[3] Between the loss of the Invincible in 1816 and the sinking of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald in 1975, the Whitefish Point area has claimed at least 240 ships.

Poor visibility from forest fire smoke, snow squalls, and Lake Superior's notorious fogs had deadly consequences with the traffic congestion.

Lake Superior's 160 miles (260 km) of open water and storms from the northwest can build immense seas with offshore waves of 30 feet (9.1 m) or more.

[3] Sport diver Harrington reported that many of the shipwrecks of the Whitefish Point Underwater Preserve were "stripped of important artifacts in the 1970s and early 1980s.

[6] The Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) obtained a search warrant in 1992 and raided on the GLSHS's offices and Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum.

[6] The DNR found evidence the Shipwreck Society had: ...removed about 150 artifacts from wrecks located on state-claimed bottomlands.

By preserving the artifacts for display at the Whitefish Point Museum, Farnquist reasoned the Society was really doing the state's job for the DNR.