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Many believed
that if a man was lost and his remains were never recovered, so that he might be given a proper burial, his soul was doomed
to wander the lakes forever, seeking peace. Not only sailors who were lost without a trace were doomed to wander forever.
Whole ships that disappeared were said to become ghost ships and were compelled to sail endlessly across the cold, dark waters
of the lakes, seeking their homeports but never finding them, with their ghost crews trapped forever on board.
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The Flying Dutchman The Flying Dutchman is without a doubt the most well known of all ghost ships. Although
much of its story is legend, it is based on fact - a vessel captained by Hendrick Vanderdecken who set sail in 1680 from Ams0terdam
to Batavia, a port in Dutch East
India. According to the legend, Vanderdecken's
ship encountered a severe storm as is rounding the Cape
of Good Hope. Vanderdecken ignored the dangers of
the storm - thought by the crew to be a warning from God - and pressed on. Battered by the tempest, the ship foundered, sending
all aboard to their deaths. As punishment, they say, Vanderdecken and his ship were doomed to ply the waters near the Cape for eternity.
What has perpetuated this romantic legend is the fact that several people claim to have actually seen The Flying Dutchman
- even into the 20th century. One of the first recorded sightings was by the captain and crew of a British ship in 1835. They
recorded that they saw the phantom ship approaching in the shroud of a terrible storm. It came so close that the British crew
feared the two ships might collide, but then the ghost ship suddenly vanished. The Flying Dutchman was again seen by two crewmembers
of the H.M.S. Bacchante in 1881. The following day, one of those men fell from the rigging to his death. As recently as March,
1939, the ghost ship was seen off the coast of South Africa by dozens of bathers who provided detailed descriptions of the
ship, although most had probably never seen a 17th century merchantman. The British South Africa Annual
of 1939 included the story, derived from newspaper reports: "With uncanny volition, the ship sailed steadily on as the
Glencairn beachfolk stood about keenly discussing the whys and wherefores of the vessel. Just as the excitement reached its
climax, however, the mystery ship vanished into thin air as strangely as it had come." The last recorded sighting was
in 1942 off the coast of Cape Town. Four witnesses saw the Dutchman sail into Table Bay... and disappear. Ghosts of the Great Lakes The Great Lakes are
not without their ghost ships either. In September of 1678, the Griffon left Lake Michigan's Green Bay... and
vanished. Yet in following years, several sailors claimed to have seen the Griffon afloat on the lake.The famed Edmund Fitzgerald,
an ore freighter that sank in Lake Superior on November 10, 1975 losing all 26 of its crew, was sighted by a commercial vessel
10 years later.A recreational diver exploring the depths of Lake Superior in 1988 came upon the wreckage of the steamer Emperor.
Swimming inside the old wreck, the diver swears he saw the ghost of a crewmember lying on a bunk that turned and looked at
him. Faces in the Water S.S. Watertown James
Courtney and Michael Meehan, crewmembers of the S.S. Watertown, were cleaning a cargo tank of the oil tanker as it sailed
toward the Panama Canal from New York City in December of 1924. Through a freak accident, the two men were overcome by gas
fumes and killed. As was the custom of the time, the sailors were buried at sea. However, this was not the last the remaining
crewmembers were to see of their unfortunate shipmates. The next day, and for several days thereafter, the phantom-like faces
of the sailors were seen in the water following the ship. This tale might be easy to dismiss as maritime legend if it weren't
for the photographic evidence. When the ship's captain, Keith Tracy, reported the strange events to his employers, the
Cities Service Company, they suggested he try to photograph the eerie faces - which he did. One of those photos is shown here.
The Ship River of Death It's
understandable how a ship could be lost in the vast, deep, and volatile oceans, but how could a ship completely disappear
without a trace in a river? In June 1872, the S.S. Iron Mountain steamed out of Vicksburg, Mississippi with an on-deck cargo of bailed cotton and barrels of molasses. Heading up the Mississippi River toward its ultimate destination
of Pittsburgh, the ship was
also towing a line of barges. Later that day, another steamship, the Iroquois Chief, found the barges floating freely downriver.
The towline had been cut. The crew of the Iroquois Chief secured the barges and waited for the Iron Mountain to arrive and recover them. However, it never did. The Iron Mountain, nor any member of its crew, was ever seen again. Not one trace of a wreck or any piece
of its cargo ever surfaced or floated to shore. It simply vanished.
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The Edmund Fitzgerald Fitzgerald left Superior, Wisconsin on the
afternoon of November 9, 1975 under Captain Ernest M. McSorley. She was en route to the steel mill on Zug Island, near Detroit, Michigan, with
a full cargo of taconite. A second freighter, Arthur M. Anderson, destined for Gary, Indiana out of
Two Harbors, Minnesota, joined up with Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald, being the faster ship, took the lead while Anderson
trailed not far behind.Crossing Lake Superior at about 13 knots (15 mph, 24 km/h), the boats encountered a massive winter
storm, reporting winds in excess of 50 knots (90 km/h) and waves as high as 35 feet (10 m). Because of the storm, the Soo
Locks were closed. The freighters altered their courses northward, seeking shelter along the Canadian coast. Later, they would
cross to Whitefish Bay and approach the Sault Ste. Marie locks.On the afternoon of November 10, Fitzgerald reported
a minor list developing and top-side damage including the loss of radar, but did not indicate a serious problem. She slowed
to come within range of receiving Anderson's radar data and for a time Anderson guided the Fitzgerald toward
the relative safety of Whitefish Bay. The last communication from the boat came at approximately 19:10 (7:10 PM), when
Anderson notified Fitzgerald of being hit by rogue waves or perhaps seiche waves large enough to be caught on radar,
that were heading Fitzgerald's way and asked how she was doing. McSorley reported, "We are holding our own."
A few minutes later, she suddenly sank – no distress signal was received. A short ten minutes later Anderson could
neither raise Fitzgerald nor detect her on radar. At 20:32, Anderson informed the U.S. Coast Guard of their concern for the boat. When Fitzgerald first vanished, it was widely
believed the boat had snapped in half on the lake surface owing to storm action. Similar surface breakups in the past suggested
bow and stern sections would be found miles apart on the lake floor. When underwater surveys revealed these sections were
just yards from each other, it was concluded that Fitzgerald had instead broken upon hitting the lake floor. A Coast Guard
investigation postulated that the accident was caused by ineffective hatch closures. These devices were unable to prevent
waves from inundating the cargo hold. The flooding occurred gradually and probably imperceptibly throughout the final day,
and finally resulted in a fatal loss of buoyancy and stability. As a result, the boat plummeted to the bottom without warning.The Coast Guard report
proved controversial. The most common alternative theory contends that inoperative radar forced the crew to rely on inaccurate
charts. As a result, Fitzgerald briefly ran aground or scraped a shoal near Caribou Island without
the crew being aware of it. Consequently, she received bottom damage, which caused her to gradually take on water until she
sank so suddenly in the deep water that none of her crew had time to react. The ship, pile-driving into the lake bottom, snapped
in half, and its stern landed upside-down on the bottom. This theory is supported by final radio communications between Anderson
and Fitzgerald; Anderson had been struck by two large waves that were heading toward Fitzgerald. If the hull had
indeed been breached, it would be difficult to prove. Fitzgerald has settled in mud up to her load marks, making it impossible
to inspect for damage. A documentary created and aired by the Discovery Channel investigated a large "fold" found
in the hull plating. Previous defects with cargo hold covers and clamps as well as cracking issues were also addressed. Through
the use of wave tanks and computer simulation, the Discovery Channel team concluded the loss of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald was
due to a freak wave. Reports show three large waves were detected, two of which were reported by the Edmund Fitzgerald. As
per the investigation, it was theorized that the SS Edmund Fitzgerald was badly battered by the first two waves, further damaging
the dual radar (which shared a common antenna) and the hatch covers. It is surmised that the SS Edmund Fitzgerald took on
water through the damaged cargo hold covers and was then overwhelmed by the third wave.The ship's bell was recovered from
the wreck on July 4, 1995 and is now in the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum in Whitefish Point near Paradise, Michigan. An anchor
from Fitzgerald lost on an earlier trip was recovered from the Detroit River and is on display at the Dossin Great Lakes Museum
in Detroit, Michigan. Some other artifacts may be found at the museum that is the Steamship Valley Camp in
Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. These include Lifeboat #2 (shredded like paper) and some photos, a movie on the Fitz and
commemorative models and paintings. The day after the wreck, Mariners' Church in Detroit rang its
bell 29 times, once for each life lost. The church continues to hold an annual memorial, which includes reading the names
of the crewmen and ringing the church bell. On November
12, 2006, two days after the 31st anniversary of
the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald, the church broadened its scope to remember all of the more than 6,000 lives lost on
the Great Lakes. In 2006, the bell at Mariners' Church tolled eight times, not the usual 29: five times
for the 5 Great Lakes, a sixth time for the St. Clair and Detroit rivers, a seventh for the St. Lawrence Seaway and an eighth
time for military personnel whose lives were lost. Although it is the latest vessel lost, and the largest, Fitzgerald is not
alone on the bottom. The Great Lakes have a long history of nautical disaster; nearly 6,000 shipwrecks have occurred since 1878,
with about a quarter of those being listed as total losses. Some ships and crews simply vanished in storms. A number of diveable
marine preserves have been established that contain multiple sunken ships.Every November 10, Split Rock Lighthouse in Silver
Bay, Minnesota emits a light in honor of the "Edmund Fitzgerald".
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