Scientists Are Attempting To Make Shipwreck Whiskey With Rye Seeds That Spent 146 Years At The Bottom Of Lake Huron
For the past 146 years, a bunch of rye has lived underwater in Lake Huron’s chilly depths. The James R. Bentley, a three-masted wooden schooner, had been carrying a cargo of 36,000 bushels of rye while sailing across Lake Huron on November 12, 1878. It was traveling from Chicago and was headed to Buffalo.
But then, a storm blew in, causing the vessel to hit a shoal near 40 Mile Point Lighthouse just north of Rogers City and sink to the bottom of the lake.
A nearby ship was able to rescue the crew, but the rye was lost. Now, a team of scientists, divers, and distillers in Michigan are trying to retrieve the rye from the wreck and turn the grains into whiskey someday.
The James R. Bentley was discovered in 1984 near Cheboygan, Michigan. It is one of the few privately owned shipwrecks in the state. The rest are protected by a state law that prohibits people from removing or destroying artifacts.
The vessel is 170 feet long and sits underwater at a depth of 165 feet. It belongs to Paul Ehorn, a shipwreck enthusiast.
He allowed Chad Munger, the founder of Michigan’s Mammoth Distilling, to organize an expedition to recover the rye seeds.
A team of six sailed across Lake Huron, dove down to the shipwreck, and filled large special tubes with 19th-century rye seeds from the 39-degree water.
Then, they put the seeds on ice and quickly transported them to a laboratory at Michigan State University. Many of the seeds were mushy, smelly, and blackened, but some seemed to be healthy enough. It was a race against time due to the oxygen and warm weather of mid-September.
Botanists began experimenting with the seeds to get them to germinate. Eric Olson, a botanist at the university who specializes in wheat breeding and genetics, put some in cold storage and others in a hormone solution. They also tried to dry some out. Sadly, none of the seeds ended up sprouting.
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Yet, Olson did not give up. He extracted DNA from the seeds, which will help him determine the variety and origins of the rye.
In the future, he also hopes to employ gene-editing techniques to introduce some of the DNA into a modern rye variety. One day, the genetically modified grain could be distilled into whiskey.
“It’s the first time that someone’s tried to resurrect a rye variety from a shipwreck, right?” Olson said. “This…is a unique and novel endeavor.”
Historically, Michigan was a rye-producing state around 120 years ago. The first rye crops in Michigan were planted in 1912. But rye was difficult to grow because it cross-pollinated easily, which reduced the crop’s quality.
Eventually, the rye crop was isolated on South Manitou Island, located in Lake Michigan, about 17 miles west of Leland to prevent cross-pollination. The venture was successful, and by the mid-1910s, Michigan became the largest producer of rye in the country.
Around 1970, farmers stopped growing it because there was no money in it anymore. Corn and soybeans were in higher demand so that’s what they grew instead. Hopefully, this project can lead to a revival of rye agriculture and positively impact the entire state.
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