Joseph Lindquist of Glass Bottom Shipwreck Tours provided the public with new information regarding the recovery of an important item found after it was illegally removed from the Alger Underwater Preserve. This is the report in his words:

July 4th, 2023: this artifact, a 36″ idler wheel, went missing from a Shipwreck in the Alger Underwater Preserve.

July 5th: Facebook posts were made and shared in hopes to find its whereabouts

July 7th: a patron at a local restaurant overheard some younger people talking about their efforts in removing the artifact and where they relocated it. The patron called the Alger Chamber of commerce to report what he heard, and the message was relayed several times until a group of boaters were notified and agreed to pursue the stolen wheel.

Five people and a dog set out on foot on a nearby island but their initial efforts to locate the missing artifact came up fruitless. The searchers decided to stop and interview three men in a vehicle who said they had seen the wheel earlier that day. Three searchers and the dog were driven to the second location by the men who had reported seeing the wheel while the other two searchers walked 1/2 mile back to the beach where they left their boat.

The wheel was located and loaded into the vehicle where it was driven about a mile to be loaded onto the search party’s boat. The search party returned the artifact back to the shipwreck the following morning. One searcher lost his shoes but the men in the vehicle returned them the following day.

All searchers wished to keep their anonymity.