On March 12th, about 30 Men’s Club members and guests boarded a Detroit Institute of Arts bus to visit the Museum to hear storyteller and diver Ric Mixter share little known secrets of the six greatest shipwrecks of the Great Lakes, including the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Several other members drove downtown and met us at the DIA for a very interesting lecture.
Members and guest on the DIA bus
Ric began with the story of the James H Reed, a bulk carrier carrying a load of iron ore in its first run of 1944 on Lake Erie. It was lost in a collision after anchoring in thick fog because of the lack of visibility. The Canadian vessel Ashcroft collided with the Reed, nearly severing it into two pieces. Twelve sailors went down with the Reed. while twenty-four were rescued. Since Lake Erie is so shallow, the masts of the Reed remained above water, and the story goes that the third mate climbed up a mast and never got wet in the sinking. Ric showed video of the wreck and played an interview he taped with a survivor. Because it wreck was a hazard to navigation, it was dynamited later in 1944.
A few of our group after getting off the bus
Ric went on to describe the wreck of the largest ship to sink on Lake Huron, the Daniel J Morrell. The Morrell was heading upstream from Lake Erie in November, 1966. One of its crew, Dennis Hale, missed the boat but was able to join the crew as the ship took on fuel passing through the Detroit River. He immediately had some dinner and went to his cabin in the bow and went to sleep. After midnight the ship was being torn apart by a vicious blizzard with 25-foot waves. Hale was awakened by the general alarm in complete blackness. He grabbed his lifejacket and ran on deck in his underwear. Someone told him to go back and find whatever he could because the ship was going down and it would be cold in the water. Hale returned with his pea coat, which he put on over his lifejacket. This saved his life, since other crewmembers had their lifejackets over their pea coats and their coats wicked the cold water right to their trunk, while Dennis had the kapok with its canvas cover next to his skin. Dennis jumped into a life raft, but the raft was hit by the sinking ship, dumping all aboard into the water. Only four managed to climb back into the raft. Because no one reported the Morrell missing, it took the Coast Guard 34 hours to find the raft, by which time Dennis Hale was the only survivor.
Ric told stories from four more Great Lakes shipwrecks, but to hear those, you will need to find one of his lectures, one of his 30 programs on shipwrecks for PBS, The Outdoor Channel and the Vision Network, or one of his books or documentaries.
Check our some of these links:
Ric Mixter
The Wheelsman by Ric Mixter
Ships and Shipwrecks Full Episode
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here for more photos.