By Erica Blake

Published in Wreck Diving Magazine, Issue 14

Many didn’t know what was coming. Others didn’t heed the warning.

It was early November and there was always a chance for another run before the ice and snow put a cap on the shipping season. There was one more chance to earn money.

But as all Great Lakes sailors learned that November: When man and nature collide, man rarely wins.

The Great Storm of 1913 was four days of violent winds, blinding snow, and deadly ice that attacked Great Lakes freighters. When the storm subsided ships littered the lake floors and the shores were strewn with the dead.

There have been many storms that have ravaged the Great Lakes — some before 1913, many since.

None, experts say, have equaled the death and devastation.

Twelve ships sank in the violent icy waters, killing their entire crews, at least three have never been found. Countless others were damaged or destroyed.

Official records say 248 people died. Many believe there may be more.

"We were not able to find a worse disaster in U.S. maritime history," explains Capt. David G. Brown from Port Clinton, Ohio, and author of White Hurricane: A Great Lakes November Gale and America’s Deadliest Maritime Disaster. (International Marine Publishing, 250 pages, $24.95).

"We know that [about] 250 sailors died. We know that a dozen ships were smashed. We know that at least a dozen more were run on shore," he added. "We have no idea how many fisherman died, for instance. We just don’t know how much else happened."

Since French explorer Robert LaSalle became the first to sail the upper Great Lakes aboard Le Griffon in 1679, the Great Lakes have played an important part in North American history. Beginning in the early 19th century, freighters have been the most efficient way of transporting large quantities of goods.

Perhaps that is why on Nov. 9, 1913, captains and shipping companies alike set sail despite warnings of inclement weather. After all, neither ship nor crew earned money in port.

Or perhaps no one really knew what was coming. Captains who had spent most of their lives on the lakes did not always respect the predictions of weather forecasters. Instead they lived by the rule that anybody who sat in an office studying weather wasn’t to be believed.

But most importantly, perhaps it was simply that it was seemingly normal weather patterns that developed early that November. The difference, Brown explains, was the way they converged.

Icy arctic air shot down from Canada over the lakes while a low-pressure system full of warm and moist air pushed north over the Appalachians. Together, they created a vacuum over the Great Lakes, he said.

Seamen were used to storms like this lasting for about four or five hours, according to information collected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. This time it was different. The storm raged continuously for more than 16 hours with an average of 60 mph winds. In some areas, blasts of wind blew at a ferocious 90 mph and waves reached 30 feet high.

In a 1913 report, the Lake Carriers’ Association described the storm:

"No lake master can recall in all his experience a storm of such unprecedented violence with such rapid changes in the direction of the wind and its gusts of such fearful speed. ... It was unusual and unprecedented and it may be centuries before such a combination of forces may be experienced again."

Many Great Lakes historians have recorded what happened after the inland seas subsided. They write of devastated family members, who long waited for news of their loved ones, and of multitudes of frozen bodies that washed ashore. They write of how grave robbers combed the beaches, looking for items, both on land and in the victims’ pockets.

Statistics gathered in the aftermath show 71 ships suffered some kind of damage during the length of the storm and only Lake Ontario escaped casualty. Of those, 19 were destroyed and another 20 were stranded.

Lake Huron: 24 vessels damaged, 188 lives lost, more than $5 million in lost property.

Lake Erie: 17 vessels damaged, six lives lost, more than $1.5 million in lost property.

Lake Michigan: 16 vessels damaged, 10 lives lost, nearly $1.6 million in lost property.

Lake Superior: 10 vessels damaged, 44 lives lost, nearly $1.5 million in lost property.

 

Another four ships were damaged in the Straits of Mackinac, and the Detroit and St. Mary’s rivers.  

Stranded out in the deeper waters of the lakes, many of the downed ships sank to depths reachable only to technical divers. Only three, located in Lake Huron’s lower basin, can be visited by sport divers.

The dives are sobering.

The 250-foot-long steel freighter Wexford is the most recently discovered of the Great Storm’s victims.

Long sought after by Great Lakes enthusiasts, the Wexford was found in 2000 by Don Chalmers, who detected something unusual on his fish finder. It became yet another watery tomb revealed.

Located about seven miles off the shore of Canada in lower Lake Huron, the Wexford became our first dive site during a quest to dive the ill-fated ships of the storm. To date, she is the only of the storm’s victims to be found upright, a unique feature considering the storm’s violence.

After nearly a two-hour boat ride from Port Sanilac, Mich., to the site northwest of Grand Bend, Ont., we dropped down about 80 feet to the ship’s stern. Knowing we had two dives on the ship and facing visibility that teetered between 10 and 15 feet, our first tour of the Wexford allowed us an initial look at the oldest of the eight steel ships that sunk during the storm. Built in 1883, she was 30 years old.

Scattered among the broken decking and gaping cargo holds were personal items such as bottles and tools. Ladders that once served the 18 sailors and two passengers — 19 men and l woman — of the ship were now lying on the silted floors.

A long file lay on the wooden planks of the deck, a tool used by at least one of the men who lost his life in the violent storm. That day all perished aboard the Wexford.

There are conflicting reports on what the freighter was hauling on its final voyage, perhaps grain, perhaps steel rails. Whatever the cargo, it has long since disappeared leaving cavernous cargo holds where beams show black against the shimmering green light that filters through the water from above.

A single davit that once helped hold a lifeboat in place on the top deck hung empty.

Like most vessels entombed in the waters of the lower Great Lakes, the Wexford is encased in growth and zebra mussels, an invasive species believed to have been brought from Asia in the ballast water of ocean-faring ships. The ¼-inch mussels could be found everywhere, including on the ship’s anchors, still poised and ready to be dropped from the ship’s bow.

Although there was no longer a pilothouse to explore, the Wexford offered opportunities for experienced divers to investigate inboard. And among the rewards are several portals, some with glass intact and covers in place.

But although the dive offers everything from small artifacts to looming holds, it is difficult to erase the image of one of the most gruesome photographs to emerge from the Great Storm: the dead bodies of sailors washed up on the Canadian shore wearing lifejackets identifying them as crew from the Wexford.

Under the command of Capt. Bruce Cameron, 26, the Wexford’s whistle could be heard through the storm as it approached Goderich harbor in Huron County, Ontario. The ill-fated ship was the first command for Captain Cameron, who had sailed for nearly 10 years prior to leading the ship.

It is in a cemetery in Goderich, off the shores of Lake Huron, a grave marker stands tall to serve as "A memorial to the unidentified seamen whose lives were lost in the Great Lakes disaster of Nov. 9th 1913."

Closer to the U.S. shoreline, in Lake Huron’s Sanilac Shores Underwater Preserve, lies the remains of another tragedy. Like most of the other victims of the 1913 gale storm, the Charles S. Price was found upside down in about 65 feet of water.

The Price was likely flipped after crashing waves formed ice on her deck railings. The monstrous blocks of ice would have weighed so much that, despite the crew’s best efforts, the ship became top-heavy and turned turtle.

Built in 1910 in Lorain, Ohio, the Price was among the largest and heaviest of the ships that succumbed to the fury of the storm. Weighing about 6,320 gross tons, the Price was hauling coal when she foundered.

But the true intrigue of the steel steamer lies not with her cargo and remaining artifacts, but with her story.

After the storm subsided and families looked to the lakes for survivors — either man or vessel — they spotted a dark structure bobbing in the waves. Recognizing it to be an overturned boat with only the keel visible above the surface, locals set about trying to identify the vessel, which was widely becoming known as "The Mystery Ship."

According to news accounts at the time and historical reports written since, a professional diver from Detroit named William Baker descended to the depths of the now calm Lake Huron to find where the painted letters making up the ship’s name were visible. He returned to the surface with an answer to the mystery. The Charles S. Price sank with all hands, a total of 28 men.

Two days later, the Price finished her untimely descent to the bottom.

Because of her position upside down, the Price doesn’t offer the impressive decking and railing seen often on Great Lakes shipwrecks. The collapsed and broken mass of metal is heavily covered in marine growth, making it difficult to discern parts of the vessel. Easily seen and still impressive is the ship’s massive four-blade propeller.

There were not many opportunities for penetration because of the collapsed mid-section of the ship, but we could check out both the starboard stern and port sides. At 504 feet from bow to stern, the Price offers an expansive dive site, one that should be visited more than once to be seen properly.

During our May and July dives, visibility in Lake Huron hovered around 15 or 20 feet but it can range from several dozen feet down to nearly nil. We also experienced temperatures in the mid-40s and virtually no current, but depending on the depth and date, the bottom temperatures in Lake Huron can range from the low 40s to high 50s during the summer months and the current can pick up a bit although it tends not to become too swift.

Further south, but still in the Sanilac Shores Underwater Preserve, rests one of the area’s most visited shipwrecks — the Regina. Lying close enough together to allow divers to visit both in one charter, the Regina and the Price have more than proximity linking them together.

In a mysterious occurrence that still stumps historians, members of the Price’s crew were found with life preservers bearing the name Regina. At the time the theory was that both ship’s collided during the storm and that the seaman grabbed whatever life belts had been thrown to them in the water. But the ships lie16 miles apart on the lake’s floor all but disproves that thinking.

Some say the most likely theory is that thieves pillaging the bodies as they arrived on shore took the life belts off and then returned them to the wrong crewman when authorities cracked down on the horrific thievery. Poor record keeping of what bodies were found where and how has also been suggested.

David Brown has another theory. Perhaps the crew of the Price came across a lifeboat launched by the Regina and were trying to rescue the men through a set of dutch doors in the ship’s stern. The chief engineer, who would have gone to open the doors, may have fallen or possibly even jumped as a wave crashed into the side of the ship and so ended up on the Regina’s lifeboat while his own ship fell into the tumultuous seas.

In reality, it may never be known.

Like the Price, the Regina was discovered upside down. One of the ship’s anchors was dropped — perhaps in a desperate attempt to keep it from being slammed toward shore — and her massive chain now can be seen extending into the muck of Lake Huron’s floor.

Knowing what fate was about to bestow their ship, the crew of the Regina was able to launch at least one lifeboat, perhaps more, historians say. But those men did not make it safely to shore.

A 250-foot steel package freighter, the Regina was discovered in 1986 in about 80 feet of water. More intact than the Price and therefore easier to navigate, the Regina is a frequently visited wreck.

Attractive to most divers is the potential discoveries found in a debris field made after the Regina flipped in the violence of the storm, dropping hundreds of her possessions to the lake’s floor. There are tools, personal items and something that appeared to be as simple as a coffee can, left behind by the 20 men who perished in the storm.

Although divers can spend their entire air supply discovering new items in the vast debris field, it is the ship’s stern that draws the most attention. There, in addition to a massive propeller, is the rudder, fully intact and looming in the water.

Perhaps the most impressive of the ship’s features is her name on the bow, still easily visible — although upside down — thanks to the divers before who rub the letters clean.

But as with all ships that have made the Great Lakes their final resting site, diving the Regina has proven dangerous. In 2000, two divers died while exploring the inside of the wreck. No one knows what happened. It is believed that they ran out of air while trying to find their way out of the ship’s internal maze.

The Wexford, the Regina, and the Charles S. Price, these three ships are not alone in their failure to make it through the Great Storm. Also losing their entire crews into the near-freezing waters of the lakes were the Leafield and Henry B. Smith on Lake Superior; the Plymouth in Lake Michigan; the Lightship 82 in Lake Erie; and in Lake Huron, the Argus, James Carruthers, Hydrus, John A. McGean and Isaac M. Scott.

And although meteorologists and historians marvel at the devastation of the Great Storm and divers are awed by the aftermath, little else seemed to change on the Great Lakes for decades to come.

"The 1913 storm became a storm of legend. It became a storm for the sailor tales, sea stories. It became a touch point to say, ‘I was a sailor out there.’" Captain Brown said.

"But in fact, nothing changed," he added.

"The weather bureau did not improve because of it. They did not change their system. They did not accept the fact that there were storms that big on the Great Lakes. The shipping companies did not change their expectations on their captains to make the voyage no matter what. That did not change. …

"So the exact result of the great lakes storm of 1913 was 250 some graves."