Descending to the Lumberman, when visibility is good, is like dropping into the movie version of a shipwreck.

The stern - the back end of the three-masted schooner - is closest to the mooring buoy line's anchor point. The rest of the ship points west, back toward shore.

The ship still has sides and a deck and one partial mast, said Bob Jaeck of Caledonia.

"It almost looks like a schooner going by," the longtime Lake Michigan diver and shipwreck historian said.

The Lumberman is 126 feet long and 26 feet wide. It rests intact, upright on the lake bottom, sunk into the lake bed about where the water line would be if it were on the surface. The Lumberman, found in 1983, is a popular dive site four miles east of Oak Creek.

There are similar wrecks hidden throughout the area. The Wisconsin Underwater Archaeology Association lists 43 ships that wrecked off Racine County's shore; dozens more sank off Milwaukee and Kenosha counties. Some wrecks - like the Lumberman, Kate Kelly and Wisconsin - are listed on state or national registers of historic places.

The Lumberman is one of Jaeck's favorite wrecks to dive, he said, partially because he knows it's only a matter of time before the magic of its presence disappears.

The wood hull, already underwater for more than 100 years, is bound to disintegrate.

"I know it's going to be falling apart," Jaeck said. "It will be what I call filet of schooner. The stern will collapse and it will split down the middle."

Divers sometimes spend years searching for a wreck. Historical news accounts tell them approximately where ships went down, but translating the 100-year-old story into modern-day waters isn't an exact science.

And when someone does find a wreck, he or she often keeps it a secret.

"You keep it quiet," Jaeck said. "You put a lot of money and time into finding it, you try to savor it for a while."

Jaeck is savoring something himself right now.

He believes he has located the Merchant, a steamer that became stranded on the Racine reef in 1875. Only pieces of the 220-foot long ship are left, he said.

Right now, Jaeck is the only one with the coordinates. He spent more than 15 years looking for it and, despite volunteering with the Wisconsin Historical Society's maritime archaeologists, he isn't turning this information over just yet.

"There's a problem if I tell the state; it becomes public," he said. "I'm protecting the wreck site by not telling the state."

The wreck has been documented with photographs, he said, and if people started hauling pieces away, they would be subject to prosecution. It is illegal to remove things from wrecks more than 50 years old.

"I'm almost sure over half of it would be gone if it got out to the general public," he said. "A lot just take it home for mementos, then they die and it gets thrown out and it's totally lost."

These wrecks provide something more than recreation. Despite heavy looting into the late 1980s, the wrecks are valuable research sites for archaeologists and provide clues to the history of the local shipping industry and ship construction.

The Wisconsin, a ship that sank southeast of Kenosha, still has cargo in its hold. Divers can swim through its hold and see furniture, rolls of fabric and tiles, said Tamara Thomsen, a state maritime archaeologist.

"It went down in 1929," she said. "It's a time capsule for that era."

Learn more online: http://www.wisconsinshipwrecks.org and http://www.maritimetrails.org

Want to scuba dive?

Reefpoint Diving Center, 5439 Spring St., Racine, offers weekend scuba certification courses. Call (262) 886-8501 for more information. Courses range from $235 to $295 and includes the use of all equipment, except a mask, snorkel and fins, which students must bring or purchase.

Students must be at least 10 years old and able to tread water for 10 minutes and swim 200 yards of any stroke without stopping. A medical history form must be completed prior to joining the class.

Divers' favorites

Bob Jaeck: The Lumberman and the Racine reef. Jaeck said the reef is a particularly good place to dive for beginners because it is shallow, but still exciting. You never know what you'll find there, he said.

John Johnston: The reef, around the bottom of the Racine Reef lighthouse. Once, he said they found a cast-iron stove there. The 906 Dredge is another favorite, because of its orientation: it rests upside-down. He also likes the Kate Kelly and Lumberman.

Tamara Thomsen: The Kate Kelly. "(It) is like a shipwreck puzzle on the bottom," she said. "You can swim for a great distance and see the whole debris field spread out. … If you close your eyes you can see how it all once fit together."