Great Lakes Coast Gaurd

[JohnnyTarr]

Bill Wangemann column: The Great Lakes: A notorious graveyard

Storms on these inland seas can seemingly pop up out of nowhere —summer storms with gale force winds, driving rain and hail are not uncommon and have sent many a stout ship and her brave crew to a watery grave.

However, the storms of autumn and winter are the worst on the Great Lakes.

Ships can be assaulted by near hurricane-force winds, driving snow and sleet that can cause near whiteout conditions. The most treacherous month to sail the Great Lakes is the month of November; during this month more ships have been lost than any other.

Even modern, powerful steel ships have been lost during the gales of November. It was on Nov. 10, 1975 that the modern steel-hulled, 725-foot Edmund Fitzgerald was lost with her entire crew on Lake Superior.

Sailing on the Great Lakes has always been a hazardous profession, especially in the early days. About 1845, ships began to use the inland waterways on a regular basis. There was no accurate weather reporting, charts of the lakes were either poor or just non-existent.

Stubborn captains, even though on occasion they did have charts, refused to use them. Wind, fire, ice and collisions took a terrible toll of these early mariners.

In the early days of sailing on the Great Lakes there was no organized system to assist ships in distress. In the late 1860s, pressure was being put on Congress to organize a life-saving service on our ocean coastlines as well as the Great Lakes.

In 1871, the United States Life Saving Service began to have a presence on the Great Lakes, as life-saving stations were constructed at frequent intervals around the lakes, and in many cases were manned by full-time crews.

Sheboygan was no exception. A life-saving station here was built and manned in the mid-1870s. Our first life-saving station was located directly across the river from today's Coast Guard station. Most of the men staffing these stations were experienced sailors or fishermen who had spent most of their lives on the lakes.

The life-saving station in Sheboygan, as did many stations on the Great Lakes, had a lookout tower built on the roof and was manned during daylight hours during the shipping season.

Beach patrolmen also patrolled the beaches looking for any vessels that might be in distress. If a vessel was noted in distress the patrolman had to race back to the life-saving station and alert the crew who would then man open boats and begin rowing toward the stricken vessel.

Sheboygan's life-saving crew was called out many times to come to the aid of stricken vessels and to rescue their passengers and crew. The station here, for many years, was commanded by Captain Oley Groh. The log books of the Sheboygan life-saving station which still exists, kept by Captain Groh, give a fascinating insight to the station's daily operation.

The lifesavers on the Great Lakes carried out their duties with courage and dedication for over 44 years before becoming a part of the U.S. Coast Guard in 1915.

Today's Tidbit: It was reported that at an unnamed life-saving station a crew of lifesavers, at the height of a roaring gale, were seen rowing out into the lake lashed by huge waves.

An onlooker shouted to the coxswain of the boat, "You fools, you'll never get back!" Where upon the coxswain replied, "The book only says we have to go out, it doesn't say we have to come back."

All of the columns I wrote in 2004 have been compiled into a book, "Grandma, What Did You Do Before TV?" available at the Sheboygan County Historic Research Center in Sheboygan Falls and other locations. For more information on this book, e-mail schrc@execpc.com or call (920) 467-4667. If you have comments on this column, please feel free to contact me at wwangemann@charter.net or (920) 458-2974.

[Hester]

Hi, Johnny:

Thanks for posting that. Being a Great Lakes gal myself, I love this old lore.

Cheers, Hester

[William Blydes]

Great Lake squalls can be really nasty.

Come up suddenly and disappear as quick.

Many a square-rigger has been caught too close to shore during such a storm.

Here in Kingston, at the mouth of the 1000 Islands we have many great scuba diving sites on wreaks caused by the sudden storms.

From the air, you can see the sites. Most are on tips of islands.

Thank the Zebra mussel for clearing up the lakes and giving great visibility.

I’ve been caught on the water when a water spout has appeared. That’s a tornado on the water. We were safety boats for the big sailing regatta they have here every year (biggest fresh water regatta in the world by hull numbers). I instructed all the sailors (Laser 1s) to turn turtle and hold on. Luckily, the waterspout didn’t come to close.

[JohnnyTarr]

Thanks all I hoped that this would be of interest to some. Here were people that risked their lives to get others out of trouble. It had to be the worst of the worst conditions.