Fire, mechanical problems, storms and collision can all spell doom to a Great Lakes ship. Ships are destroyed, sailors die and cargo is lost. But when it happens to a passenger ship, it can result in the loss of many, possibly hundreds of lives. The shipwrecks recovered here describe the terror and devastation of 15 Great Lake passenger ships disasters. The 1915 capsizing of the Eastland, the wreck which holds the distinction of being the largest loss of life on the lakes. The collision of the City of Cleveland and the foreign freighter, Ravnefleel on Lake Huron in 1950. The tragic loss of hundreds on Lake Erie when the G.P. Griffith was destroyed and the burning of classic passenger ships which was the end of large scale passenger travel on the Great Lakes. By local Harbor Beach author Wayne Louis Kadar. |