools, custom software and other technology, they are able to explore and map these frontiers more effectively than ever.

Park Service diver Shelby Moneysmith examines one of the last remaining healthy patches of Acropora palmata, or elkhorn coral.

“People have heard of the national parks, but they have no idea that there’s this whole other world to the Park Service underwater,” said Brett Seymour, an underwater photographer and deputy chief of the center. “We’re constantly fighting for the same level of protection and education and outreach for underwater sites that land sites get.”

Often, parks call in the group to help solve an underwater problem, such as mapping areas that are relatively unexplored, figuring out how to protect a disintegrating shipwreck or helping biologists perform studies of invasive species. In other cases, parks ask the divers to develop films, photographs and other media to help visitors appreciate the wonders of underwater public lands that are difficult for the average person to access.

The Submerged Resources Center is in such high demand that the Denver-based team of nine underwater archaeologists and photographers travels around the country for up to seven months each year. They often arrive in a Suburban towing a cargo trailer full of gear and a Dodge pickup hauling a 27-foot Boston Whaler.

“It’s tremendously satisfying to talk to superintendents and other people who have very difficult issues that require the kind of specialized skills that we’ve worked very hard to develop,” said Dave Conlin, chief of the Submerged Resources Center. “I’m fully convinced I have the best job in the National Park Service.”

The idea for the Submerged Resources Center emerged in the late 1970s when the Park Service assembled a team of underwater archaeologists and anthropologists to study what happens to ruins flooded by big government projects, such as the Hoover Dam. After the study was complete, the Park Service realized it had a dream team of highly trained divers and scientists who could potentially answer other important questions in the parks, and the Submerged Resources Center was born.

The lone engine of a Japanese Kawanishi H8K “Emily” flying boat stands upright in the shallow waters of Tanapag Lagoon.

Back then, the divers used cutting-edge scuba equipment and some of the first underwater color video cameras. Their tasks included exploring and mapping underwater lands in parks and taking detailed inventories of underwater resources they already knew existed, such as shipwrecks in Isle Royale National Park. Over the years, the cutting edge has evolved dramatically.

“To the 1980s Submerged Resources Center, we’d look like wizards,” Conlin said. One example is the work the divers have done on the USS Arizona, a battleship that sank in the Pearl Harbor attack of December 1941. Now it is protected within the World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument, where visitors can pay their respects at a memorial to the 1,177 sailors and Marines who lost their lives there. Because only a few parts of the wreck poke out of the bay, however, it’s challenging for park staff to make the underwater story come alive for visitors.

Over the last few years, the center’s divers have worked with partners to use laser-scanning technologies and custom-made underwater 3-D cameras. They have created 3-D video and 3-D digital models, including one of the USS Arizona that is on display in the visitor center.

“The Pearl Harbor story is big, and it’s hard to teach people about it,” said Scott Pawlowski, chief of cultural and natural resources at World War II Valor in the Pacific. These new forms of media “help people to understand why this story is amazing and why it’s such an important part of American history — and world history as well.”

The team has also helped park staff run LiveDives, during which they stream live video footage of divers exploring the wreck and answer questions in real time from people who have tuned in. As if they were diving themselves, viewers can peer into officers’ quarters where a desk and telephone still sit exactly where they sank, marvel at the blast holes on the deck and see artifacts from the servicemen on the ship.

“When you come across these personal effects, like boots or a shaving kit or a hair tonic bottle, you can’t help but think this belonged to a sailor or Marine on the ship — it really has an impact on you,” Seymour said. “You have no idea if they survived the attack, but the connection to a person puts you closer to the fact that there was a massive loss of life on the vessel.”

This year, the Submerged Resources Center is taking its work a step further by collaborating with the Advance Imaging and Visualization Laboratory at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution to develop a remotely operated vehicle, which will be able to go deeper into the ship than ever before. The team plans to determine the condition of the bunkers, which still hold half a million gallons of fuel, and develop a documentary with PBS.

Other underwater needs will call the Submerged Resources team to different parts of the country. In Yellowstone National Park, the group will look for breeding sites of invasive lake trout, which biologists want to remove because they prey on native cutthroat, an officially “sensitive” species. In California, in partnership with the Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the team will troll along the coast, using sonar and magnetometry to identify archaeological sites along ancient shorelines that could hold clues to the settling of the continent. In Dry Tortugas, it will lead a program to introduce youth from a mental health treatment facility to underwater photography; in Biscayne, it will run an underwater archaeology workshop for African-American and Latino students. The divers will also return to Buck Island in the U.S. Virgin Islands to look for sunken slave ships that exist on old records but have never been located.

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Sometimes the team opens visitors’ eyes to the underwater realms of the park system one interaction at a time, when curious onlookers spot the divers in their Park Service-emblazoned wetsuit uniforms preparing to enter a body of water where they might not be expected, such as Lake Yellowstone or Death Valley’s Devils Hole, a desert cavern filled with ultra-clear spring water.

“It’s always fun for us to just sort of tickle their fancy and challenge their assumptions,” said Conlin, who delights in telling gobsmacked visitors that the vast majority of underwater sites in the park system, from World War II tanks in American Samoa to the kelp beds of the Channel Islands, are open to the public.

“Hopefully, for some of them, it’ll entice them enough to put on a pair of fins and a mask and snorkel and get in the water and splash around,” he said. “It’s experiencing a whole other side of parks that most visitors don’t even think about.”

About the author

Kate Siber, a freelance writer and correspondent for Outside magazine, is based in Durango, Colorado. Her writing has appeared in National Geographic Traveler and The New York Times. She is also the author of “National Parks of the U.S.A.,” a best-selling children’s book.

This article appeared in the Summer 2016 issue

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What lies beneath: Detroit River narratives emerge through schooner trips, boat building

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This Is Michigan, Tall Ships. Detroit.

This is Michigan

Helping to hoist the sail on the tall ship Inland Seas was a unique experience for Leya Phinisee, a sixth grader from Flint. She and her dad, Jason, joined one of the three educational sail outings aboard the 77-foot schooner on the Detroit River that the University of Michigan sponsors for local nonprofit groups in the summer.

“I learned about the plankton in the water, and I learned about climate change,” she said. “I went on a sailboat today, and it was super cool.”

Leya, a resident of Flint, and Detroit River Story Lab participant near the Detroit River after sailing on the schooner Inland Seas. Credit: Eric Bronson, Michigan Photography.

The sail outings, arranged as part of a new Skiff and Schooner program piloted by U-M’s Detroit River Story Lab, included learning stations devoted to the physics of ship construction and buoyancy, river ecology, the carbon cycle and the river’s role in the history of the Underground Railroad. The lab partnered with several community groups including Communities First in Flint and Healthy Kidz in Detroit for the trips.

Staff from the Traverse City-based Inland Seas Education Association taught the science-based lessons, while U-M faculty and local community experts provided the historical content. Between hoisting plankton nets and testing the acidity of water samples, participants learned how to raise the anchor, steer the ship and exchange horn signals with passing freighters.

A second river-themed mini-course, conducted in partnership with the Dossin Great Lakes Museum on Belle Isle, taught students how to build 12-foot wooden skiffs similar to those historically used on the river and throughout the Great Lakes for fishing and transportation. The week-long workshop provided local high school  students a chance to develop problem-solving, teamwork and skills while immersing themselves in the environmental and cultural heritage of the Detroit River.

Detroit River Story Lab participants test out the rowboats they build on the Detroit River from Belle Isle. Credit: Austin Thomason, Michigan Photography.

“The very first day when we first built the boat, it seemed so easy. But the measurements and cuts had to be perfect,” said Strawberry Burrell, 17, of Detroit. “It’s not really that difficult building a boat. … It’s just something you’ve got to learn.”

Bruce Ross, deputy director of the Green Door Initiative in Detroit and a former Department of Natural Resources employee who helped to organize the workshop, said the boat building exercise is all new for the students, many who have never been on a boat.

“But the other key thing to this too is that they’re learning about the Detroit River,” Ross said. “ I think the key point with this is working with the University of Michigan and I’m all about relentless collaborative action to help these kids and increase their quality of life. By doing all this work that the kids are doing, I think it’s really helping to increase their quality of life, but also exposing them to new opportunities.”

The Detroit River Story Lab started in fall 2020 with grant-funded partnerships and several multidisciplinary courses devoted to amplifying the international waterway’s long and deep store of sustaining narratives, past and present.

As envisioned by David Porter , professor of English and comparative literature, the multiyear project spans both sides of the river and collaborates with organizations—including the Detroit Historical Society, Detroit River Project, Planet Detroit and the state Department of Natural Resources—on projects that reconnect communities with the river and its stories.

David Porter

In addition to Porter, the Story Lab is led by faculty members representing several U-M schools and colleges:

• María Arquero de Alarcón , associate professor of architecture and urban and regional planning, Taubman College
• Angela Dillard , chair, department of history and Richard A. Meisler Collegiate Professor of Afroamerican and African Studies, history, and in the Residential College
• Melissa Duhaime , assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts
• Rebecca Hardin , associate professor of natural resources and director of Michigan Sustainability Cases Initiative, School of Environment and Sustainability
• Kristin Hass , associate professor of American culture and director of Humanities Collaboratory, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts.
• Chauncey Monte-Sano , professor of history and social science education, School of Education

“More palpable, more real”

The Detroit River is saturated with stories. Designated as a Heritage River by both the U.S. and Canadian governments, the river and its wetlands were once vital habitat for fish and wildlife hunted by the People of the Three Fires and immortalized by their legends. 

Over the past four centuries, the region has attracted fur traders in search of beaver, missionaries seeking a passage to China and enslaved people seeking a passage to freedom. It has served as the battleground of empires, the stage of anti-colonialist revolts, a highway for commerce and a sewer for industries that buoyed the economic fortunes of our state. Its presence accounts for Detroit’s deep historical associations with the Underground Railroad, the auto industry, Roosevelt’s Arsenal of Democracy, the Great Migration and the Clean Water Act, as well as the University of Michigan, first established in the early 19th century just several blocks from its northern shore.

Iconic sites along the city’s riverfront, from Windmill Point to Fort Wayne, embed microcosms of these historical contexts that help shape, to this day, the identities of adjacent communities.

“The project sets out to develop creative ways to leverage the resources of the university community to help research and amplify stories of the Detroit River, and to make the rich history and current challenges facing the river and adjoining communities more present, more palpable, more real,” Porter said. “For a long time, the importance of the river to the history and identity of our region has been underrecognized.”

Kimberly Simmons.

He said the idea to create the U-M project was inspired by the ongoing work of multiple local organizations. One of these came to his attention when he stumbled upon a news story about Kimberly Simmons. She is the executive director and president of the Detroit River Project , a public history nonprofit, and a local activist, historian and Underground Railroad descendent who became an early collaborator on the project.

“One of the more eye-catching objectives of the Detroit River Project is to secure  UNESCO World Heritage Site designation for the river on the grounds of its role in the Underground Railroad,” Porter said. “As a vision, I find this incredibly compelling as a way to make the river’s story more accessible and meaningful to more people.”

Simmons shared some of her family history with students who joined one of the Inland Seas outings last summer. She contributed to the 2016 book “A Fluid Frontier: Slavery, Resistance, and the Underground Railroad in the Detroit River Borderland.” 

In partnership with the Story Lab, Michigan Engaging Community through the Classroom at Taubman College has coordinated several courses to focus on the Detroit River’s history. MECC brings together U-M students from different disciplines to work on stakeholder-based community projects.

Support of ongoing community projects

The Story Lab team received several grants over the past year to help support the efforts of various organizations invested in the future of the 28-mile river and its adjoining communities. Their long-term goal is to build a sustainable bridge between U-M research and teaching projects and these mission-driven organizations. 

“The lab has a community-first orientation,” Porter said. “The idea is to serve as a shared resource hub for faculty and students from across the university who are drawn to story-amplifying efforts along the Detroit River and inspired to co-develop new models for placed-based research, teaching and public engagement activities in that space.” 

As one example of its collaborative approach, the lab partnered with regional scholars from the Detroit River Project and the Essex County Black Historical Research Society, curriculum development experts at the U-M School of Education and local teachers to develop an experiential curriculum on the history and enduring effects of the Detroit River’s role in the Underground Railroad for middle and high school students in Michigan and Ontario.

It was piloted as a 3.5-week unit through UM’s Wolverine Pathways in July; the development team plans to field test the curriculum in Detroit and Windsor middle schools next year.

Graduate student researchers with the Story Lab have also worked with the Detroit River Project to advance the group’s longstanding efforts  to secure a UNESCO World Heritage Site designation for the Detroit River. The team helped prepare an overview of site designation protocols, an interactive digital map of 100 riverside public heritage sites—many related to the Underground Railroad—and a resource guide of the regional history of the Underground Railroad, emphasizing histories of struggles for freedom in the Detroit River borderland.

Another kind of storytelling partnership, this one between the Story Lab and the community-based journalism nonprofit BridgeDetroit, took shape through a series of conversations with managing editor Catherine Kelly. These resulted in the grant-sponsored appointment of U-M Ph.D. student Surabhi Balachander as a summer intern with the magazine to research and produce long-form river-related media stories on themes connected with social equity and environmental justice.

Strawberry Burrell

For Strawberry Burrell, a high school senior from Detroit and a participant on one of the tall ship outings and the boatbuilding workshop, the Story Lab’s efforts gave her the opportunity to learn about her hometown in a way she’d never experienced before.

“I didn’t really think Detroit was all that special at all. I really thought it was just a regular place, nothing special, no history for real,” she said. “But there’s a lot of history to Detroit. They need this in the community. More kids need to be part of this.”

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What Lies Beneath: Part 1 (Slideshow)

When you spend a lot of time on the water, you start to notice some of the things that the new guys never see. To the untrained eye, pontoon boats look only superficially different. Sure, they're rectangular in shape, utilize pontoon logs for flotation, house an outboard engine at the aft and are often misidentified as slow floating party barges. To the salty pontoon captains among the lot, you know that there's more diversity in ’toons than contours in the human fingerprint. Taking a closer look at a pontoon boat reveals a complex world of engineering genius, years of refining and redefining what a pontoon is capable of. To understand the diversity in the world on pontooning, all you have to do is pull back the top layer and find what lies beneath.

What Lies Beneath is a three part series discussing the components that go into building a pontoon from the ‘toon up. Part I is featured in March 2014. Don’t miss another issue! Subscribe today !

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The History that Lies Beneath

This past spring, after a night of high seas and breaking waves, the remnants of a longboat reemerged on a beach in York, Maine. It’s only the skeleton of a ship now, but  centuries ago, it sailed the seas. Its sudden reappearance made it into all the papers. They said it dates back to the early 18th century, a reminder of the history that lies beneath.

Not much is known of the ship—of how it came to be there, or what became of her crew, but it’s speculated that a storm ran her aground. Judging by her hull, she was probably around 60 feet in length with a 15-foot beam. She could have been a coaster or a clipper, a sloop or a schooner, but whichever, she was most certainly a trading vessel.

The ship was discovered on Short Sands, a beach in York. Every year at the end of summer the town hosts a bonfire on the beach. One final blast of light and warmth as the long, fat days of summer disappear.

One such night years ago, my cousin Michael stretched his arm toward the sea, and with one eye closed, placed his thumb over that barely visible line where both time and space are endless.

“Do you know that the horizon is a constant 13 miles away?” he asked, his face awash in the glow of the fire. “We learned about it in the scouts.”

I shook my head.

“No matter how far we advance, it will always be 13 miles away, it will always be unreachable.”

For Michael, a future engineer, such scientific certainties may have been attractive notions. But that night was the start of something different for me. I wondered about the horizon’s unexplainable limitlessness, and meditated on the many mysteries of the coast. How do we count the grains of sand, or comprehend the days and hours it took to create them? How is it that the mighty sound of the ocean can be found inside an empty shell, and who first held one to their ear? What unseen hand, twice a day, every day, carries the tides in and pulls them out? Why must waves always break? And by what feat of magic can an entire ship disappear, and after a good many years reappear?

A few years ago, in Ireland, an entire beach resurfaced on Achill Island. It had vanished over 30 years ago, but after another fierce storm, the ocean gave back what it took. Hundreds of tons of sand were redeposited in the area of the former beach, covering the rocks and tidal pools beneath. Where they had gone and by what force of nature they returned was anyone’s guess.

Sipping on my morning coffee, I imagined the sunken ship in York launching from the vanished shores of Achill. Maybe the O’Malleys had her full of whiskey and aimed her bow toward the high seas. I thought of her crew, long gone, now watching us from the horizon’s unreachable shore. Perhaps it’s there, where the earth separates from the sky, that this world separates from the next.

Just recently the sands of Achill again washed away. So too, some months after she first surfaced, the ship in York disappeared deep beneath the sand, beneath the weathered, decomposed remains of rocks broken down billions of years ago. Beachgoers will inevitably cross the unseen path the sailors first took as they left their vessel behind. The smell of suntan lotion and the broadcast of an afternoon ballgame will linger above its wooden frame throughout those warm months, until they too disappear.

Like the ancients, we will again gather for a bonfire, swimming in the invisible tide of history. And as we stand barefoot before its flames, centuries, if not millennia of history will fill the gaps in our souls. 

Christine O’Connor is completing a collection of literary-themed essays, as well as a memoir on her grandmother and the Titanic. When not writing, she serves as chief legal counsel for the city of Lowell, Massachusetts.

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