Crews recover sunken boat from Lake Michigan in Chicago

CHICAGO - A recovery operation is underway to remove a 42-foot boat that sank along Chicago's lakefront.

Lake Michigan sunken boat recovery

The boat went down after crashing into rocks near Morgan Point on Tuesday evening, according to TowBoatUS, the company leading the recovery.

The boat's owner hired TowBoatUS to recover the vessel. Crews began work Wednesday morning near the lakefront trail at 47th Street, with commercial divers entering Lake Michigan shortly after arriving on scene.

Divers inspected the damage and worked to rig the boat for recovery. Because the hull had sustained significant damage, crews could not simply pump the water out.

Instead, divers attached large inflatable airbags to the vessel. Once inflated, the bags slowly lifted the boat to the surface while helping keep it stable and preventing it from rolling over.

Once the boat was afloat, crews planned to tow it about two miles to 31st Street Harbor at about 4 to 5 mph.

Richard Lenardson, owner and operator of TowBoatUS, said the recovery operation was expected to take about two hours.

The backstory:

TowBoatUS recently completed a similar recovery operation on July 8, when crews removed a 38-foot boat from Lake Michigan near 31st Street Harbor after a Fourth of July weekend boating accident.

That recovery involved towing the vessel about 10 miles, significantly farther than Wednesday's planned two-mile trip.

ChicagoNews