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Ghost Fleet Of The Great Lakes 83

The Ghost Fleet of the

Great Lakes

Continued from Page 82

A mere two months later, the Western Reserve’s
sister ship, the W.H. Gilcher, commanded by
Captain Lloyd H. Weeks, left Buffalo, New
York, headed for Milwaukee carrying a cargo of
coal. The ship entered Lake Michigan through
the Straits of Mackinaw straight into a raging
storm. Although it had been specially equipped
specifically for riding out foul weather, the W.H.
Gilcher nevertheless never made it to its
destination, and the only sign of it was a floating
field of debris spotted by some passing ships.
All of its crew of 21 were lost. The ship is still
reportedly seen to this day off Mackinaw Island,
usually covered in a veil of fog, and it is said that
one can still see a spectral Captain Weeks at the
helm of the ship. The spectral W.H. Gilcher is
said to occasionally let loose with a powerful
wail from its fog horn.
Joining the ranks of the Ghost Fleet is
the ill-fated schooner, the Erie Board of Trade,
which disappeared on Lake Huron in 1883. The around an enormous steel ore steamer called the S. S. Edmund Fitzgerald
Emperor. The ship went down in a storm in 1947
story of the Eerie Board of Trade is curious in
along with a crew of 12, and its wreck has since
that it was not storms or rogue waves that
become a favorite among divers, who One of the most famous ships ever to sail on
brought it down, but rather the sinister efforts of
sometimes bring back eery stories from their the Great Lakes, the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald
a ghost. Allegedly, the captain of the vessel had
excursions. One recreational diver in 1988 was built in 1957 and early 1958 by Great
ordered a crewman to climb up the main mast of
reported swimming into a crew cabin of the Lakes Engineering Works. The ship was
the ship under conditions when it was clearly
Emperor to find the ghost of a crewman casually christened on June 8, 1958 and set off on its
unsafe, after which he fell to his death. Not long
lying back in his bunk. The apparition reportedly maiden voyage on September 24th of that same
after the tragic accident, the crewman’s ghost year.
began to be frequently sighted on the ship. After merely stared blankly at the diver before
vanishing. Another diver allegedly came across At the time of her christening, the S.S.
a stop at port, the unnerved crew related the tale
a phantom crewman working on equipment in Edmund Fitzgerald was the largest ship on the
to others, after which the ship sailed off and
the engine room, who stared at him with eyes Great Lakes with a length of 729 feet and a
vanished off the face of the earth. The ship is weight of 13,632 tons when empty. She was
that were described as “dark pools of nothing,
still seen sailing along from time to time, with a named for the new chairman of the board of the
really just black holes, but still they asked the
full phantom crew compliment recruited by the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company.
silent questions, ‘Why me? Where are my
ghost of the crewman who had plummeted to his She sailed largely without incident until
friends? Why am I alone?.” After a moment of
death. September 6, 1969, when she hit ground near
staring at the diver, the ghost apparently went
Another ship called the Hudson was lost the Soo Locks, causing internal and external
on September 16, 1901 on Lake Michigan, near back to work inspecting and dutifully repairing damage to the ship. On April 30, 1970, the S.S.
decrepit, muck encrusted equipment that had not
Keweenaw Point. The lost ship would make a Edmund Fitzgerald once again found trouble
been operational in years. Other divers have told
bizarre appearance decades later, when on on the Lakes, when she collided with the S.S.
of hearing engine noises emanating from the
September 16, 1940, a tugboat captain and his Hochelaga. Less than 5 months later, on
long dead ship and being commanded by a
crew spotted an old, rust covered ship drifting September 4, 1970, the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald
raspy, sinister metallic voice to “die.”
near Keweenaw Point. On closer inspection, it sustained more damage after hitting a lock
Other supposedly haunted wrecks litter
was noticed that the ship was not only covered wall.
the bottom of the Great Lakes as well. One is the
with rust, but also a strange, brown slime. The During the early 1970s, additional
wreck of the SS Kamloops, which sunk in 1927.
captain of the tugboat sensed that the vessel was damage from a series of incidents continued to
in some sort of distress and boarded it despite The wreck is most infamous for its permanent damage the ship’s exterior and interior. On
resident, a preserved body in the engine room
the ominous, slime coated appearance. The January 7, 1974, the ship lost her bow anchor
that is referred to as “Grandpa.” It is said that the
captain allegedly was welcomed with a near Belle Isle in the Detroit River. This anchor
body is known to float up behind divers and
completely empty, desolate ship, and made his was later recovered and is now on exhibit at the
follow them around the engine room. This could
way to the pilot house, where he discovered that Dossin Great Lakes Museum.
be just the effect of currents combined with the
the ship was not as unoccupied as he had first On the morning of November 9, 1975,
creepy atmosphere, but there are those who
thought. He reportedly saw the spectral the ship was loaded with taconite pellets and
swear the corpse actually moves about on its
apparitions of the Hudson’s captain and set off from Superior, Wisconsin bound for Zug
own, bobbing around animated by some
helmsman, who proceeded to explain to the Island in Detroit. In gale force winds and a
mysterious force. blinding snow storm, sometime after 7pm on
tugboat captain that they were doomed to
Ghost ships and haunted vessels are the following day, November 10, 1975, the S.S.
eternally relive the sinking of their ship every
certainly not confined to the high seas. As the Edmund Fitzgerald sank in Lake Superior near
September 16. The ghostly crew warned the
Ghost Fleet of the Great Lakes shows, there are Whitefish Bay. There were no survivors; 29
terrified tugboat captain to get off, and he
plenty of creepy and foreboding stories inland as men perished and are entombed with her.
promptly ran for dear life, jumping straight into
well, upon these expansive waters. Whether In 1976, singer Gordon Lightfoot
the water and frantically swimming to his own
these are just tall tales or truly haunted ships immortalized the ship and its crew in his
boat. The Hudson has allegedly been seen from
from beyond the realm of the living, be they the haunting ballad, “The Wreck of the Edmund
time to time since, always on September 16 off
product of overactive imaginations or of Fitzgerald.” On July 4, 1995, the ship’s bell
of Keweenaw Point.
supernatural forces, it seems that some lost ships was recovered from wreck and is now on
One of the weirdest stories involving
and their crews have a way of sticking around display at the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum.
haunted ships on the Great Lakes revolves
long after they have supposedly vanished. []