BEWARE THE MONTH OF NOVEMBER
by Tony Taton

History of the Great Lakes will prove November to be the worst month of the year for gales, blows and storms. During the 19th century many of these great storms swooped down into the Great Lakes basin with little or no warnings for in those years there was no radios, ship to shore or CBs to communicate with ships of the lakes.

The great majority of the vessels was made of wood and carried sails for power plus there were not many tugs to help them when needed. Further, the Masters were very independent and trusted their own ability, many times ignoring what warnings they did receive.

Many of the ships' owner's most important interest was profit first and concern for safety last. The large storms are caused usually by the coming together of cold air from the northland and warm air from the Gulf and the Caribbean. Great masses of air collide and spew up cold temperatures pushing cold air, snow and powerful winds into a given area as they build up terrific pressure. Ironically, these storms seem to arrive during the month of November.

Being born and raised on Lake Huron, having fished commercially, worked on the ships of the lake and having known many lake captains, mates, engineers and some of the owners, we heard the tales and stories in all of the ports from seamen in the ships and businesses along the shores of all the lakes - from Buffalo, Cleveland, Toledo and all of the Erie ports up into the St. Clair flats, the rivers and into the upper lakes all the way to Port Arthur and Fort Williams, Duluth, Chicago, Gary and the steel mill cities along with great grain ports of the west.

The last great November storm was in 1975, which claimed the Edmund Fitzgerald with its full crew in Lake Superior. Perhaps you have heard the ballad of the Fitz by Canadian Gordon Lightfoot. Some of the storms date back into the 1800s and again, most were in November.

In November of 1869, a great storm of some magnitude moved down into the lake basin from Duluth; it raised its fury as it moved east into Lake Erie and up into Thousand Island area of Canada as it moved into the Atlantic Ocean.

Old records recorded 97 vessels sunk, and the shores were lined with hundreds of drowned bodies of the seaman. Great damage was caused the full length of the storm's pathway as it blew itself out in the Atlantic.

A November blow in 1842 claimed dozens of vessels on Erie and Lake Ontario, strewing wreckage along the shores of both lakes with great loss of seamen.

In the village of Lexington, Michigan, were many seafaring men and also women (cooks). Among them were Masters, Robert Nims, Robert McCalla, Harvey Matthews, Mike Lewis and others - many men like the Sheldon brothers, Jack and Watson, the Cruckshanks and their wives, Elton Beach, James Brown, Henry Woodruff, my buddy and schoolmate, Bruce Brown. (He and I sailed together in our teens.)

Some of these men spent 40 - 60 years on the lakes, the most recent Henry Woodruff (45 years). The whaleback, Henry Cort was caught in the 1940 November storm on Lake Michigan. After losing their steering gear, the Cort was blown on the rocks north of Muskegon and Henry Matthews was taken off the rocks and was in the hospital for a few days before he gained his strength back.

History claims the November, 1913, storm to be the worst according to the consensus of the old-timers who were about the lakes during this four day big blow, as it was named.

This great storm began high above Northern Minnesota as three groups of cold, thermo air from Alaska, cold air from the Rockies out west, plus warm air from the Gulf got together and joined forces. This greatest of all the November storms caused great damage all the way down the lakes. Eighty and up to 100 mph winds with subzero temperatures pushed blinding snow and ice down the lakes, completely shutting down cities like Buffalo, Cleveland and others, burying them under two feet of snow and drifting up to five feet, toppling utility poles and trees, shutting down all utilities with cities being shut off from their neighbors.

The storm roared down on Lake Huron and when it was over, eight large vessels and their crews were sunk and over 235 men drowned. (Three or four of the ships sank between Port Huron and the tip of the Thumb.) See the place in the park on the lake south of Port Sanilac, in memory of this vicious November storm.
In conclusion, keep your eyes on the weather barometer in November; watch for the turbulence, for history states we could be due for another. Will it be this November?