NMGL said the wreck site is associated with CLUE’s founder David VanZandt, who died in June 2024. According to his obituary, VanZandt suffered a medical emergency while diving at a then-newly discovered but unidentified wreck in Lake Erie.
Built in Lorain, Ohio, in 1867, Clough was a stone-hauling sailing vessel owned by Baxter Clough, a quarry owner from Amherst, Ohio. The 125-foot (38-metre) vessel was classified as a barque — a three-masted vessel rigged with square sails on the foremast and schooner sails on the main and mizzen masts.
The ship sank in Lake Erie on September 15, 1868, just one year after her launch, while transporting stone for Great Lakes commerce.