About this Activity
Often, we know very little about the final moments of a ship lost at sea.
Explorers and archaeologists use stories and historical records to try to piece together the final moments of a ship lost in the waters of the Great Lakes.
Choose one of the three books to learn about a famous Great Lakes shipwreck.
The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
At 222 metres (729 feet, or roughly 2-1/2 football fields), the Edmund Fitzgerald was the largest ship ever to sail the Great Lakes at the time.
She was nicknamed "Mighty Fitz" when she was launched in 1957 with 15,000 people cheering.
But in 1975, she would sail into the dreaded "Gales of November" for the last time.
The Edmund Fitzgerald sighted in rough waters.
It was on November 9, 1975, on Lake Superior, that Mighty Fitz sailed into a storm. The waves were enormous, rising as high as 11 metres (35 feet), higher that a 3-story house!
The captain of the Fitzgerald radioed another freighter in the storm that the ship was listing to one side, and that waves were crashing over the deck. He added, "It is one of the worst seas I've been in".
The Edmund Fitzgerald being loaded with cargo.
That night, the Edmund Fitzgerald was battered by the storm for hours, but no distress signals were sent.
Her last message was radioed by the captain: "We're holding our own". Then nothing more.
The Edmund Fitzgerald hit by waves.
The next day, the Edmund Fitzgerald was reported missing.
A large scale search with ships and planes was made for survivors, but only debris was found.
She had sunk with all 29 crew.
Ships and planes search for the Edmund Fitzgerald.
The wreck wasn't located until the next year, lying in 530 feet of water and broken in two.
In 1980, Jean-Michel Cousteau, the son of the famous underwater dive explorer Jacques Cousteau, sent the first piloted submersible to the wreck site.
A submersible scans the broken wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
What happened to Le Griffon?
In 1679, one of the first ships of sail on the Great Lakes was lost forever in the cold mists of Lake Michigan.
The French ship Le Griffon was a 'barque' that had one or two masts with several square sails.
Le Griffon made only one voyage in its short life, but its disappearance remains the oldest and maybe greatest mystery of the Great Lakes shipwrecks.
Le Griffon meets up with a canoe.
Le Griffon was built on the shore of the Niagara River in 1679 by the famous explorer Robert La Salle.
It was perhaps the first full sized sailing ship to sail on the Great Lakes. Typically, canoes and flat bottomed cargo boats called 'bateaux' were the primary means of water transportation and continued to be so for many years.
Le Griffon under construction.
On its maiden voyage, La Salle and his men sailed and hauled the vessel all the way to Georgian Bay.
They were looking to trade for precious furs and to explore.
From Georgian Bay they sailed on to a Huron settlement Mackinac Island, and and then towards Green Bay.
Fur traders load their cargo aboard Le Griffon.
After loading many furs onto the ship near Green Bay, Le Griffon set off towards MacKinac Islannd to off-load cargo.
La Salle remained behind to explore further by canoe.
Le Griffon was never seen again.
Le Griffon on its return voyage.
No one knows the ultimate fate of Le Griffon.
Over the years, many explorers have tried to locate her final resting place, but with no luck.
Today underwater explorers continue to search for the remains of what many consider the first true shipwreck on the Great Lakes.
Le Griffon lying upright on the lake bottom.
Disappearance of the Bannockburn
Built in Scotland in 1893, the SS Bannockburn freighter was a steel hulled workhorse that was renowned for her toughness.
She had sunk once before and run aground, but had always survived.
The Bannockburn underway in heavy seas.
In November of 1902, the Bannockburn was headed downbound (downstream) with a load of grain from Fort William, now known as Thunder Bay, to Kingston, Ontario.
As she headed towards the Eastern end of Lake Superior, a great storm blew up.
Loading cargo onto the Bannockburn.
Her captain was experienced, but her crew was young.
She was last seen by a passenger steamer called the Huronic heading towards the Soo Locks in the fog.
After that, she disappeared and was never seen again.
Crew aboard the Huronic catch sight of the Bannockburn.
A few weeks later, a life jacket from the Bannockburn came ashore near the Grand Marais Life-saving Station.
That was the only debris from the Bannockburn ever found.
A life jacket from the Bannockburn washes ashore.
No one knows exactly where the Bannockburn lies, but there have been many reports of strange ghostly sightings of her.
Sailors have reported seeing a ghost ship steaming right at them out of the fog. And some claim to have even seen a skeleton at the wheel!
The Bannockburn lying upright on the lake bottom.