White Hurricane

"Great Lakes mariners fear the bales of November. Six to ten thousand vessels litter the lake bottoms, a disproportionate share - from LaSalle's Le Griffon in 1679 to the mighty Edmund Fitzgerald in 1975 - lost in autumn storms. No one, however, was prepared for the killing wind that materialized from the unusually balmy days of early November 1913. On Friday, November 7, as ships left port on their final trips of the season, a deadly atmospheric disturbance was already churning Lake Superior and spreading east. By Sunday night, Lake Huron was battered by winds up to 90 miles an hour, whiteout blizzard conditions, and mountainous 35-foot waves. The White Hurricane became the worst Great Lakes storm on record, the monstrous product of a meteorological chain of cause and effect that has yet to repeat itself. Twelve ships sank, and thirty-one more were stranded on rocks and beaches. At least 248 sailors lost their lives, and the city of Cleveland faced the worst natural disaster in its history." "In White Hurricane, nationally recognized nautical writer and experienced Great Lakes mariner David G. Brown re-creates the desperate struggles for survival aboard doomed and damaged vessels and on shore. Using firsthand accounts and contemporary newspaper reports, he reconstructs the progress of the storm in a tight chronology packed with vivid detail and unforgettable drama."--BOOK JACKET.

First sentence: "AS MILTON SMITH PREPARED to leave the steamer Charles S Price on Wednesday, November 5, he did not think of himself as a superstitious man."

Year

2002

Language

English

Publisher

International Marine Publishing

Editions

2

Pages

250

ISBN

9780071380379

Data source: Wikidata