Zurich Citizens News, 1969-07-31, Page 16PAGE SIXTEEN ZURICH CITIZENS NEWS
Historical Plaque at Goderich to
Commemorate Great Storms of 1913
On Sunday, August 3, a
historical plaque will be unveilec
at Cobourg and Lighthouse
Streets, Goderich, commemor-
ating the Great Storm of 1913.
This plaque is one of a series
being erected throughout the
province by the Department of
Public Records and Archives,
acting on the advice of the
Archaeological and Historic
Sites Board of Ontario.
Sunday's ceremoney, which
will commence at 2:30 p.m.,
is being arranged and sponsored
by the Goderich Lions Club.
Clayton Edwards, chairman of
the Community Betterment
Committee, will act as program
chairman. Others who have
ben invited to take part in the
ceremony include: His Worship
Dr. G. F. Mills, Mayor of
Goderich; the Honourable C. S.
MacNaughton, Treasurer of
Ontario and Minister of
Economics; Murray Gaunt, M.
P.P. (Huron -Bruce); Harold
Baird, president of the Goderich
Lions Club; Professor W. S.
Goulding, representing the
Historic Sites Board of Ontario;
James Scott, historian; and the
Rev. G. L. Royal, of Knox
Presbyterian Church, Goderich.
The plaque will be unveiled by
Harold Turner, president of
the Huron County Historical
Society.
A storm centered over Minnesot
on Friday, November 7, 1913,
caused the U. S. weather bureau
to order storm warnings hoisted
that morning in Great Lake
ports. Southwest gales, however,
are not unusual at that time of
year, and only routine precaution
were taken. The decision of
many Great Lake skippers to
proceed with sailing plans proved
disastrous, for what was being
forecast proved to be the most
destructive storm in the history
of the Lakes.
That night the storm -centre
was over Marquette, Michigan,
and on Saturday morning it
moved eastward to Sault Ste.
Marie. There was still no great
concern by nightfall, when it wa$
located about Alpena, Michian,
having swung southeastward dgur-
ing the day, but that night it
struck Lake Huron with un-
precedented savagery. The wind
was now coupled with a blizzard
and together they caused wide -
'mead Havoc, notably in Milwau-
kee, Chicago and Cleveland.
This, however, was nothing
compared with what was
happening on the Lakes.
The first reported marine
casualty was the old wooden
steamer "Louisiana" of
Cleveland, which was driven
ashore near Green Bay, Wiscon-
sin, and immediately destroyed
by fire. Like those of other
ships driven aground, her crew
were later to consider themselves
fortunate.
Few "lakers" of the time had
radio equipment, hence their
owners and the relatives of their
crews could only conjecture
how they had fared. The worst
imaginings fell short of reality,
particularly as concerned ships
on Lake Huron, The first
intimation of disaster was the
report of a vessel upside down,
a dozen miles northeast of Port
Huron, Michigan. The report
came on November 10, yet it
was the first confirmation of a
vessel totally lost among the
many missing on Lake Huron.
Her identity remained a mystery
until the following Saturday,
when a diver established her as
the "Charles S. Price" of
Cleveland. one the largest and
newest ships on the Lakes. She
sank two days later.
Meanwhile the forebodings
occasioned by the discovery of
the "Price" were being con-
firmed as bodies and wreckage
was washed ashore, particularly
along the coast of Huron County.
Incredible though it seemed,
THURSDAY, JULY 31, 1969
it gradually now became certain
that seven other freighters had
simply vanished: The James
Carruthers, "Wexford", and
"Regina" of Toronto, and the
"Isaac M. Scott", "John A.
McGean", "Argus", and "Hydrus'
all of Cleveland. No trace has
ever since been found of any of
them.
Not a soul survived from any
of their crews, totalling some
187. The work of. recovering
and identifying their bodies
was undertaken by the Welfare
Plan Committee of the Lake
Carriers" Association. The
committee, headed by Captain
E. O. Whitney of Ashtabula,
Ohio, made its headquarters
at the Bedford Hotel in
Goderich. Fewer than one-third
of the missing men were ever
found, and not all of those were
identified. Five unidentified
bodies were buried at Goderich
and three at Kincardine.
Though Lake Huron bore the
brunt of the destruction, two
steamers were lost on Lake
Superior, two barges on Lake
Michigan and a lightship on Lake
Erie, with a total loss of 57
lives. As well, six other
steamers were wrecked on various
lakes. two of them on Lake
Huron, and became "construct-
ive total losses, " while another
nineteen were damaged by
stranding.
What actually happened to the
eight ships sunk on Lake Huron
will likely never be known.
With wind velocities in the
vicintiy of sixty m.p.h., waves
were running as high was thirty
feet or more, sufficient enou ht
f
to tear off hatch covers and ill
a laden ship in a few minutes.
Some may even have collided
in the blinding snow. How the
"Price" turned turtle rather
than floundering like the others,
has been a matter for conjecture
ever since. The best guess may
be that her cargo of coal shifted
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as she rolled. carrying her all
the way over and smashing its
way through her hatches as
she went. There would thus
be sufficient air trapped in her
bottom to keep her afloat.
The storm played no favourites
as regards age or size. The
"James Carruthers", 550 feet
long, had been launched at
Collingwood only that spring,
and had been built with a
particular eye to strength and
seaworthiness, The "Wexford",
on the other hand, was the oldest
of all those lost, having been
built in Britain in 1883, and was
only half the length of the
"Carruthers".
There have been other gales
since, that of November 11-12,
1940, being particularly violent,
but then only two ships were
lost, and a total of 67 lives.
The main reason for the disparity
"hay be found in the improved
methods of weather prediction,
the radio -direction -finding
Twilight Meeting
At Peck Farm
A twilight meeting on crop
production will be held on
Thursday, July 31, at 7 p.m.,
at the farm of Jack Peck, 1
miles west of Kippen.
This meeting is sponsored by
the Huron County Soil and Crop
Improvement Association in co-
operation with Jack Peck and
the Ontario Department of
Agriculture and Food.
equipment by then carried -in
most ships, and the greatly
improved system of Batch
covers installed in most of
them. Add war -developed
radar to these improvements,
and the liklihood of a 1913 -
style catastrphe ever happening
again is very small.
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