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Posted by Maureen K. Fleury Jul 3, 2008 |
In my recent article on the Great Lakes Storm of 1913, I described a monster storm that was one of the worst in history. This gale was also called the Big Blow.
It is hard to believe that 11 freighters and 1 barge that sank into the depths of the angry lakes during this four-day fiasco. Lake Huron was the worst hit with eight shipwrecks. Most of the ships were located in the southern half of the lake.
With strong winds blowing from the northwest, bodies of the sailors and pieces of the ship started washing ashore on the Ontario side of Lake Huron. The locals in Ontario soon discovered which ships sank because the names of the boats were stamped on the life jackets. It must have been a horrible site to see many bodies being washed up on shore. Then there was the gruesome task of trying to identify the bodies.
The most famous shipping disaster on the Great Lakes was the sinking of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald in Lake Superior on November 10th, 1975. It was caught in the heavy snow and wind of a November gale.
Many of these boats were on their last trip of the 1913 season before docking over the winter. The forces of nature never gave these boats a chance to reach a safe harbour.
