breakwall
CANDU Reactor™
- Joined
- Feb 7, 2003
- Posts
- 47,009
I was looking over my Grandfather's journals recently. He was born in the late 1890s and fought in the first World War. From the time he was about 12 he kept a journal. He collected them all and kept a faithful correspondance to them until he met my grandmother, wherupon he began writing his thoughts to her in letters and less to the journal.
My family has always concentrated on the slim beige-coloured, much abused and marked volume of his journal that details his tour in WWI. It has been the one most copied and preserved, while the others have been perused but only at leisure.
Today I read over my Grandfather's accounts of the Storm of 1913. He worked part time at the harbour in his Lake Huron hometown and was very affected by what happened over the three days that the Big Blow ravaged the Great Lakes.
Just an excerpt.
"Reports flying in from all over. As boats moor, crew jumps off to tell us the terror on the lake. One man from the "Stoddard" tells of waves so high they shatter the glass in the pilothouse.
"The waves have swamped the pier. The wall of rocks now barely pokes above the water. The wind has whipped the water and snow into a biting mist and flung it straight at us. (Harbourmaster)Capt. Stevens has taken all his papers off the desk in the office because the windows are leaking.
"We've heard reports that distress signals are coming in all up and down the lakes. I've heard three familiar ships named who have crew aboard from the town. I pray for them and their families."
November 7th, 1913, two converging storm cells met over the Great Lakes creating one of the worst storm events in shipping history. Over the course of three days, the storm pounded the lakes with winds over 60 mph, and gusts up to 90 mph, that shifted constantly as it spun across the region. Waves were recorded at 35 feet high and blinding snow dropped visibility to zero.
When the skies cleared on the 11th, 19 ships were sunk, 19 or more damaged or stranded and a total of over 250 sailors lost. In the weeks and months to follow, bodies and debris would wash up on shores.
It took years for the Great Lakes shipping business to recover it's losses. The personal toll was one that many would never recover from. One particular family in Owen Sound, Ontario lost 6 members. Two brothers and their sons all were lost.
A few sidenotes:
Historically, storms of such magnitude and with such high velocities haven't lasted more than four or five hours. This storm, however, raged at an average speed of 60 mph (100 km/h) for over sixteen hours, with frequent bursts of over 70 mph (110 km/h). It crippled traffic on the lakes and throughout the Great Lakes basin region.
In the late afternoon of November 10, an unknown vessel was spotted floating upside-down in about sixty feet 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 to the bottom, and it was not until early Saturday morning, November 15, that it was finally identified as Charles S. Price.
It's interesting to me, anyway.
My family has always concentrated on the slim beige-coloured, much abused and marked volume of his journal that details his tour in WWI. It has been the one most copied and preserved, while the others have been perused but only at leisure.
Today I read over my Grandfather's accounts of the Storm of 1913. He worked part time at the harbour in his Lake Huron hometown and was very affected by what happened over the three days that the Big Blow ravaged the Great Lakes.
Just an excerpt.
"Reports flying in from all over. As boats moor, crew jumps off to tell us the terror on the lake. One man from the "Stoddard" tells of waves so high they shatter the glass in the pilothouse.
"The waves have swamped the pier. The wall of rocks now barely pokes above the water. The wind has whipped the water and snow into a biting mist and flung it straight at us. (Harbourmaster)Capt. Stevens has taken all his papers off the desk in the office because the windows are leaking.
"We've heard reports that distress signals are coming in all up and down the lakes. I've heard three familiar ships named who have crew aboard from the town. I pray for them and their families."
November 7th, 1913, two converging storm cells met over the Great Lakes creating one of the worst storm events in shipping history. Over the course of three days, the storm pounded the lakes with winds over 60 mph, and gusts up to 90 mph, that shifted constantly as it spun across the region. Waves were recorded at 35 feet high and blinding snow dropped visibility to zero.
When the skies cleared on the 11th, 19 ships were sunk, 19 or more damaged or stranded and a total of over 250 sailors lost. In the weeks and months to follow, bodies and debris would wash up on shores.
It took years for the Great Lakes shipping business to recover it's losses. The personal toll was one that many would never recover from. One particular family in Owen Sound, Ontario lost 6 members. Two brothers and their sons all were lost.
A few sidenotes:
Historically, storms of such magnitude and with such high velocities haven't lasted more than four or five hours. This storm, however, raged at an average speed of 60 mph (100 km/h) for over sixteen hours, with frequent bursts of over 70 mph (110 km/h). It crippled traffic on the lakes and throughout the Great Lakes basin region.
In the late afternoon of November 10, an unknown vessel was spotted floating upside-down in about sixty feet 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 to the bottom, and it was not until early Saturday morning, November 15, that it was finally identified as Charles S. Price.
It's interesting to me, anyway.