I went and did some digging around. All I could find was my own notes and the sources for where I got those notes seems to have disappeared (or I just didn't see it). Apparently at the bottom of the stairs there is a heap of stuff to include some cloths and coats, a stool and what appeared to be a body probably of one of the 4 men known to be on duty at the time she went down, along with a collection of what are probably the laminated charts and such. The men reported to be on the bridge that night where:
Captain Ernest McSorely, First Mate W. McCarthy, Wheelsman Euguen O'Brien and Watchman Ransom Cundy.
No attempt (to my knowledge) was made to further identify the objects or possible body (or bodies) that lie at the bottom of the stairs, and I could not find whether the door from the stairway to the captains cabin was open, but one would assume no if the stuff collected at the bottom the way I have it in my notes.
Lake Superior being a fresh water lake, and the temperatures at 500 feet down mean that the exterior of the wreck as well as probably the interior are in fairly good condition considering. My question about whether what was reported is real or not, is that it was some 20 years after the fact that his was reported. What condition could the body be in?? Wouldn't the body just turn into bones by now?? There shouldn't be any flesh left that I would think. Unless the water froze them. To me it is horrifying to think that there could actually be a recongizable body down there, something that might resemble a picture of the men that we have seen.