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The Goderich Signal-Star, 1974-11-14, Page 17127 YEAR -46. D ettcjj - G AL THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1974 SECOND SECTION A day for rememberhng • Lest we forg The lone soldier that stands in Court House Park .as a memorial to the men and women of Goderich who served their country in both World Wars received tribute on Monday from the living who owe so much to the dead. (staff -photo) Mayor Harry Worsell laida Remembrance Day wreath✓ at the foot of the cenotaph on behalf of the town and placed a poppy on it as a personal 'token of his appreciation for those who served. (staff -photo) Silver Star Mother, Mrs. Betty,Westbrook, placed the first of many wreaths at the Cenotaph in Court He ise Park on Monday'mornin,g 4111 a.m. Over a hundred people braved the rainand cold to honor the dead from. both World Wars. (staff -photo) • The Goderich branch of the Men's and Women's Royal Canadian. Legion paraded to The ,Square for Remembrance Day ceremonies Monday. The veterans stood at'attention for the service and placed their poppies on the 'wreaths placed at the foot of the cenotaph, (staff- -' photo) �••1.••\..•V•1:••1••V•��••1•t1rVrV.��.�.. �►.r�►....a�•V.'�.. .••••..^►. 0,l•�ar�...�►.•1.rte►.r�.�•1..•v•••••...•r•••.••'••.••,..4•014.V•••••••••••\ •1.r.......1•..•1•••�...•••�..•�..t..•�.�►.•�►.•'•"`•r�►r,t•.ti.•.�•rt••1.•••+�••-••••.a•1.•,••..i-•••:.t1..•• 1..•1..••x.••+-.•v•t•••••.••_•• ••1••...a.,•••1••1..•y. at November w Great disaster recalled en 254 sailors perished at sea It was November of 1913 that 254 sailors andegrew lost their lives in what has come to be known as The Great Stormin this photo supplied to the Signal-Starby Mrs. Mamie Sutcliffe, the -funeral procession from Brophy's Funeral Home moves solernnly aroun.d.The Square on its way to Maitland Cemetery. Cj Goderich citizen's still take time out to remember this tragic marine disaster and .those whtl died there are honored along with all sailors and fishermen at the annual Mariners' Service the last Sunday of February Story by Jason ikinslie, winner of 1974 Oral Communication Contest No one who stood along the shores of Lake Huron that night will ever forget the horror of those cries for help which pierced- the darkness' below.. h It was on a Sunday, Novem- ber 9, 19'13 that the storm came unexpectedly. The storm had actually begun to form on Friday, November 7 but it was centred over Minnesota and was heading for the Great Lakes. The United States weather bureau had posted storr?i warnings all over the area but in the past, these war- nings had often been false alarms so sailors didn't pay much attention. 'More impor- tant, the shipping season would he closed in two weeks and Steamship t-csmpranies -.wanted their boats to make as many trips as possible. F.a . Sunday morning, winds were only fen miles per hour hut by mid-afternoon they were. gusting up to -3(1 and 4(i miles per hour and still rising. Many people who went to the lake bank to see the storm could lean right into the north wind and still he- standing. Around five' o'clock the wind had' reached gale proportions. Ships were battling -against the storm to get to a port when the skippers saw what weather they were coming into. Ore skipper,., Captain A.C.' May was heading his ship 9ut of' the St. Clair River into Lake Huron on that Sunday mor- ning. At .-, nohn, he saw the steamer "Price" just north of Sand Beach which was making "bad weather". Observing this, he decided not to take chances and turning around, be headed for the foot of the. lake. Here, he met the „Regina" just south of Har- bour. Beach and at three -thirty he passed the "Isaac M Scott". That was the last time anyone Maw those ships aid snort after, Captain May, himself, ran into trouble. He ,set his course toward the Huron light -ship but it had pulled away from its anchor and was floating southward. Consequently, his ship went aground but he and his crew were all saved. Captains of hoats which got to port safe!, all agreed that they had rte, er before w tt-, nessed such rapid change in wind direction and such gusts of speed. For 16 hours, there' was a continuous gale with winds averaging sixty miles per hour and even going in one direction .and the waves, often as high as 35 feet, running in atibther. One man said that the waves were like inountains and looking down into the troughs was like looking into a valley far below Many strange. unexplained circumstances were connected with bodies recovered along the shoreline. The body of Milton Smith, an engineer aboard the "Price", one of the eight ships which sank in the Goderich area, came ashore in a life - preserver fronr the Regina"! These ships may have collided during the storm and the sailors could have scrambled from one ship, to the other in a frenzy. The body of the stewardess of the "Argus", another boat which sank was found wrapped in a heavy coat belonging to an engineer, woTiWabout her waist was the Captain's own life - preserver on it. The Captain 9 probably gave it up to the stewardess so that she could survive to tell the story of the disaster. Only a handful of people did survive. In the storm,- -71 ships and 254 sailors went down. Twenty- four ships were lost in Lak4 Huron -eight of'them lost in the Goderich area carrying 151' lives. One Of the most phenominal things that happened during the. storm was the fact that watches on the bodies orsailors from several ships had all step- ped at approximately the same time - twenty-five minutes past one o'clock in .the morhing. This could either mean that a number of ships may have collided :during the storm and '- the sailors drowned at the same time or perhaps, 'these ships were so closes to each other that when they were caught in the climax of the storm', they sank together. No one is totally sure of anything concerning the storm and no one, probably, Will ever he sure about it as' long as the Storm of 1913 remains history!