Page 62 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - February 2023 Edition

62 Lake Ontario’s Bermuda Triangle

‘Strange things out there’:

Inside Lake Ontario’s
‘Bermuda Triangle’

Continued from Page 61

Is there a natural explanation?

The high number of shipwrecks comes as
no surprise to Marc Seguin, Ontario
historian and lighthouse preservation
advocate.

“It’s been known for centuries as the

most dangerous part of the lake,” he says.

Seguin sees no need to resort to occult
superstition to explain the trend.

“The cause of the loss of every ship on
“On the ocean, you can run out a storm,” Baillod. “Thousands of sailors lost their
Lake Ontario could be explained by says Baillod, the maritime historian. lives, and that was the cost of doing
natural causes.”
“You try that on the Great Lakes, you end business.”
up in someone’s cornfield in a few
According to Seguin, one major reason
hours.” By the mid-20th century, modern weather
why so many ships met their untimely
forecasting and improved shipbuilding
demise on the eastern end of the lake is It’s one of the cruelest tragedies of Great had alleviated most of the hazards of
the geography. Much of Lake Ontario is
Lakes shipping — many of the most Great Lakes shipping. The last major
relatively deep and easy to navigate.
horrifying disasters occurred within shipwreck was that of the SS Edmund
While you can’t tell by looking at a map,
shouting distance of the shore. Fitzgerald, which sank off the coast of
the lakebed tilts up sharply the closer you
Lake Superior in 1975, killing 29. Even
get to the eastern shore. The deeps give In fact, the deadliest shipwreck in Great so, reports of strange incidents in the
way to a chain of rocky islands and
Lakes history happened just 20 feet from Vortex never went away, but rather,
shoals stretching across the lake from
land, when the SS Eastland capsized off a moved up into the sky.
Prince Edward County to New York —
Chicago pier in 1915, killing 844
the somewhat comically named Duck-
passengers en route to a company picnic. Strange objects in the air
Galloo Ridge.

Dangerous waters across the One of the things Prince Edward County
This area was especially dangerous in the
Great Lakes resident Sid Wells recalls most vividly
19th century, before the era of modern
when he first moved there was the
weather forecasting. Storms building up
The Great Lakes were crucial waterways shimmering black sky.
over the lake would come seemingly out
for the North American economy in the
of nowhere and send the timber-built
19th and 20th centuries. They were used “I used to drive out at night just to sit and
sailing vessels careening into this
to ship raw materials such as coal, iron look at the stars,” he says. “It was
gauntlet of rocky banks and shoals.
and grain, and there were often as many absolutely magnificent. You could just
ships in the lakes as there were on the touch the stars.”
Another element that doesn’t help
entire North Atlantic. More ships sailing
seafaring vessels: a large iron deposit in
in close proximity meant more It was during one of these nights, in 1986,
the middle of the lakebed that can
shipwrecks, which made the area “much out on the deck at a dinner party in South
allegedly set compass bearings off by as
more dangerous statistically than any Bay, when Wells saw something he had
much as 20 degrees.
other body of water on earth,” Baillod never seen before.
said.
These hazards are by no means unique to
“I saw this object just hovering. And it
the Marysburgh Vortex. Rough seas and
Sailors would often make bank on was a diamond shape. It was twirling in
tight geographies pose a challenge to
especially risky shipments. Grain, for the shape of a diamond.”
sailors across the Great Lakes. Rather
example, needed to be shipped in
than fight nature, it was common practice
November after the harvest, during a time Wells rushed back inside to grab the other
for sailing ships at sea to simply let the
of year when storms and lake-effect snow guests.
wind carry them until the storm blew
squalls were most dangerous.
itself out, even if it took days or weeks.
(Continued on Page 64)
But that doesn’t work on Lake Ontario.
“It was just a brutal occupation,” says