In a major storm this past fall, Lake Superior experienced 20 waves during the anniversary of the Edmund Fitzgerald which sank in a storm on Superior in waves not that high.
These remarks, R.H. Ruchhoft. Exploring E. Lake Michigan Islands, capture
more of the flavor:
Robert Cavalier Sieur de la Salle...first to envision using the lakes for
moving bulk goods in large quantities...The Griffin was the first sailing
ship built in the European tradition on the upper Great Lakes...he sent the
ship back without him [to Montreal]. The ship was never seen
again....possiblly sinking in the offshore waters of the [Manitous].
The dangerous waters of the Manitou Straits during violent weather were
becoming better known, and of great concern to mariners. After suffering
through severe squalls in the Manitou Passage, a European nobleman, named
Castenau, describes these turbulent waters as being severer than those he
had encountered on either the Atlantic or the English Channel [1830's]:
"We were a plaything of the giant waves...I have seen the squalls off the
banks of the Newfoundland...And the hurricanes of the Gulf of Mexico.
Nowhere have I witnessed the fury of the elements comparable to that found
on this fresh water sea."
By 1851, Chicago had the largest corn market in the U.S. ...a great center
for the transhipment of corn, grain, livestock and timber...By the beginning
of the Civil War, the commercial propellors on the Great Lakes numbered
197...But the greatest number of cargo carriers were still propelled by
sail, for the schooners, ketches, sloops and berkentines actively sailing
the lakes then numbered over 1100....would eventually pass through the
Manitou Passage....
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Eddie, thanks for the warm welcome! ...kick *ass poetry....ha! pretty good.
Never have I met another soul who traverses the amount of literary bays,
seas, ponds of this and that and everything as you, Eddie. You put together
ideas wonderfully, amazingly. I often think, now where in the hell did he
find that! Simply wonderful!! Blackberries, Ukrainian poets, rj and una... and names I have never even heard...
...Marianne Moore, wonderful. Who is CSNY?
Much appreciatively,
Nancy
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