The Lost Nashes of Halloween

Shipwrecks on the Great Lakes

    Once again I have been away to a place with no internet connection. That is not a bad thing, but it does prevent me from doing this and when I get back and take a look at notes I have made about potential posts they are often somewhat dated. Still, I will attempt a quick one that was meant to be done on Halloween.

    On October 31,1929 the SS Senator was rammed by the Marquette which was loaded with iron ore. The 268 Nashes aboard the Senator sank to the bottom of Lake Michigan just a few days after the stocks sank on Wall Street. If you are looking for a low-mileage 1929 Nash like the one pictured above you will find many off Port Washington, Wisconsin.

    I found the original account of this disaster and learned that there had been other shipwrecks on Lake Michigan in a relatively short period of time:
    Andaste - gravel freighter - Sept. 9, 1929,  (25 lost)

    Milwaukee - car freighter - Oct. 22, 1929, (52)

    Wisconsin - steamer - Oct. 29, 1929, (16)

    Senator - freighter - Oct. 31, 1929 (7) (the Marquette made it to back to shore)

The article concludes by listing several other shipwrecks when many lives were lost. See:

“Four Shipwrecks in 52 Days Take Toll  Of 100 Lives: Series of Disasters Set Lake Michigan Record”, Chicago Daily Tribune, Nov. 1, 1929: p.3.

    For a good recent account of the Senator collision and the lost Nashes see:

“450 Feet Under Lake Michigan, Classic Car Cache Rests in Frigid Silence,” by Garret Ellison, May 25, 2016, Mlive.com

The NOAA and Marine Sanctuaries

    Back in 2015 the NOAA announced that it wanted to create a new marine sanctuary in the Great Lakes. A recent article about their endeavours is what led me to this subject. It also served to remind me that the Great Lakes were once full of ships and the ports were very busy. See: “Underwater Sanctuary Plan Aims to Preserve Lake Michigan Shipwrecks off Wisconsin,” Tony Briscoe,  Sep.15, 2017. The importance of shipping is noted:

"You could think of it like our modern day freeway system," said Baillod, the maritime historian. "If you looked out from on the lake from Milwaukee, it wouldn't be uncommon to see 200 or 300 ships on the horizon."

(The same article was syndicated so see also: “ 'The Stuff the Movie-makers Dream Of’; In Lake Michigan, A Graveyard of Long-lost Ships Captivates Historians," Tony Briscoe, Sep. 24, 2017, Los Angeles Times.)

    Given that the NOAA is part of the Department of Commerce and that that department is being dismantled by the current administration, progress may be slow.    

     

    The other reason I have been paying more attention to the Great Lakes is that I read recently the very interesting The Death and Life of the Great Lakes by Dan Egan.

    And living between three of the Great Lakes I was reminded of them again last night (Nov. 9) when one of them (Lake Huron) helped deliver the first snowfall of the year to London, Ontario.

Sources:

For more see  National Marine Sanctuaries

For information about the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary

For a good CBC story:“2 century-old Shipwrecks Found in Lake Huron: Wooden Freighter Ohio Sank in 1894 and Steel-hulled Steamer Choctaw in 1915,” Jeff Karoub, The AP, Sep. 5, 2017.

Bonus Information - the part you have been waiting for.

The Prince of Wales (?)

When searching for the shipwreck story I found an interesting one about the Prince of Wales at the bottom of the page. It appears that the Yanks have always been interested in the royal family. Here it is:

“Prince of Wales’ Canadian Ranch House is Burned,” (Chicago Daily Tribune, Nov.1, 1929, p.3)

The Prince of Wales’ ranch house at Pekiso[sic] was destroyed by fire. The damage totalled about $2,000. Quick work by ranch employees saved the new house, with contents valued at $25,000.”

Although it is a syndicated story it seemed strange to me and I went searching again (this is really why I accomplish so little).

From the London Times (Nov.2, 1929) things are clearer. The old house was destroyed, but the new one saved. And the ranch was in Pekisko near High River, Alberta.

Cuyahoga River

You may recall that this Cleveland River caught fire in 1969. One of the many things I learned from The Death and Life of the Great Lakes was that 1969 was the last time it caught fire. This is good news, I suppose.