Post by yachtsmanwilly on Nov 13, 2017 5:17:27 GMT -5
In 1952, the 626-foot SPARROWS POINT successfully completed her sea trials and departed Chicago on her maiden trip. The new Bethlehem boat, the largest boat to enter the lakes via the Mississippi River Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, was under the command of Captain Wilfred Couture and Chief Engineer James Meinke. She was lengthened to 682 feet in 1958, converted to a self-unloader in 1980, renamed b.) BUCKEYE in 1991, converted to a barge in 2006, renamed c.) LEWIS J. KUBER.
ARAB (2-mast wooden schooner, 100 foot, 158 tons, built in 1854, at Buffalo, New York) beached on 01 November 1883, near St. Joseph, Michigan, during a storm, but quick work by salvagers got her free. However on 13 November 1883, while being towed to Racine, Wisconsin, she capsized and sank well off of Arcadia, Michigan. One man lost his life, an engineer who was desperately trying to start her pumps when she rolled.
On November 13, 1976, the TEMPLE BAR (later LAKE WABUSH and ALGONORTH) arrived at Singapore, where she was lengthened 202 feet.
CONDARRELL was laid up for the last time on November 13, 1981. Built in 1953 as a.) D. C. EVEREST, she was renamed b.) CONDARRELL in 1982.
GEORGE HINDMAN was in collision with the British salty MANCHESTER EXPLORER on Lake St. Louis, above the Lachine Lock in 1956. Built in 1921, as a.) GLENCLOVA, renamed b.) ANTICOSTI in 1927, c.) RISACUA in 1946, d.) GEORGE HINDMAN in 1955, and e.) ELIZABETH HINDMAN in 1962. Scrapped at Duluth, Minnesota, in 1971.
J. P. MORGAN JR (Hull#373) was launched November 13, 1909, at Lorain, Ohio, for the Pittsburgh Steamship Co.
HOMER D. WILLIAMS was involved in a collision with the steamer OTTO M. REISS at Duluth November 13, 1917.
In 1984, HOMER D. WILLIAMS was towed to Thunder Bay, Ontario, by the tug MALCOLM for dismantling.
On 13 November 1870, the schooner E. FITZGERALD left Port Huron on her maiden voyage to load lumber at Au Sable, Michigan, for Chicago. She was commanded by Capt. A. McTavish.
On 13 November 1883, H. C. AKELEY (wooden propeller bulk freighter, 240 foot, 1,187 tons, built in 1881, at Grand Haven, Michigan) was carrying corn from Chicago to Buffalo when she encountered a heavy storm off Holland, Michigan. She took the disabled tug PROTECTOR in tow but let her go when her own rudder broke off. AKELEY anchored but started to sink when she fell into the troughs of the waves. The disabled schooner DRIVER managed to save 12 of the crew who had taken to AKELEY's yawl before she went down. 6 lives were lost.
Captain W. H. Van Dyke was born at Escanaba, Michigan, on November 13, 1871, and spent most of his life on the Great Lakes (he joined the crew of a schooner at the age of 15). He first captained the Pere Marquette Line Steamer PERE MARQUETTE 8 then, in 1916, he joined the Pere Marquette carferry fleet. His first command was the str. PERE MARQUETTE 15. Then for 10 years he served as master of the PERE MARQUETTE 17, and after the launch of the CITY OF FLINT 32 in 1929, he served as master of the PERE MARQUETTE 22.
On 13 November 1865, CLARA PARKER (3-mast wooden schooner, 175 foot, 425 gross tons, built in 1865, at Detroit, Michigan) was fighting a losing battle with storm induced leaks, so she was beached 400 yards off shore near the mouth of the Pigeon River, south of Grand Haven, Michigan. The local Lifesaving Service plucked all 9 of the crew from the rigging by breeches buoy after the vessel had gone down to her decks and was breaking up.
On 13 November 1888, LELAND (wooden steam barge, 148 foot, 366 gross tons, built in 1873, at New Jerusalem, Ohio) burned at Huron, Ohio. She was valued at $20,000 and insured for $15,000. She was rebuilt and lasted until 1910.
JAMES DAVIDSON (steel propeller bulk freighter, 587 foot, 8,349 gross tons, built at Wyandotte, Michigan, in 1920) entered service on 13 Nov 1920, for the Globe Steamship Co. (G. A. Tomlinson, mgr.) when she loaded 439,000 bushels of wheat at Duluth, Minnesota, for delivery to Buffalo, New York. She was the last ship built at Wyandotte, Michigan.
An unnamed salty (formerly RANGUINI) arrived at Milwaukee's heavy lift dock on Saturday night, 13 Nov 1999, to load a large desalinization filtration system built in Milwaukee for Korea. The vessel entered the Seaway in ballast for Milwaukee on 09 Nov 1999. The following day, the crew rigged scaffolding over the side so the new name BBC GERMANY could be painted on the ship.
The Toledo Blade published the following vessel passages for Detroit on this date in 1903: -Up- VOLUNTEER, AMAZON, HARLOW, 12:30 Friday morning; ROCKEFELLER, 4:20; MARISKA, 4:40; FRENCH, 5:20; CONEMAUGH, 6; S M STEPHENSON, FAUSTIN, barges, 7:30; OLIVER, MITCHELL, (sailed), 7:50; AVERILL, 8.
1909: The steamers CHARLES WESTON and WARD AMES collided in lower Whitefish Bay. The former, which had been at anchor waiting to head downbound through the Soo Locks, ran for shore but settled on the bottom. The ship was saved, repaired and last sailed as c) SAUCON for Bethlehem Transportation before being scrapped at Hamilton, ON in 1950.
1909: JAMES H. HOYT went aground on a reef about two miles off the northeast corner of Outer Island after the engine was disabled in a snowstorm. The vessel was refloated November 29 and later became the BRICOLDOC.
1929: BRITON was wrecked in Lake Erie off Point Abino. The stranded vessel was battered for two days before being abandoned as a total loss.
1934: WILLIAM A. REISS (i) stranded off Sheboygan while inbound with 7025 tons of coal from Toledo. The ship was refloated November 17 with heavy damage and considered a total loss.
1942: H.M. PELLATT, a former Great Lakes canal freighter, was sailing as f) SCILLIN under the flag of Italy, when it was hit by gunfire from the British submarine H.M.S. PROTEUS while 9 miles off Kuriat, Tunisia, and sank.
1956: The downbound and grain-laden GEORGE HINDMAN and the upbound MANCHESTER EXPLORER collided in fog on the St. Lawrence above Lachine and both ships were damaged.
1958: LUNAN, a Pre-Seaway trader on the Great Lakes, sustained major bottom damage in a grounding on the St. Lawrence near Murray Bay. The ship was refloated, towed to Lauzon for repairs and it returned to service as b) MARIDAN C. in 1959.
1967: SANTA REGINA, the first American saltwater vessel to use the St. Lawrence Seaway, put into San Francisco with boiler problems and machinery damage while headed from Los Angeles to Saigon, South Vietnam as f) NORBERTO CAPAY. The vessel was sold at auction and towed to Kaohsiung, Taiwan, for scrapping in 1969.
1971: The small St. Lawrence freighter C. DE BAILLON, better known as a) DONNACONA NO. 2 and b) MIRON C., went aground at Mont Louis and was a total loss.
1975: There was a boiler explosion on the Egyptian freighter CLEOPATRA after leaving Hartlepool, England, for Alexandria, Egypt, and 8 crewmen were severely injured with at least one fatality. The former Victory Ship first traveled through the Seaway in 1963. It was scrapped at Gadani Beach, Pakistan, in 1981.
1976: OCEAN SOVEREIGN lost steering at Sault Ste. Marie and was wedged into the wall at the Soo Locks. The rudder was damaged and the Greek saltie had to be towed to Lauzon, Quebec, for repairs. The vessel initially traded inland as a) BOLNES in 1970 and returned as b) OCEAN SOVEREIGN for the first time in 1973. It was scrapped at Ulsan, South Korea, as d) MARIA JOSE after being blown aground from the anchorage during Typhoon Vera on September 27, 1986.
1979: A steering failure put VANDOC aground at Harvey Island in the Brockville Narrows. The vessel spent time at Port Weller Dry Docks after being released.
1996: JOLLITY reported it was taking water in the engine room (Pos: 17.47 N / 119.20 E). The ship was was taken in tow two days later and reached Hong Kong on November 18. The vessel was scrapped at Chittagong, Bangladesh, in 1999.
1997: ARCADIA BERLIN visited the Great Lakes in 1971 when it was a year old. The ship was carrying bagged cement and sailing as f) ALLISSA when it collided with and sank the Ukrainian vessel SMENA off Yangon, Myanmar. The former was apparently laid up with collision damage and scrapped at Alang, India, in 1998.
2002: WILFRED SYKES was inbound with a cargo of limestone when it went aground in Muskegon Lake. Some of the cargo was lightered to PERE MARQUETTE 41 and the stranded ship was pulled free.
In 1920, FRANCIS WIDLAR stranded on Pancake Shoal in Lake Superior and was written off as a total constructive loss of $327,700. The wreck was purchased by Mathews Steamship Company in 1921 and placed back in service as BAYTON. The BAYTON sailed until 1966, and the hull was later used as a temporary breakwall during construction at Burns Harbor, Indiana.
On 12 November 1878, JAMES R. BENTLEY (3-mast wooden schooner, 170 foot, 575 tons, built in 1867, at Fairport, Ohio) was carrying grain when she struck a shoal in heavy weather and foundered off 40 Mile Point on Lake Huron. Her crew was rescued in the rough seas by the bark ERASTUS CORNING.
On 12 Nov 1964, THOMAS F. COLE (steel propeller bulk freighter, 580 foot, 7,268 gross tons, built in 1907, at Ecorse, Michigan) collided with the British motor vessel INVEREWE off the south end of Pipe Island on the lower St. Marys River in foggy conditions. The COLE suffered severe damage to the port bow and was taken to Lorain for repairs.
On 12 Nov 1980, ALVA C. DINKEY (steel propeller bulk freighter, 580 foot, 7,514 gross tons, built in 1909, at Lorain, Ohio) and GOVERNOR MILLER (steel propeller bulk freighter, 593 foot, 8,240 gross tons, built in 1938, at Lorain, Ohio) arrived near El Ferrol del Caudillo, Spain for scrapping in tow of the FedNav tug CATHY B. Demolition by Miguel Partins began on 28 Nov 1980, at Vigo, Spain.
On November 12, 1919, PANAY, upbound on Lake Superior for Duluth, Minnesota, in rough weather, was one of the last vessels to see the down bound JOHN OWEN which, apparently later the same day, disappeared with all hands. Renamed b.) WILLIAM NELSON in 1928, and c.) BEN E. TATE in 1936. Scrapped at Bilbao, Spain in 1969.
On 12 November 1881, BRUNSWICK (iron propeller bulk freighter, 248 foot, built in 1881, at Wyandotte, Michigan) was carrying 1,500 tons of hard coal in a night of fitful squalls in Lake Erie. CARLINGFORD (wooden schooner, 155 foot, built in 1869, at Port Huron, Michigan) was also sailing there, loaded with 26,000 bushels of wheat. They collided. After the skipper of BRUNSWICK made sure that the sinking schooner's crew were in their lifeboats, he ran for shore with his sinking vessel, but sank a few miles off Dunkirk, New York. A total of 4 lives were lost.
On 12 November 1835, the small wooden schooner ROBERT BRUCE was sailing from Kingston, Ontario to Howell, New York when she was wrecked west of Henderson, New York. Her crew of 4, plus one passenger, were all lost.
On 12 Nov 1886, the tug WM L. PROCTOR (wooden tug, 104 foot, 117 gross tons, built in 1883, at Buffalo, New York) left Oswego, New York with the schooner-barges BOLIVIA and E.C. BUCK in tow before a big storm struck. During the snowstorm, the tug got lost and the towline broke. Alone, the PROCTOR finally made it to Charlotte, New York, badly iced up, but there was no word on the barges. They were presumed lost with all onboard.
1881: BRUNSWICK sank in Lake Erie after a collision with the CARLINGFORD. The wooden hulled, coal-laden steamer, made a run for the American shore but the effort fell short. Three lives were lost.
1914: The wooden steamer COLONIAL began to leak on Lake Erie and was beached in Rondeau Bay only to be pounded to pieces by gale force winds. All on board were rescued.
1967: The Swedish freighter TORSHOLM began visiting the Great Lakes as early as 1953. The ship was enroute from the Seaway to Stockholm when it ran aground near Uto, Sweden, and became a total loss.
1968: CLARA CLAUSEN, a Danish freighter, ran aground at Les Escoumins on the St. Lawrence and was abandoned. After being salvaged, the vessel came to the Great Lakes in 1970 and was rebuilt at Kingston as ATLANTEAN.
1974: BELVOIR (ii), enroute from Puerto Cortes, Honduras, to Corpus Christi, Texas, with a load of ore concentrates, struck a submerged object in the Gulf of Honduras and sank. Only 4 crew members are rescued while the other 21 were presumed lost.
1980: The former Lake Michigan rail car ferry PERE MARQUETTE 21 left the Great Lakes in 1974. It was lost on this date as the barge d) CONSOLIDATOR. It was hit by Hurricane Jean off the coast of Honduras while carrying a load of truck trailers.
2005: SPAN TERZA, an Italian freighter, first came through the Seaway in 1977 and returned as b) ANANGEL HORIZON in 1983. It was damaged on this date as d) SALAM 4 in a collision near Dondra Head, Sri Lanka, with SHANGHAI PRIDE and had to go to Colombo for assessment. The ship was repaired and eventually scrapped as e) ALINA at Xinhui, China, in 2009.
The Port of Huron, Ohio received its first grain boat in seven years when Westdale Shipping's AVONDALE arrived at the Pillsbury Elevator on November 11, 1971, to load 200,000 bushels of soybeans for Toronto, Ontario.
On 11 November 1883, NEMESIS (2-mast wooden schooner, 74 foot, 82 gross tons, built in 1868, at Goderich, Ontario) was wrecked in a terrific storm that some called a hurricane. She went ashore near Bayfield, Ontario, on Lake Huron. She may have been recovered since her registration was not closed until 1907. In 1876, this little schooner rescued all but one of the crew from the sinking freighter NEW YORK.
The Armistice Day Storm of November 11, 1940, was one of the worst storms in the recorded history of Lake Michigan. In all, the storm claimed 5 vessels, and 66 lives. The storm hit late Monday afternoon, November 11th, with winds of hurricane proportions. The winds struck suddenly from the southwest at about 2:30 p.m. and were accompanied by drenching rain, which later changed to snow. The winds reached peak velocities of 75 miles per hour, the highest in local maritime history.
Some of the vessels affected were: CITY OF FLINT 32: Beached at Ludington, no damage. Jens Vevang, relief captain, in command. Her regular captain, Charles Robertson, was on shore leave. Also: PERE MARQUETTE 21: Blown into a piling at Ludington, no damage, captained by Arthur Altschwager. She had 5 passengers aboard. CITY OF SAGINAW 31: Arrived Milwaukee 6 hours late with over a foot of water in her hull. The wireless aerial was missing and her seagate was smashed by the waves. She was captained by Ed Cronberg. Ann Arbor carferry WABASH: A railcar broke loose from its moorings on her car deck and rolled over, nearly crushing a crewman. The steamer NOVADOC: Ran aground at Juniper Beach, South of Pentwater, Michigan. Two crewman (cooks) drowned when the ship broke in half. Seventeen crewman, found huddled in the pilothouse, were rescued by Captain Clyde Cross and his 2 crewman, Gustave Fisher and Joe Fontane of the fishing tug THREE BROTHERS. CONNEAUT of 1916, ran hard aground on Lansing Shoal near Manistique, Michigan, on Lake Michigan. She reportedly had lost her propeller and rudder. Two days later she was pulled off. The SINALOA had taken on a load of sand near Green Island and was heading for Chicago through Death's Door on Wisconsin's Door Peninsula when the November 11th Armistice Day storm of 1940, struck in upper Lake Michigan. During the storm the SINALOA lost her rudder. The anchor was dropped but her anchor cable parted. In this helpless condition she ran aground at Sac Bay on Michigan's Garden Peninsula. Fortunately the stricken vessel was close to shore where the Coast Guard was able to rescue the entire crew. Declared a constructive total loss, her owner collected the insurance and forfeited the vessel to the Roen Salvage Co.
ANNA C MINCH: Sank South of Pentwater with a loss of 24 lives.
WILLIAM B DAVOCK: of the Interlake fleet, Capt. Charles W. Allen, sank in 215 of water off Pentwater, Michigan. There were no survivors among the crew of 33.
The fishing tugs INDIAN and RICHARD H: Lost with all hands off South Haven, Michigan.
On 11 November 1872, the schooner WILLIS collided with the bark ELIZABETH JONES on Lake Erie and sank in a few minutes. The crew was saved.
On 11 November 1936, J. OSWALD BOYD (steel propeller fuel tanker, 244 foot, 1,806 gross tons, built in 1913, in Scotland) was carrying 900,000 gallons of gasoline when she stranded on Simmons Reef on the north side of Beaver Island. The U.S. Coast Guard from Beaver Island rescued the entire crew of 20.
On 11 November 1890, BRUNO (wooden propeller bulk freighter, 136 foot. 475 gross tons, built in 1863, at Montreal) was carrying coal to Cleveland with the schooner LOUISA in tow when she struck Magnetic Reef, south of Cockburn Island in Georgian Bay and sank in rough weather. No lives were lost.
On 11 November 1835, the 2-mast wooden schooner COMET was carrying iron and ashes on Lake Erie when she foundered in a gale, one mile northwest of Dunkirk, New York. Just her topmasts protruded from the water. All seven on board lost their lives, including a passenger who was a college student bound for Vermont.
In a storm on the night of 11 November 1874, The schooner LA PETITE (3-mast wooden schooner, 119 foot, 172 gross tons, built 1866, J. Ketchum, Huron, Ohio) was on Lake Michigan carrying a cargo of wheat and corn from Chicago when she sprang a bad leak and tried first to reach Ludington, then Manistee. Before reaching safety, she grounded off Big Point au Sable, eight miles from land, in eight feet of water. Previous to striking, the vessel had lost her bowsprit and foremast. After she struck, her main and mizzenmasts went by the board, and the schooner began to break up rapidly. The crew clung to the forecastle deck, and when that washed away, four men were drowned. Captain O. B. Wood had his arms broken by the falling off a square-sail yard. When he fell into the water, the ship's dog jumped in and kept him afloat until they were rescued by the crew of the steam barge CHARLES REITZ. Of the 10 crewmen, six were saved. The LA PETITE was salvaged and repaired and lasted until 1903, when she was lost in another storm.
On 11 Nov 1999, the Maltese flag bulk carrier ALCOR was examined by personnel from Transport Canada, the Canadian Coast Guard, a salvage company and the vessel's owners in hopes of forming a plan to save the vessel. She ran aground on a sand bar off the eastern tip of d'Orleans Island on the St. Lawrence River two days earlier. This vessel did not visit Great Lakes ports under the name ALCOR, but she did so under her two previous names, firstly as PATRICIA V and then as the Soviet flag MEKHANIK DREN. The Groupe Desgagnes finally refloated the ALCOR on 05 Dec 1999, after part of the cargo of clinker had been removed. The ship was then towed to Quebec City. Later, it was reported that Groupe Desgagnes purchased the ALCOR from its Greek owners.
Below is a first hand account of the Storm of 1913, from the journal of John Mc Laughlin transcribed by his great grandson Hugh McNichol. John was working on an unknown vessel during the Storm of 1913. The boat was captained by John McAlpine and Harry Roberts as Chief Engineer. The boat was loading iron ore in Escanaba when the storm started on November 8th.
Tuesday, November 11, 1913: I got up at 12 a.m. and went on watch. We were above Presque Isle. It is still blowing hard and quite a sea running. Presque Isle at 1:45 a.m., Thunder Bay Island at 4:30 a.m., Harbor Beach at 1:00 p.m., we are about in the River at 7:05 p.m. It is fine tonight, wind gone down.
1940: The famous Armistice Day storm claims the ANNA C. MINCH, WILLIAM B. DAVOCK and NOVADOC (ii), on Lake Michigan and leaves CITY OF FLINT 32 and SINALOA aground and damaged.
1946: The former Canada Steamship lines bulk canaller LANARK was scuttled off the coast of Ireland with a load of World War Two bombs.
1977: The 380-foot, 8-inch long West German freighter GLORIA made 4 visits to the Great Lakes in 1959-1960. It went aground on the Adriatic at Sestrice Island as d) ARISTOTELES. While the 25-year old hull was refloated, it was declared a total loss and towed to Split, Yugoslavia, for scrapping.
1980: The DINIE S. suffered an engineroom fire at Palermo, Italy and became a total loss. The ship had visited the Seaway as a) CATHERINE SARTORI (1959-1967) and b) CURSA (1967) and was sailing under a seventh name. It was scrapped at Palermo in 1985
1980: CITY OF LICHFIELD stranded near Antalya, Turkey, while leaving the anchorage in heavy weather as c) CITY OF LEEDS. The ship was refloated but never sailed again and was eventually scrapped at Aliaga, Turkey, in 1984. The ship had visited the Great Lakes in 1964.
1995: JAMES NORRIS was loading stone at Colborne, ON when the wind changed leaving the hull exposed to the gale. The ship was repeatedly pounded against the dock until it settled on the bottom. Subsequent hull repairs at Port Weller Dry Docks resulted in the port side being all welded while the starboard remained riveted.
1995: The Cuban freighter AREITO had a mechanical problem in the St. Lambert Lock and had to be towed back to Montreal for repairs. This SD-14 class vessel was scrapped at Alang, India, as e) DUNLIN in 2001.
11/11 - Detroit, Mich. – The peaceful stone church next to the modern Renaissance Center will honor those who lost their lives on the Great Lakes this weekend. Mariners' Church of Detroit, which celebrates its 175th anniversary this year, will host its annual Great Lakes Memorial at 11 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 12.
The memorial coincides with the 42nd anniversary this week of the sinking of the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald in Lake Superior. Then the largest ship on the Great Lakes, the Fitzgerald set sail November 9, 1975 from Superior, Wisconsin on its way to Zug Island near Detroit. The weather was fine until the next day, when gale force winds upwards of 50 miles per hour started, and waves ranged from 18 to 25 feet. One wave smashed the lifeboat, making it unusable. By 7 p.m. that evening, the Fitzgerald was 17 miles off Whitefish Bay and in serious trouble. By 7:30, the ship carrying 29 men had sunk. No bodies were ever recovered.
Reverend Richard Ingalls, then the pastor of Mariners’ Church on Jefferson Avenue, came to the church early November 12 to commemorate the loss of lives, the worst ever on the Great Lakes, by ringing the church’s “brotherhood bell” 29 times. The act is forever known in Gordon Lightfoot’s song “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.”
Sunday’s service will honor the memory of the more than 6,000 Great Lakes shipwrecks and the more than 10,000 sailors who have lost their lives in them, including the crew of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
Detroit.curbed.com
11/11 - Kingston, Ont. – The wind swirled and howled, lashing at the shorelines and inflicting devastation on anything daring to be in its way. In cyclonic motion, the storm brought heavy precipitation and waves high enough to sink the largest of lake ships. It showed no mercy to man or machine. This was no tropical storm tearing through a warmer climate. This was the Great Lakes storm of November 1913.
The evening of Thursday, Nov. 6, turned stormy, not unusual for the season. "The weather forecasts across Michigan called for brisk winds and rain, but the squall elevated quickly the next day to a 'moderately severe' storm accompanied by falling temperatures," described Mitchell Newton-Matza, editor of "Disasters and Tragic Events: An encyclopedia of catastrophes in American History" (ABC-CLIO, LLC, Santa Barbara 2014).
Moving eastward across Lake Superior and Lake Michigan over Friday and Saturday, the winds intensified to 80 to 120 km/h. The gales brought rain and snow, and ship captains guided their vessels to the safety of ports to wait out the storm. However, vessels too distant from shore suffered damage.
By Sunday, a "sucker hole" developed. The easing of weather conditions allowed "traffic to begin flowing again, both down the St. Marys River and up Lake Erie, and the Detroit and St. Clair rivers, into Lake Huron," said McGill University.
"The gale wind flags raised at over a hundred ports were ignored," and captains, thinking the worst was over, took advantage of the lull to get back on shipping schedules. Customers were waiting for cargo, others were waiting to ship their goods. The vessels carried all sorts of freight. The Regina, built in Scotland and named for the city in Saskatchewan, stopped at ports all along the shores, dropping off "paint, hardware, kitchen utensils, cloth, and food supplies," said St. Joseph's Museum.
However, another storm loomed. "Snowfall intensity increased on the 9th and continued into the 10th as warm and moist air from the Atlantic was pulled over the cold surface air. This process helps wring moisture of the atmosphere in the form of copious amount of snow," according to "Great Lakes Hurricane of 1913: A Meteorological Review 100 Years Later" by National Weather Service, Gaylord, Mich.
More snow squalls followed closely behind the storm. "The result was a significant early season winter storm for much of the Great Lakes." Weather tracking was in its early days, without technical equipment and the speed of transmission taken for granted today. Weather services were hours behind in issuing warnings. By the time conditions were observed and recorded, maps hand-drawn and sent to weather bureaus, warnings were issued much too late.
Out on the fresh water, sheer fear and terror reigned as the two storms converged with a roar. The frontal depression with southerly warm air brought uncharacteristically low barometric pressure, and with this, wind speed increased.
Now named a "weather bomb," raging gusts of up to 145 km/h were recorded in the Great Lakes basin. Waves pushed to 11 metres, as high as a three-storey building.
When the wind speed burst to 145 km/h; "the frigid water washed over ships' decks and froze in seconds, encasing everything it touched in a solid layer of ice. Blinding snow and sleet reduced visibility to nearly zero," said Wendy Webb in "Frozen Fury: the 1913 White Hurricane," Lake Superior Magazine, Oct. 1, 2004. Lake-effect blizzards all along the lakeshores left cities and towns paralyzed for days in deep snow.
Sailors stranded in ships on the water faced even worse in the struggle for survival. Usually lasting four to five hours, the vicious storm lasted 16 terrifying hours. "Lake Huron took the worst of it," Webb added. "Eight freighters were lost beneath its waves in just four hours on the night of Nov. 9." By the end of the storm on Nov. 11, four more foundered and approximately 250 men were lost to the deep, dark waters.
"Another 32 went aground during the storm," noted Great Lakes Steamship Society, "seven of which were completely destroyed."
The storm eased by Nov. 12 with skies clearing. The dreadful consequences began to emerge from the lakes. Massive freighters floated upside down, their hulls facing the sun; wreckage washed ashore, including the frozen bodies of sailors.
From so many sunken ships, the deceased surfaced to silently tell their stories of misery. "Stiff, bloated and battered, their heads capped in ice, they floated in, rolled and pitched by the combers crashing the beach," wrote Robert J. Hemming in Ships Gone Missing (Contemporary Books, 1992).
At Grand Bend, Mich., corpses were gathered up by "searchers" who were paid $5 for each body. Stacked on beaches, the deceased were moved to a temporary morgue in a hardware store; so many bodies washed ashore that the coroner had to use warehouses instead. First using shrouds, the coroner soon ran out, "so he began wrapping the bodies in newspapers," said Mark Bourrie in the National Post, Nov. 12, 2013.
Along with the distressing human cost, the financial loss of ships and cargo was tremendous. "The finally tally -- not counting losses on land from storm devastation -- included $2,332,000 for vessels totally lost: $830,900 for vessels that became constructive total losses, $620,000 for vessels stranded but returned to service, and approximately $1,000,000 in lost cargoes," said McGill University.
Over the years, most of the sunken vessels were located. More recently, the SS Hydrus with its load of iron ore was found in 2015, upright at the bottom of Lake Huron. The ship was built at Ohio in 1903 and was 126.8 metres in length.
The resting place of one ship still remains a mystery. Built in Collingwood in early 1913, the SS James Carruthers was a steel-hulled lake freighter, powered by triple expansion steam to turn the propeller. Larger than SS Hydrus at 161.24 metres in length, the ship was 17.68 metres wide with a depth of 8.23 metres.
James Carruthers, with crew of 25, was on its third trip, bound for Georgia Bay with 10 tons of wheat when it was caught in the storm. The new ship sank far off course, near Goderich. The position of the James Carruthers was narrowed down by 2000, but the ship has not yet reappeared.
Given several monikers -- the White Blizzard, the Witch of November, and the Freshwater Fury -- the Great Lakes storm of 1913 is regarded as one of the worst natural disasters to hit the Great Lakes. The industry is attempting to prevent such immense disasters from occurring again with the use of advanced meteorological science and communications technology to provide vessels with accurate and near-instant information about weather conditions. A ship of any size is no match for a hurricane.
The Kingston Whig-Standard
11/11 - Lansing, Mich. – A bill that environmental groups say would be a step backward in the fight against invasive species in the Great Lakes is on its way to Governor Rick Snyder's desk. Snyder has opposed the bill, according to spokesperson Anna Heaton, but has not said whether he will veto it.
The state House voted 66-42 last week in favor of the bill, and the state Senate passed it Friday in a 25-11 vote. The bill would scrap Michigan's current standards for killing invasive species in the ballast water of ocean-going ships in its ports, and would replace them with federal ones.
"The federal standards that we have right now are not sufficiently protective to actually stop new invasions from getting into the Great Lakes," said Joel Brammeier, president and CEO of the Alliance of the Great Lakes.
According to James Clift, policy director of the Michigan Environmental Council, lowering the standards would likely result in new invasive species entering the ecosystem and causing harm to Michigan's fisheries and recreation industry.
The bill would revise a 2005 Michigan law that requires ocean-going vessels either to use state approved technology to get rid of invasive species before discharging ballast water or to certify that they will not discharge into Michigan waters.
According to Clift, the U.S. Coast Guard, whose standards would replace those of the state under the new bill, permits a phase-in of treatment systems over a period of years that could be extended, and in the interim, ships could dump ballast water that had not been treated.
The bill's sponsor, Rep. Dan Lauwers, R-Brockway, said Michigan's current standards hinder port development in Michigan and send ocean-going export business to other Great Lakes states and provinces which have less stringent requirements than Michigan.
"My goal behind the bill is to get Michigan back in the export business," said Lauwers. "I'm saying it's time to adopt these standards and get on the same level playing field that the rest of the Great Lakes states and provinces who are shipping are using," Lauwers said.
But environmental groups say Michigan is especially vulnerable to harm from aquatic invasive species.
Michigan really does stand to lose out more than any other state if new invasives are brought in," said Charlotte Jameson, government affairs director of the Michigan League of Conservation Voters. "We have more Great Lakes shoreline, and we are more dependent economically and recreationally than other Great Lakes state on the Great Lakes."
And the stakes are high, according to Brammeier. He said the Great Lakes region suffers losses of more than $200 million annually from the impacts of aquatic invasive species. Scientists believe that dozens of invasive species that have reached the Great Lakes in recent decades came in the ballast water of ocean-going ships.
Michigan Radio
ARAB (2-mast wooden schooner, 100 foot, 158 tons, built in 1854, at Buffalo, New York) beached on 01 November 1883, near St. Joseph, Michigan, during a storm, but quick work by salvagers got her free. However on 13 November 1883, while being towed to Racine, Wisconsin, she capsized and sank well off of Arcadia, Michigan. One man lost his life, an engineer who was desperately trying to start her pumps when she rolled.
On November 13, 1976, the TEMPLE BAR (later LAKE WABUSH and ALGONORTH) arrived at Singapore, where she was lengthened 202 feet.
CONDARRELL was laid up for the last time on November 13, 1981. Built in 1953 as a.) D. C. EVEREST, she was renamed b.) CONDARRELL in 1982.
GEORGE HINDMAN was in collision with the British salty MANCHESTER EXPLORER on Lake St. Louis, above the Lachine Lock in 1956. Built in 1921, as a.) GLENCLOVA, renamed b.) ANTICOSTI in 1927, c.) RISACUA in 1946, d.) GEORGE HINDMAN in 1955, and e.) ELIZABETH HINDMAN in 1962. Scrapped at Duluth, Minnesota, in 1971.
J. P. MORGAN JR (Hull#373) was launched November 13, 1909, at Lorain, Ohio, for the Pittsburgh Steamship Co.
HOMER D. WILLIAMS was involved in a collision with the steamer OTTO M. REISS at Duluth November 13, 1917.
In 1984, HOMER D. WILLIAMS was towed to Thunder Bay, Ontario, by the tug MALCOLM for dismantling.
On 13 November 1870, the schooner E. FITZGERALD left Port Huron on her maiden voyage to load lumber at Au Sable, Michigan, for Chicago. She was commanded by Capt. A. McTavish.
On 13 November 1883, H. C. AKELEY (wooden propeller bulk freighter, 240 foot, 1,187 tons, built in 1881, at Grand Haven, Michigan) was carrying corn from Chicago to Buffalo when she encountered a heavy storm off Holland, Michigan. She took the disabled tug PROTECTOR in tow but let her go when her own rudder broke off. AKELEY anchored but started to sink when she fell into the troughs of the waves. The disabled schooner DRIVER managed to save 12 of the crew who had taken to AKELEY's yawl before she went down. 6 lives were lost.
Captain W. H. Van Dyke was born at Escanaba, Michigan, on November 13, 1871, and spent most of his life on the Great Lakes (he joined the crew of a schooner at the age of 15). He first captained the Pere Marquette Line Steamer PERE MARQUETTE 8 then, in 1916, he joined the Pere Marquette carferry fleet. His first command was the str. PERE MARQUETTE 15. Then for 10 years he served as master of the PERE MARQUETTE 17, and after the launch of the CITY OF FLINT 32 in 1929, he served as master of the PERE MARQUETTE 22.
On 13 November 1865, CLARA PARKER (3-mast wooden schooner, 175 foot, 425 gross tons, built in 1865, at Detroit, Michigan) was fighting a losing battle with storm induced leaks, so she was beached 400 yards off shore near the mouth of the Pigeon River, south of Grand Haven, Michigan. The local Lifesaving Service plucked all 9 of the crew from the rigging by breeches buoy after the vessel had gone down to her decks and was breaking up.
On 13 November 1888, LELAND (wooden steam barge, 148 foot, 366 gross tons, built in 1873, at New Jerusalem, Ohio) burned at Huron, Ohio. She was valued at $20,000 and insured for $15,000. She was rebuilt and lasted until 1910.
JAMES DAVIDSON (steel propeller bulk freighter, 587 foot, 8,349 gross tons, built at Wyandotte, Michigan, in 1920) entered service on 13 Nov 1920, for the Globe Steamship Co. (G. A. Tomlinson, mgr.) when she loaded 439,000 bushels of wheat at Duluth, Minnesota, for delivery to Buffalo, New York. She was the last ship built at Wyandotte, Michigan.
An unnamed salty (formerly RANGUINI) arrived at Milwaukee's heavy lift dock on Saturday night, 13 Nov 1999, to load a large desalinization filtration system built in Milwaukee for Korea. The vessel entered the Seaway in ballast for Milwaukee on 09 Nov 1999. The following day, the crew rigged scaffolding over the side so the new name BBC GERMANY could be painted on the ship.
The Toledo Blade published the following vessel passages for Detroit on this date in 1903: -Up- VOLUNTEER, AMAZON, HARLOW, 12:30 Friday morning; ROCKEFELLER, 4:20; MARISKA, 4:40; FRENCH, 5:20; CONEMAUGH, 6; S M STEPHENSON, FAUSTIN, barges, 7:30; OLIVER, MITCHELL, (sailed), 7:50; AVERILL, 8.
1909: The steamers CHARLES WESTON and WARD AMES collided in lower Whitefish Bay. The former, which had been at anchor waiting to head downbound through the Soo Locks, ran for shore but settled on the bottom. The ship was saved, repaired and last sailed as c) SAUCON for Bethlehem Transportation before being scrapped at Hamilton, ON in 1950.
1909: JAMES H. HOYT went aground on a reef about two miles off the northeast corner of Outer Island after the engine was disabled in a snowstorm. The vessel was refloated November 29 and later became the BRICOLDOC.
1929: BRITON was wrecked in Lake Erie off Point Abino. The stranded vessel was battered for two days before being abandoned as a total loss.
1934: WILLIAM A. REISS (i) stranded off Sheboygan while inbound with 7025 tons of coal from Toledo. The ship was refloated November 17 with heavy damage and considered a total loss.
1942: H.M. PELLATT, a former Great Lakes canal freighter, was sailing as f) SCILLIN under the flag of Italy, when it was hit by gunfire from the British submarine H.M.S. PROTEUS while 9 miles off Kuriat, Tunisia, and sank.
1956: The downbound and grain-laden GEORGE HINDMAN and the upbound MANCHESTER EXPLORER collided in fog on the St. Lawrence above Lachine and both ships were damaged.
1958: LUNAN, a Pre-Seaway trader on the Great Lakes, sustained major bottom damage in a grounding on the St. Lawrence near Murray Bay. The ship was refloated, towed to Lauzon for repairs and it returned to service as b) MARIDAN C. in 1959.
1967: SANTA REGINA, the first American saltwater vessel to use the St. Lawrence Seaway, put into San Francisco with boiler problems and machinery damage while headed from Los Angeles to Saigon, South Vietnam as f) NORBERTO CAPAY. The vessel was sold at auction and towed to Kaohsiung, Taiwan, for scrapping in 1969.
1971: The small St. Lawrence freighter C. DE BAILLON, better known as a) DONNACONA NO. 2 and b) MIRON C., went aground at Mont Louis and was a total loss.
1975: There was a boiler explosion on the Egyptian freighter CLEOPATRA after leaving Hartlepool, England, for Alexandria, Egypt, and 8 crewmen were severely injured with at least one fatality. The former Victory Ship first traveled through the Seaway in 1963. It was scrapped at Gadani Beach, Pakistan, in 1981.
1976: OCEAN SOVEREIGN lost steering at Sault Ste. Marie and was wedged into the wall at the Soo Locks. The rudder was damaged and the Greek saltie had to be towed to Lauzon, Quebec, for repairs. The vessel initially traded inland as a) BOLNES in 1970 and returned as b) OCEAN SOVEREIGN for the first time in 1973. It was scrapped at Ulsan, South Korea, as d) MARIA JOSE after being blown aground from the anchorage during Typhoon Vera on September 27, 1986.
1979: A steering failure put VANDOC aground at Harvey Island in the Brockville Narrows. The vessel spent time at Port Weller Dry Docks after being released.
1996: JOLLITY reported it was taking water in the engine room (Pos: 17.47 N / 119.20 E). The ship was was taken in tow two days later and reached Hong Kong on November 18. The vessel was scrapped at Chittagong, Bangladesh, in 1999.
1997: ARCADIA BERLIN visited the Great Lakes in 1971 when it was a year old. The ship was carrying bagged cement and sailing as f) ALLISSA when it collided with and sank the Ukrainian vessel SMENA off Yangon, Myanmar. The former was apparently laid up with collision damage and scrapped at Alang, India, in 1998.
2002: WILFRED SYKES was inbound with a cargo of limestone when it went aground in Muskegon Lake. Some of the cargo was lightered to PERE MARQUETTE 41 and the stranded ship was pulled free.
In 1920, FRANCIS WIDLAR stranded on Pancake Shoal in Lake Superior and was written off as a total constructive loss of $327,700. The wreck was purchased by Mathews Steamship Company in 1921 and placed back in service as BAYTON. The BAYTON sailed until 1966, and the hull was later used as a temporary breakwall during construction at Burns Harbor, Indiana.
On 12 November 1878, JAMES R. BENTLEY (3-mast wooden schooner, 170 foot, 575 tons, built in 1867, at Fairport, Ohio) was carrying grain when she struck a shoal in heavy weather and foundered off 40 Mile Point on Lake Huron. Her crew was rescued in the rough seas by the bark ERASTUS CORNING.
On 12 Nov 1964, THOMAS F. COLE (steel propeller bulk freighter, 580 foot, 7,268 gross tons, built in 1907, at Ecorse, Michigan) collided with the British motor vessel INVEREWE off the south end of Pipe Island on the lower St. Marys River in foggy conditions. The COLE suffered severe damage to the port bow and was taken to Lorain for repairs.
On 12 Nov 1980, ALVA C. DINKEY (steel propeller bulk freighter, 580 foot, 7,514 gross tons, built in 1909, at Lorain, Ohio) and GOVERNOR MILLER (steel propeller bulk freighter, 593 foot, 8,240 gross tons, built in 1938, at Lorain, Ohio) arrived near El Ferrol del Caudillo, Spain for scrapping in tow of the FedNav tug CATHY B. Demolition by Miguel Partins began on 28 Nov 1980, at Vigo, Spain.
On November 12, 1919, PANAY, upbound on Lake Superior for Duluth, Minnesota, in rough weather, was one of the last vessels to see the down bound JOHN OWEN which, apparently later the same day, disappeared with all hands. Renamed b.) WILLIAM NELSON in 1928, and c.) BEN E. TATE in 1936. Scrapped at Bilbao, Spain in 1969.
On 12 November 1881, BRUNSWICK (iron propeller bulk freighter, 248 foot, built in 1881, at Wyandotte, Michigan) was carrying 1,500 tons of hard coal in a night of fitful squalls in Lake Erie. CARLINGFORD (wooden schooner, 155 foot, built in 1869, at Port Huron, Michigan) was also sailing there, loaded with 26,000 bushels of wheat. They collided. After the skipper of BRUNSWICK made sure that the sinking schooner's crew were in their lifeboats, he ran for shore with his sinking vessel, but sank a few miles off Dunkirk, New York. A total of 4 lives were lost.
On 12 November 1835, the small wooden schooner ROBERT BRUCE was sailing from Kingston, Ontario to Howell, New York when she was wrecked west of Henderson, New York. Her crew of 4, plus one passenger, were all lost.
On 12 Nov 1886, the tug WM L. PROCTOR (wooden tug, 104 foot, 117 gross tons, built in 1883, at Buffalo, New York) left Oswego, New York with the schooner-barges BOLIVIA and E.C. BUCK in tow before a big storm struck. During the snowstorm, the tug got lost and the towline broke. Alone, the PROCTOR finally made it to Charlotte, New York, badly iced up, but there was no word on the barges. They were presumed lost with all onboard.
1881: BRUNSWICK sank in Lake Erie after a collision with the CARLINGFORD. The wooden hulled, coal-laden steamer, made a run for the American shore but the effort fell short. Three lives were lost.
1914: The wooden steamer COLONIAL began to leak on Lake Erie and was beached in Rondeau Bay only to be pounded to pieces by gale force winds. All on board were rescued.
1967: The Swedish freighter TORSHOLM began visiting the Great Lakes as early as 1953. The ship was enroute from the Seaway to Stockholm when it ran aground near Uto, Sweden, and became a total loss.
1968: CLARA CLAUSEN, a Danish freighter, ran aground at Les Escoumins on the St. Lawrence and was abandoned. After being salvaged, the vessel came to the Great Lakes in 1970 and was rebuilt at Kingston as ATLANTEAN.
1974: BELVOIR (ii), enroute from Puerto Cortes, Honduras, to Corpus Christi, Texas, with a load of ore concentrates, struck a submerged object in the Gulf of Honduras and sank. Only 4 crew members are rescued while the other 21 were presumed lost.
1980: The former Lake Michigan rail car ferry PERE MARQUETTE 21 left the Great Lakes in 1974. It was lost on this date as the barge d) CONSOLIDATOR. It was hit by Hurricane Jean off the coast of Honduras while carrying a load of truck trailers.
2005: SPAN TERZA, an Italian freighter, first came through the Seaway in 1977 and returned as b) ANANGEL HORIZON in 1983. It was damaged on this date as d) SALAM 4 in a collision near Dondra Head, Sri Lanka, with SHANGHAI PRIDE and had to go to Colombo for assessment. The ship was repaired and eventually scrapped as e) ALINA at Xinhui, China, in 2009.
The Port of Huron, Ohio received its first grain boat in seven years when Westdale Shipping's AVONDALE arrived at the Pillsbury Elevator on November 11, 1971, to load 200,000 bushels of soybeans for Toronto, Ontario.
On 11 November 1883, NEMESIS (2-mast wooden schooner, 74 foot, 82 gross tons, built in 1868, at Goderich, Ontario) was wrecked in a terrific storm that some called a hurricane. She went ashore near Bayfield, Ontario, on Lake Huron. She may have been recovered since her registration was not closed until 1907. In 1876, this little schooner rescued all but one of the crew from the sinking freighter NEW YORK.
The Armistice Day Storm of November 11, 1940, was one of the worst storms in the recorded history of Lake Michigan. In all, the storm claimed 5 vessels, and 66 lives. The storm hit late Monday afternoon, November 11th, with winds of hurricane proportions. The winds struck suddenly from the southwest at about 2:30 p.m. and were accompanied by drenching rain, which later changed to snow. The winds reached peak velocities of 75 miles per hour, the highest in local maritime history.
Some of the vessels affected were: CITY OF FLINT 32: Beached at Ludington, no damage. Jens Vevang, relief captain, in command. Her regular captain, Charles Robertson, was on shore leave. Also: PERE MARQUETTE 21: Blown into a piling at Ludington, no damage, captained by Arthur Altschwager. She had 5 passengers aboard. CITY OF SAGINAW 31: Arrived Milwaukee 6 hours late with over a foot of water in her hull. The wireless aerial was missing and her seagate was smashed by the waves. She was captained by Ed Cronberg. Ann Arbor carferry WABASH: A railcar broke loose from its moorings on her car deck and rolled over, nearly crushing a crewman. The steamer NOVADOC: Ran aground at Juniper Beach, South of Pentwater, Michigan. Two crewman (cooks) drowned when the ship broke in half. Seventeen crewman, found huddled in the pilothouse, were rescued by Captain Clyde Cross and his 2 crewman, Gustave Fisher and Joe Fontane of the fishing tug THREE BROTHERS. CONNEAUT of 1916, ran hard aground on Lansing Shoal near Manistique, Michigan, on Lake Michigan. She reportedly had lost her propeller and rudder. Two days later she was pulled off. The SINALOA had taken on a load of sand near Green Island and was heading for Chicago through Death's Door on Wisconsin's Door Peninsula when the November 11th Armistice Day storm of 1940, struck in upper Lake Michigan. During the storm the SINALOA lost her rudder. The anchor was dropped but her anchor cable parted. In this helpless condition she ran aground at Sac Bay on Michigan's Garden Peninsula. Fortunately the stricken vessel was close to shore where the Coast Guard was able to rescue the entire crew. Declared a constructive total loss, her owner collected the insurance and forfeited the vessel to the Roen Salvage Co.
ANNA C MINCH: Sank South of Pentwater with a loss of 24 lives.
WILLIAM B DAVOCK: of the Interlake fleet, Capt. Charles W. Allen, sank in 215 of water off Pentwater, Michigan. There were no survivors among the crew of 33.
The fishing tugs INDIAN and RICHARD H: Lost with all hands off South Haven, Michigan.
On 11 November 1872, the schooner WILLIS collided with the bark ELIZABETH JONES on Lake Erie and sank in a few minutes. The crew was saved.
On 11 November 1936, J. OSWALD BOYD (steel propeller fuel tanker, 244 foot, 1,806 gross tons, built in 1913, in Scotland) was carrying 900,000 gallons of gasoline when she stranded on Simmons Reef on the north side of Beaver Island. The U.S. Coast Guard from Beaver Island rescued the entire crew of 20.
On 11 November 1890, BRUNO (wooden propeller bulk freighter, 136 foot. 475 gross tons, built in 1863, at Montreal) was carrying coal to Cleveland with the schooner LOUISA in tow when she struck Magnetic Reef, south of Cockburn Island in Georgian Bay and sank in rough weather. No lives were lost.
On 11 November 1835, the 2-mast wooden schooner COMET was carrying iron and ashes on Lake Erie when she foundered in a gale, one mile northwest of Dunkirk, New York. Just her topmasts protruded from the water. All seven on board lost their lives, including a passenger who was a college student bound for Vermont.
In a storm on the night of 11 November 1874, The schooner LA PETITE (3-mast wooden schooner, 119 foot, 172 gross tons, built 1866, J. Ketchum, Huron, Ohio) was on Lake Michigan carrying a cargo of wheat and corn from Chicago when she sprang a bad leak and tried first to reach Ludington, then Manistee. Before reaching safety, she grounded off Big Point au Sable, eight miles from land, in eight feet of water. Previous to striking, the vessel had lost her bowsprit and foremast. After she struck, her main and mizzenmasts went by the board, and the schooner began to break up rapidly. The crew clung to the forecastle deck, and when that washed away, four men were drowned. Captain O. B. Wood had his arms broken by the falling off a square-sail yard. When he fell into the water, the ship's dog jumped in and kept him afloat until they were rescued by the crew of the steam barge CHARLES REITZ. Of the 10 crewmen, six were saved. The LA PETITE was salvaged and repaired and lasted until 1903, when she was lost in another storm.
On 11 Nov 1999, the Maltese flag bulk carrier ALCOR was examined by personnel from Transport Canada, the Canadian Coast Guard, a salvage company and the vessel's owners in hopes of forming a plan to save the vessel. She ran aground on a sand bar off the eastern tip of d'Orleans Island on the St. Lawrence River two days earlier. This vessel did not visit Great Lakes ports under the name ALCOR, but she did so under her two previous names, firstly as PATRICIA V and then as the Soviet flag MEKHANIK DREN. The Groupe Desgagnes finally refloated the ALCOR on 05 Dec 1999, after part of the cargo of clinker had been removed. The ship was then towed to Quebec City. Later, it was reported that Groupe Desgagnes purchased the ALCOR from its Greek owners.
Below is a first hand account of the Storm of 1913, from the journal of John Mc Laughlin transcribed by his great grandson Hugh McNichol. John was working on an unknown vessel during the Storm of 1913. The boat was captained by John McAlpine and Harry Roberts as Chief Engineer. The boat was loading iron ore in Escanaba when the storm started on November 8th.
Tuesday, November 11, 1913: I got up at 12 a.m. and went on watch. We were above Presque Isle. It is still blowing hard and quite a sea running. Presque Isle at 1:45 a.m., Thunder Bay Island at 4:30 a.m., Harbor Beach at 1:00 p.m., we are about in the River at 7:05 p.m. It is fine tonight, wind gone down.
1940: The famous Armistice Day storm claims the ANNA C. MINCH, WILLIAM B. DAVOCK and NOVADOC (ii), on Lake Michigan and leaves CITY OF FLINT 32 and SINALOA aground and damaged.
1946: The former Canada Steamship lines bulk canaller LANARK was scuttled off the coast of Ireland with a load of World War Two bombs.
1977: The 380-foot, 8-inch long West German freighter GLORIA made 4 visits to the Great Lakes in 1959-1960. It went aground on the Adriatic at Sestrice Island as d) ARISTOTELES. While the 25-year old hull was refloated, it was declared a total loss and towed to Split, Yugoslavia, for scrapping.
1980: The DINIE S. suffered an engineroom fire at Palermo, Italy and became a total loss. The ship had visited the Seaway as a) CATHERINE SARTORI (1959-1967) and b) CURSA (1967) and was sailing under a seventh name. It was scrapped at Palermo in 1985
1980: CITY OF LICHFIELD stranded near Antalya, Turkey, while leaving the anchorage in heavy weather as c) CITY OF LEEDS. The ship was refloated but never sailed again and was eventually scrapped at Aliaga, Turkey, in 1984. The ship had visited the Great Lakes in 1964.
1995: JAMES NORRIS was loading stone at Colborne, ON when the wind changed leaving the hull exposed to the gale. The ship was repeatedly pounded against the dock until it settled on the bottom. Subsequent hull repairs at Port Weller Dry Docks resulted in the port side being all welded while the starboard remained riveted.
1995: The Cuban freighter AREITO had a mechanical problem in the St. Lambert Lock and had to be towed back to Montreal for repairs. This SD-14 class vessel was scrapped at Alang, India, as e) DUNLIN in 2001.
11/11 - Detroit, Mich. – The peaceful stone church next to the modern Renaissance Center will honor those who lost their lives on the Great Lakes this weekend. Mariners' Church of Detroit, which celebrates its 175th anniversary this year, will host its annual Great Lakes Memorial at 11 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 12.
The memorial coincides with the 42nd anniversary this week of the sinking of the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald in Lake Superior. Then the largest ship on the Great Lakes, the Fitzgerald set sail November 9, 1975 from Superior, Wisconsin on its way to Zug Island near Detroit. The weather was fine until the next day, when gale force winds upwards of 50 miles per hour started, and waves ranged from 18 to 25 feet. One wave smashed the lifeboat, making it unusable. By 7 p.m. that evening, the Fitzgerald was 17 miles off Whitefish Bay and in serious trouble. By 7:30, the ship carrying 29 men had sunk. No bodies were ever recovered.
Reverend Richard Ingalls, then the pastor of Mariners’ Church on Jefferson Avenue, came to the church early November 12 to commemorate the loss of lives, the worst ever on the Great Lakes, by ringing the church’s “brotherhood bell” 29 times. The act is forever known in Gordon Lightfoot’s song “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.”
Sunday’s service will honor the memory of the more than 6,000 Great Lakes shipwrecks and the more than 10,000 sailors who have lost their lives in them, including the crew of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
Detroit.curbed.com
11/11 - Kingston, Ont. – The wind swirled and howled, lashing at the shorelines and inflicting devastation on anything daring to be in its way. In cyclonic motion, the storm brought heavy precipitation and waves high enough to sink the largest of lake ships. It showed no mercy to man or machine. This was no tropical storm tearing through a warmer climate. This was the Great Lakes storm of November 1913.
The evening of Thursday, Nov. 6, turned stormy, not unusual for the season. "The weather forecasts across Michigan called for brisk winds and rain, but the squall elevated quickly the next day to a 'moderately severe' storm accompanied by falling temperatures," described Mitchell Newton-Matza, editor of "Disasters and Tragic Events: An encyclopedia of catastrophes in American History" (ABC-CLIO, LLC, Santa Barbara 2014).
Moving eastward across Lake Superior and Lake Michigan over Friday and Saturday, the winds intensified to 80 to 120 km/h. The gales brought rain and snow, and ship captains guided their vessels to the safety of ports to wait out the storm. However, vessels too distant from shore suffered damage.
By Sunday, a "sucker hole" developed. The easing of weather conditions allowed "traffic to begin flowing again, both down the St. Marys River and up Lake Erie, and the Detroit and St. Clair rivers, into Lake Huron," said McGill University.
"The gale wind flags raised at over a hundred ports were ignored," and captains, thinking the worst was over, took advantage of the lull to get back on shipping schedules. Customers were waiting for cargo, others were waiting to ship their goods. The vessels carried all sorts of freight. The Regina, built in Scotland and named for the city in Saskatchewan, stopped at ports all along the shores, dropping off "paint, hardware, kitchen utensils, cloth, and food supplies," said St. Joseph's Museum.
However, another storm loomed. "Snowfall intensity increased on the 9th and continued into the 10th as warm and moist air from the Atlantic was pulled over the cold surface air. This process helps wring moisture of the atmosphere in the form of copious amount of snow," according to "Great Lakes Hurricane of 1913: A Meteorological Review 100 Years Later" by National Weather Service, Gaylord, Mich.
More snow squalls followed closely behind the storm. "The result was a significant early season winter storm for much of the Great Lakes." Weather tracking was in its early days, without technical equipment and the speed of transmission taken for granted today. Weather services were hours behind in issuing warnings. By the time conditions were observed and recorded, maps hand-drawn and sent to weather bureaus, warnings were issued much too late.
Out on the fresh water, sheer fear and terror reigned as the two storms converged with a roar. The frontal depression with southerly warm air brought uncharacteristically low barometric pressure, and with this, wind speed increased.
Now named a "weather bomb," raging gusts of up to 145 km/h were recorded in the Great Lakes basin. Waves pushed to 11 metres, as high as a three-storey building.
When the wind speed burst to 145 km/h; "the frigid water washed over ships' decks and froze in seconds, encasing everything it touched in a solid layer of ice. Blinding snow and sleet reduced visibility to nearly zero," said Wendy Webb in "Frozen Fury: the 1913 White Hurricane," Lake Superior Magazine, Oct. 1, 2004. Lake-effect blizzards all along the lakeshores left cities and towns paralyzed for days in deep snow.
Sailors stranded in ships on the water faced even worse in the struggle for survival. Usually lasting four to five hours, the vicious storm lasted 16 terrifying hours. "Lake Huron took the worst of it," Webb added. "Eight freighters were lost beneath its waves in just four hours on the night of Nov. 9." By the end of the storm on Nov. 11, four more foundered and approximately 250 men were lost to the deep, dark waters.
"Another 32 went aground during the storm," noted Great Lakes Steamship Society, "seven of which were completely destroyed."
The storm eased by Nov. 12 with skies clearing. The dreadful consequences began to emerge from the lakes. Massive freighters floated upside down, their hulls facing the sun; wreckage washed ashore, including the frozen bodies of sailors.
From so many sunken ships, the deceased surfaced to silently tell their stories of misery. "Stiff, bloated and battered, their heads capped in ice, they floated in, rolled and pitched by the combers crashing the beach," wrote Robert J. Hemming in Ships Gone Missing (Contemporary Books, 1992).
At Grand Bend, Mich., corpses were gathered up by "searchers" who were paid $5 for each body. Stacked on beaches, the deceased were moved to a temporary morgue in a hardware store; so many bodies washed ashore that the coroner had to use warehouses instead. First using shrouds, the coroner soon ran out, "so he began wrapping the bodies in newspapers," said Mark Bourrie in the National Post, Nov. 12, 2013.
Along with the distressing human cost, the financial loss of ships and cargo was tremendous. "The finally tally -- not counting losses on land from storm devastation -- included $2,332,000 for vessels totally lost: $830,900 for vessels that became constructive total losses, $620,000 for vessels stranded but returned to service, and approximately $1,000,000 in lost cargoes," said McGill University.
Over the years, most of the sunken vessels were located. More recently, the SS Hydrus with its load of iron ore was found in 2015, upright at the bottom of Lake Huron. The ship was built at Ohio in 1903 and was 126.8 metres in length.
The resting place of one ship still remains a mystery. Built in Collingwood in early 1913, the SS James Carruthers was a steel-hulled lake freighter, powered by triple expansion steam to turn the propeller. Larger than SS Hydrus at 161.24 metres in length, the ship was 17.68 metres wide with a depth of 8.23 metres.
James Carruthers, with crew of 25, was on its third trip, bound for Georgia Bay with 10 tons of wheat when it was caught in the storm. The new ship sank far off course, near Goderich. The position of the James Carruthers was narrowed down by 2000, but the ship has not yet reappeared.
Given several monikers -- the White Blizzard, the Witch of November, and the Freshwater Fury -- the Great Lakes storm of 1913 is regarded as one of the worst natural disasters to hit the Great Lakes. The industry is attempting to prevent such immense disasters from occurring again with the use of advanced meteorological science and communications technology to provide vessels with accurate and near-instant information about weather conditions. A ship of any size is no match for a hurricane.
The Kingston Whig-Standard
11/11 - Lansing, Mich. – A bill that environmental groups say would be a step backward in the fight against invasive species in the Great Lakes is on its way to Governor Rick Snyder's desk. Snyder has opposed the bill, according to spokesperson Anna Heaton, but has not said whether he will veto it.
The state House voted 66-42 last week in favor of the bill, and the state Senate passed it Friday in a 25-11 vote. The bill would scrap Michigan's current standards for killing invasive species in the ballast water of ocean-going ships in its ports, and would replace them with federal ones.
"The federal standards that we have right now are not sufficiently protective to actually stop new invasions from getting into the Great Lakes," said Joel Brammeier, president and CEO of the Alliance of the Great Lakes.
According to James Clift, policy director of the Michigan Environmental Council, lowering the standards would likely result in new invasive species entering the ecosystem and causing harm to Michigan's fisheries and recreation industry.
The bill would revise a 2005 Michigan law that requires ocean-going vessels either to use state approved technology to get rid of invasive species before discharging ballast water or to certify that they will not discharge into Michigan waters.
According to Clift, the U.S. Coast Guard, whose standards would replace those of the state under the new bill, permits a phase-in of treatment systems over a period of years that could be extended, and in the interim, ships could dump ballast water that had not been treated.
The bill's sponsor, Rep. Dan Lauwers, R-Brockway, said Michigan's current standards hinder port development in Michigan and send ocean-going export business to other Great Lakes states and provinces which have less stringent requirements than Michigan.
"My goal behind the bill is to get Michigan back in the export business," said Lauwers. "I'm saying it's time to adopt these standards and get on the same level playing field that the rest of the Great Lakes states and provinces who are shipping are using," Lauwers said.
But environmental groups say Michigan is especially vulnerable to harm from aquatic invasive species.
Michigan really does stand to lose out more than any other state if new invasives are brought in," said Charlotte Jameson, government affairs director of the Michigan League of Conservation Voters. "We have more Great Lakes shoreline, and we are more dependent economically and recreationally than other Great Lakes state on the Great Lakes."
And the stakes are high, according to Brammeier. He said the Great Lakes region suffers losses of more than $200 million annually from the impacts of aquatic invasive species. Scientists believe that dozens of invasive species that have reached the Great Lakes in recent decades came in the ballast water of ocean-going ships.
Michigan Radio
