My City December 2022

MYHISTORY

In November 1913, the Great Lakes were hit with a storm the likes of which none have ever seen before. Its ferocity was unmatched by any in recorded history. Dubbed “The White Hurricane” it left more than a doz en shipwrecks throughout the lakes and took over 250 lives.The White Hurricane still holds the distinction of being the largest inland maritime disaster in U.S. history. It grew so quickly and at such a time in history, that disastrous effects were inevitable. For those stuck out on the waters of the Great Lakes, the storm of 1913 was four days of horror. It brought winds of speeds upwards of 90 mph and waves as high as 50 feet on Southern Lake Huron. Whiteout conditions and ice accumulation presented an even bigger problem – ships couldn’t navigate. Once caught in the storm, a ship’s fate was sealed unless it got lucky. Not many were lucky enough. One fortunate ship was the L. C.Waldo, trapped on Lake Superior. Faced with 70 mph winds and a broken rudder, the ship was thrust aground on Gull Rock near Manitou Island and nearly cracked in two. It was irrepa rably broken. Out on the water, it had lost its pilot house and wheelsman as he was swept from the wheelhouse by

a 35-foot wave.The captain knew the ship was lost and turned his attention to self-preservation. He ordered his men to wedge the ship as far as possible into the rocks using as much power as it had left, and to then take shelter in the ship’s bow.There, in the unheated windlass

room, they waited out the storm’s fury. Second Mate Feeger recounted a little of that

night: “The wind sent one gigantic wave after another over parts of the ship …The snow was so blinding that none of us could see 50 ft. ahead,” he stated.There was little warning as to the ferocity of the storm and what warning came had come too late. The Great Lakes storms of November were one of the main reasons for the creation of a National Weather Service in 1869 when Rep. Halbert E. Paine of Wisconsin introduced a bill that called for a weather warning service under the Secretary of War.The service was just beginning to stand on its own two legs in 1913.The common prac tice was for forecasters to telegraph gale warnings to more

A SHIPWRECK ON THE COAST OF LAKE SUPERIOR

longquattro / ehrlif / stock.adobe.com

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