Wreck of the James McBride, which ran aground Oct. 19, 1857, during a storm. (Courtesy U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Traverse City)

A Coast Guard helicopter crew in northern Michigan captured several images of shipwrecks visible through the water of Lake Michigan along the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore now that the ice has melted.

The shallow wrecks are a few of many that line part of the Manitou Passage, an underwater preserve between the dunes and Manitou islands where numerous wrecks occurred throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Some of the wrecks photographed by the air crew include the Rising Sun, a 133 foot wooden steamer that wrecked in 1917, and the James McBride, a 121 foot brig that ran aground in 1857.

Due to factors such as beach erosion, variable lake levels, wind and waves, fragments of shipwrecks often appear along the dunes shoreline. The wrecks are considered property of the state and cannot be disturbed.

Sources: U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Traverse City & The Grand Rapids Press