When The Gales Of November Came Early
November 10, 2009
When The Gales Of November Came Early, photo by siskokid.
The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
of the big lake they called “Gitche Gumee.”
The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead
when the skies of November turn gloomy.
With a load of iron ore twenty-six thousand tons more
than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty,
that good ship and true was a bone to be chewed
when the “Gales of November” came early.
If you’re from Michigan … or Wisconsin … or Minnesota or Ontario or any place that touches the Great Lakes you probably grew up hearing Gordon Lightfoot’s commemorative ballad played (and overplayed) every November. While looking for lyrics to the song, I came across this page about the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald on Gordon Lightfoot’s web site.
“According to a legend of the Chippewa tribe, the lake they once called Gitche Gumee ‘never gives up her dead.’”
~Great Lakes: The Cruelest Month, James R. Gaines with Jon Lowell in Detroit, Newsweek MagazineThus began the Newsweek article in the issue of November 24, 1975. That lead and the news magazine’s dry story inspired Gordon Lightfoot to write one of the greatest “story songs” ever…
Lightfoot wrote Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald as a tribute to the ship, the sea, and the men who lost their lives that night. When asked recently what he thought his most significant contribution to music was, he said it was this song, which he often refers to as “The Wreck”. In spite of its unlikely subject matter, the song climbed to #2 on the Billboard pop charts and Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald remains one the most stirring topical ballads ever written and a highlight of every Lightfoot concert.
More Edmund Fitzgerald and more shipwrecks on Michigan in Pictures.
Check this out bigger and see Jim’s whole Lake Superior set (slideshow).
There’s not way I’m not going to link over to include* Joseph Fulton’s amazing tribute video to the 29 men who died November 10, 1975 aboard the Edmund Fitzgerald. If you haven’t watched this, do it. It’s one of the best videos on the internet and shows the power of the Fitz and of Superior.
*And break my own rule of “just photos” – sorry about that if it bothers you.
Freshwater Fury: The Great Lakes Storm of 1913
November 7, 2009
Charles S Price upside down, 1913, Wikipedia
Dear wife and Children. We were left up here in Lake Michigan by McKinnon, captain James H. Martin tug, at anchor. He went away and never said goodbye or anything to us. Lost one man yesterday. We have been out in storm forty hours. Goodbye dear ones, I might see you in Heaven. Pray for me. / Chris K. / P.S. I felt so bad I had another man write for me. Goodbye forever.
~A message found in a bottle 11 days after Plymouth disappeared, dictated by Chris Keenan, federal marshal in charge of the barge
Wikipedia says that the Great Lakes Storm of 1913, also known as the “Freshwater Fury” or the “White Hurricane”, was a blizzard with hurricane-force winds that ravaged the Great Lakes November 7-10, 1913. With the sinking of 19 ships, the stranding of another 19 and a death toll of at least 250, it remains the deadliest and most destructive natural disaster in Great Lakes history.
Major shipwrecks occurred on all but Lake Ontario, with most happening on southern and western Lake Huron. Lake masters recounted that waves reached at least 35 feet (11 m) in height. Being shorter in length than waves ordinarily formed by gales, they occurred in rapid succession, with three waves frequently striking in succession. Masters also stated that the wind often blew in directions opposite to the waves below. This was the result of the storm’s cyclonic motion, a phenomenon rarely seen on the Great Lakes.
In the late afternoon of November 10, an unknown vessel was spotted floating upside-down in about 60 feet (18 m) of water on the eastern coast of Michigan, within sight of Huronia Beach and the mouth of the St. Clair River. Determining the identity of this “mystery ship” became of regional interest, resulting in daily front-page newspaper articles. The ship eventually sank, and it was not until early Saturday morning, November 15, that it was finally identified as the Charles S. Price. The front page of that day’s Port Huron Times-Herald extra edition read, “BOAT IS PRICE — DIVER IS BAKER — SECRET KNOWN”. Milton Smith, the assistant engineer who decided at the last moment not to join his crew on premonition of disaster, aided in identifying any bodies that were found.
You can get a map to the wreck of the Charles S Price, and here’s a list of shipwrecks of the 1913 storm and an account of the weather. You can see more photos from Wikipedia and also in Lakeland Boating’s great slideshow of some of the on and offshore damage from the Freshwater Fury.
More at absolutemichigan.com/Shipwreck and even Michigan shipwrecks on Michigan in Pictures.
South Manitou Lighthouse Relighting Ceremony
May 26, 2009
KAScott_20081011_8056_trailsb, photo by Ken Scott, Photography.
via Leelanau.com
This Saturday (May 30) the National Park Service invites you to officially celebrate the relighting of the South Manitou Island Lighthouse. Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore installed a replica third-order Fresnel lens in the completely refurbished lantern room of the lighthouse last fall, a historic event was made possible by a partnership between the park service, Manitou Islands Memorial Society, Manitou Island Transit, and Electro-Optics Technology, Inc. The light was tested then, but it was too late in the season for the a formal ceremony.
Starting at 9:00 PM at the Maritime Museum in Glen Haven, a National Park Service ranger will present a half-hour interpretive program about the history of the Manitou Passage and the shipwrecks that made it necessary to install a lighthouse to guide mariners through its hazardous waters. Following the program, Superintendent Dusty Shultz and representatives from the partner groups will provide brief remarks and recognize the numerous donors who made this project a reality. Light refreshments will be served and when it’s dark enough, the light will be illuminated.
Ken’s photo of the South Manitou Island Light features a collection of 350, 30 second still images stacked to create startrails. Check it out bigger in Ken’s sky stuff slideshow.
This image is available for purchase as a fundraiser to help pay off the relighting renovation bills. Contact Ken at Ken Scott Photography for more information.
More about the relighting of the South Manitou Light…
- Light from the South Manitou Lighthouse (includes a cool slideshow)
- A Time-lapse of the relighting by Ken Scott
- South Manitou Light Shines Again (with photos of installation)
- A new light for the South Manitou Lighthouse (photos of the lens)
- South Manitou Island Lighthouse Project (details and donations!)
Underwater images from a Lake Michigan Stonehenge
January 13, 2009
Lake Michigan Stones, photo via bldgblog.
In Stonehenge Beneath the Waters of Lake Michigan, Geoff Manaugh of BLDGBLOG writes:
In a surprisingly under-reported story from 2007, Mark Holley, a professor of underwater archaeology at Northwestern Michigan University College, discovered a series of stones – some of them arranged in a circle and one of which seemed to show carvings of a mastodon – 40-feet beneath the surface waters of Lake Michigan. If verified, the carvings could be as much as 10,000 years old – coincident with the post-Ice Age presence of both humans and mastodons in the upper midwest.
Regarding the slightly repurposed “sector scan sonar” device that Northwestern Michigan University professor and underwater archaeologist Dr. Mark Holley & Brian Abbott were using to survey some old wrecks when they made their discovery, Geoff writes:
The circular images this thing produces are unreal; like some strange new art-historical branch of landscape representation, they form cryptic dioramas of long-lost wreckage on the lakebed. Shipwrecks (like the Tramp, which went down in 1974); a “junk pile” of old boats and cars; a Civil War-era pier; and even an old buggy are just some of the topographic features the divers discovered.
You’ll definitely want to click through to read the rest and see more pictures!
You can read a detailed feature about this in U.S. archeologists find possible mastodon carving on Lake Michigan rock at NowPublic and listen to some radio reports from the time of the discovery in August of 2007 that include an interview with Dr. Holley and another with Grand Traverse Bay Ottawa Indian tribal member and historian John Bailey in Mammoth discovery beneath Grand Traverse Bay? on Absolute Michigan.
Hull 301 Launch 3, photo courtesy The Open Lake Group, LLC
I was initially going to use another photo of the Edmund Fitzgerald for this post, but when I asked about that one, Wade showed me this one from the launch of “Hull 301″. How cool is it that I would happen to contact someone who had an unpublished photo of the launch? You can see a couple more photos from the launch (including one that shows the huge crowd) in his Edmund Fitzgerald set.
Saturday June 7th marks the 50th anniversary of the launch of what’s probably the most well known Great Lakes ship. Over on Absolute Michigan, SSEdmundFitzgerald.com posted “Celebrating the launch of the S. S. Edmund Fitzgerald”. Reading it made me realize that our remembrance of what was once the largest ship ever to ply the Great Lakes ignores almost two decades of service and countless hours of hard work and craftsmanship.
It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon on June 7th, 1958, as more than 10,000 people lined the banks of the Detroit River. They had come to witness the launching of Hull 301 at the Great Lakes Engineering Works of River Rouge, Michigan. Mrs. Edmund Fitzgerald, wife of the president of the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company for which the ship was named, christened the brand new ship and at 12:34 p.m. the 729 ft. “Edmund Fitzgerald” slid gracefully into the basin amid cheers, salutes, and well wishers.
For many of those in attendance, it was a spectacle that they would never forget.
The shipyard workers who constructed “Big Fitz” felt a deep sense of satisfaction as they anxiously watched the launch of this marvelous vessel. Being a prideful lot, they often endured long hours and harsh conditions. This was their “crowning achievement” and the beauty of their craftsmanship was truly evident to all those present.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of that memorable event. It is an opportunity to reflect on and celebrate a joyous time in our lives. It is also a chance to recall the great pride and cherished memories experienced by the ship workers, the community, and all who had the opportunity to witness the launching of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
On this historic occasion, let us joyously share our personal stories, renew old friendships, and fondly remember the day when the “Queen Of The Lakes” was born.
June 7, 2008 Detroit MI
Great Lakes Ship Builders (Detroit Area) host the 50th Anniversary of the Edmund Fitzgerald Launch and Down River Celebration from 11 AM – 4 PM on Saturday, June 7 2008. The celebration will include a chance to meet the designers and others who worked on the Fitz, workshops on shipbuilders, and ships built in the downriver during the last 200 years. There will also be a Salute to Excellence Award, launch commemoration, and lots of art and artists. For more information, call Roscoe at 810 955-4305 (and poke around SSEdmundFitzgerald.com).
As often, there’s a Wikipedia entry for the SS Edmund Fitzgerald and you can see a gallery of photos from the building of the Fitz and this Zapruder-class video of the launch of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
Exploring the Florida in the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary
November 20, 2007
Exploring the Florida, Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary
The Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary encompasses almost 450 square miles of Lake Huron’s bottomlands off Alpena. It is the thirteenth national marine sanctuary and was established in 2000 to protect a nationally significant collection of nearly 200 shipwrecks, spanning over a century of Great Lakes shipping history. Thunder Bay is the first Great Lakes sanctuary and also the first to focus solely on a large collection of underwater cultural resources. The headquarters of the Sanctuary is the Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center in Alpena.
The photo above is one of many awesome underwater photos of the Florida and other shipwrecks that can be viewed in their Fieldwork 2007 Gallery. Seriously, this is cool – go look at it and be sure to click the “slideshow” view at the top left to see the larger sized images.
Dave Swayze’s amazing Great Lakes Shipwrecks File includes information on 4,760 great lakes shipwrecks. It says that on May 21, 1897 in dense fog off False Presque Isle, the 271′ package freighter Florida, one of largest boats on the Great Lakes, collided with one of the few that was larger, the steamer George W. Roby. The Roby rescued her crew, but with a large hole in her starboard side, the Florida sank in just 12 minutes in 250′ of water.
There’s more information on the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary and Underwater Preserve over at Absolute Michigan.
Diving the Wreck of the Vienna off Whitefish Point
November 5, 2007
Vienna – 19, photo by mschout.
Global Underwater Explorers page on diving the Vienna says that although extended range divers often use the Vienna as a “blow-off dive because it’s shallow and near shore, it’s also one of the finest wrecks to dive in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. They write that this 191′ wooden steamer:
…came to her demise the same way that many do in Lake Superior, by collision. On 16 September 1892, she was down bound from Marquette, Michigan, with a load of iron ore. In tow was the schooner Mattie C. Bell. At Whitefish Point, the Vienna met up with the Nipigon. The Nipigon also had schooners in tow. Without warning, the Nipigon suddenly veered and struck the Vienna. Despite the efforts of both crews to save the Vienna, the vessel sank approximately one mile from shore. It was never fully understood why the Nipigon veered off course.
You can get more information about this wreck and others near Whitefish Point including a great photo of the Vienna at the ore docks in Marquette at Nordic Diver’s page on the wreck of the steamer Vienna.
Michael Schout has more photos of diving the Vienna (slideshow) and from diving more Great Lakes wrecks including the William Young, Panther, Minneapolis, Northwest, Sandusky and the Eber Ward in his very cool Diving set.
Much more shipwreck info (along with another great photo from Michael) can be found at the Absolute Michigan word of the week: Shipwreck!
Along the Graveyard Coast
November 3, 2007
Keel at Au Sable, photo by swaneesimpalass.
The Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore says that the shipwrecks of Lake Superior’s “Graveyard Coast” represent many eras of shipping. They are relatively well preserved because they have been spared from the human pressures of population and industry.
Some of them have lost their names, while others like the Mary Jarecki or the Annie M Peterson retain some of their stories:
The Annie M. Peterson was a 2-masted wooden schooner-barge built in 1874. She sank in a storm on November 19, 1914 off the mouth of Two-Hearted River on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, when she was lost from her towline, and broke up offshore in heavy seas.
Winter storms in 2003 revealed her ice-encased remains, embedded in the Lake Superior shoreline, about 6 miles east of Grand Marais. Last I heard, she had disappeared again.
Click over to Bruce Moore’s site for the a map to the wreck and stay tuned to Absolute Michigan keyword shipwreck (there’s already a ton of stuff there!) and Michigan in Pictures all November for tales of the wrecks and information about museums, preserves and web sites to learn more about the unfortunate side of Michigan’s rich maritime history.
Miners Castle – October 2006, photo by Lars Jensen
Let’s jump over to the eastern side of the UP for the next color tour of Munising – Newberry – Grand Marais … and the Pictured Rocks.
The highlight of this tour is of course the stunning Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore., (be sure to check out Lars Jensen’s other Pictured Rocks galleries). Travel Michigan starts you heading east from the town of Munising (Munising.com has the best links, but you can also see the Munising Visitors Bureau). 
Be sure to check out Munising area waterfalls including Horseshoe Falls (photographed so well by Amy Kilroy – see her Pictured Rocks set for more!). Regarding Munising, Michigan.org says:
This harbor town of about 2,500 is the departure point for regularly scheduled, 2-1/2 hour, narrated Pictured Rocks Boat Cruises as well as chartered Skylane Air Tours that offer a birds-eye view of the scenery. Hikers can tackle all or a portion of the 43 mile Pictured Rocks segment of The North Country Trail (NCT), a national scenic hiking route from North Dakota to New York.
I’ve never done the Air Tour (check that link above and scroll down for the video!), but the boat cruise offers an amazing look at the Pictured Rocks that’s well worth the time and cost! The Pictured Rocks is my favorite place in Michigan, and I’ve covered it pretty well on Michigan in Pictures and on Absolute Michigan. The same is true of Tahquamenon Falls, so let’s say that Grand Marais is a cool little harbor town with its own brewery and a great little diner car diner and skip over to the Tahquamenon Logging Museum which features all kinds of logging era memorabilia and special events including Lumberjack Breakfasts and a Harvest Fest the 3rd weekend of October.
They don’t stop at the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point (’cause that’s another tour), but you can definitely make the short detour to check this very cool museum out. Then it’s back south to Newberry (recent photos at visitnewberry.com) and then west to the Seney National Wildlife Refuge (Wikipedia entry) and the gorgeous Seney Stretch of M-28. Although this highway has been called “mind-numbingly monotonous” and “the state’s most boring route“, it’s actually pretty beautiful in the fall! (photo to the right is H-58 in Fall Color by James Phelps – part of his great Pictured Rocks set).
Here’s a link to a map of photos from the Munising / Pictured Rocks area in the Absolute Michigan pool!
Just so it’s clear, these fall color tour entries are produced by Absolute Michigan & Michigan in Pictures using the great information compiled in Travel Michigan’s Fall Color Tours as a starting point. We’re trying to add to what they’ve put together – not rip them off! As always, if you have links to information or photos that we missed, comments or reports, post them in the comments below!
Don’t miss our Michigan Fall Wallpaper series and see more of Travel Michigan’s Fall Color Tours.
Huron Island Light Station from the Michigan Lighthouse Collection
September 11, 2007
Huron Island Light Station c. 1965, Archives of Michigan
The Archives of Michigan has a number of digital collections including the Michigan Lighthouse Collection. With almost 600 photos, the Lighthouse Collection is a great resource for lovers of lighthouses and historical photos.
The entry on the Huron Island Light Station in Terry Pepper’s Seeing the Light begins:
When the Soo Locks opened in 1855, maritime traffic boomed around the Keweenaw, with immigrant miners and supplies arriving at the growing number of harbors, and huge loads of copper shipped to feed the incessantly hungry furnaces of the industrial cities of on the southern lakes.
With this increasing vessel traffic it became quickly apparent that the Huron Island chain represented a significant hazard to vessels making their way along the coast. Marking the turning point for vessels coasting in either direction between the lights of Marquette and Portage River, the islands were surrounded by dangerous shoals, were frequently enshrouded in pea-soup fogs, and had been the site of numerous shipwrecks over the years.
You can see more Huron Island Light Station photos from the Archive of Michigan’s Lighthouse Collection, get information about the Huron Island Light from the National Park Service lighthouse inventory, check out a few photos and a map from Lighthouse Friends and also get a more recent view of the Huron Island Lighthouse feature from Michigan in Pictures.
