By Rick Garcia
When I think of November in Michigan, I instantly picture a dark, angry air of tumultuous weather as Gordon Lightfoot’s haunting ballad “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” continuously plays in my head. “November Witch” is the name that sailors have used for years to refer to the unexpected and wickedly violent storms on the Great Lakes. There are many stories and legends coming out of the large fresh water body that shaped our great State into a sailing enigma.
One legendary event I recently took part in was the “Great Lakes Storm of 1913 Remembered.” The event, sponsored by the Port Huron Museum, included a dedication and ceremony of a Sailor’s Memorial at the base of the Blue Water Bridge where descendants of the victims of this storm along with friends and supporters gathered for a vigil as the bag-pipes played “Amazing Grace” while the monument unveiled a six-foot brass propeller from a coal freighter. The monument was conceived,
inspired and donated by Wayne and Donna Brusate with support from the James C. Acheson
Foundation.
For four days in November 1913, the “White Hurricane”, the worst weather that the Great Lakes could muster, where two colliding storm fronts centered in Lake Huron wreaked havoc and devastation that had not been known before or since. When it was all over, 19 ships were lost (some have yet to be located 100 years later), and over 250 sailors were dead. Up to 40 foot waves lashed Lake Huron, almost devastating Michigan’s oldest Lighthouse at Fort Gratiot.
There are many eyewitness accounts that tell the story of the true human drama, tragedy and feats of great heroism. The Storm of 1913 occurred at a turning point in the United States for commerce,
transportation and society at large. It greatly impacted Great Lakes shipping
procedures and how sailors and cargo were protected, that stand to this day. Tragic as it was for the families of those lost seafarers, the memories are preserved at a number of historical centers and museums throughout the State. There’s the Dossin Great Lakes Museum at the Detroit Historical Society or the Michigan Maritime Museum in South Haven.
Many Michiganders have witnessed winter’s wrath of lakeshore storms. Artisans have been inspired through their artwork, poems, stories and songs about the “Gales of November”. There’s a understated beauty of our State’s coastline during this time of the year where dark grey waters tousled with
streaming whitecaps move in disarray, like a crowded airport during Thanksgiving holiday.
Unlike the salty winter storms I’ve encountered in the Pacific Northwest, where it’s the norm, facing a Great Lakes storm is fascinating because you have on one of fresh water at your feet during the Summer, while in Winter, you distance yourself from a dark, wicked, unforgiving and untamed icy
waters .
Nowhere on this planet will you find a place shaped and surrounded by 21% of the World’s supply of freshwater creating the most violent and damaging effects on sea-crafts which easily sinks unlike saltwater. Many sailors and watercraft enthusiast have the utmost
respect for what Mother Nature has endowed Michigan – The Great Lakes.
You can learn more about this historic event at the Port Huron Museum and their wonderful exhibit on
the “Storm of 1913 Remembered” by visiting the website www.phmuseum.org
Rick Garcia, a nonprofit executive, a civil rights advocate, blogger and a contributing writer for The New Citizens Press can be reached at rrgarcianrg@gmail.com
This was printed in the December 1, 2013 – December 28, 2013 Edition
