Lake Superior shipwreck that claimed Canadian captain found after 84 years | 24CA News
A World War II period shipwreck has been discovered after 84 years hid within the murky depths of Lake Superior.
The Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society introduced Monday the invention of the SS Arlington, a 244-foot bulk service steam ship that went down in a violent storm on April 30, 1940, taking its captain, Frederick “Tatey Bug” Burke, with it.
Burke, a seasoned captain, was born round 1888 in Midland, Ont., the place his house nonetheless stands, in line with the Midland Heritage Committee. He earned the nickname Tatey Bug due to a speech obstacle he had rising up that made saying the identify Teddy Burke troublesome.
Burke and his crew have been delivering a full cargo of wheat from Thunder Bay to Owen Sound when the ship started taking over water, ultimately slipping beneath the waves. All of the crew members made it onto lifeboats and have been rescued by the SS Collingwood, a bigger freighter that was making the Lake Superior crossing on the identical time.
The captain was the only individual to go down with the ship — and the explanation why has been a permanent puzzle for native historians.
Black and white picture of the SS Arlington, which went down in a violent storm in 1940.
The Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society
Thanks to a decade-long effort by shipwreck researcher Dan Fountain, we now know the Arlington’s closing resting place: beneath 600 toes of water simply 56 kilometres north of Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula, not too removed from the ship’s beginning port in Thunder Bay.
Fountain was learning distant sensing knowledge in his seek for shipwrecks in Lake Superior when he got here throughout a “particularly deep anomaly,” the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society wrote.
He reached out to the historic society for assist, and in 2023, a crew was assembled to tow a side-scan sonar, used for imaging massive ares of the seafloor, over prime of the anomaly. The outcomes confirmed Fountain had discovered a shipwreck.
A remotely-operated underwater car was used to positively determine the submerged hulk of the Arlington.
“Had Dan not reached out to us, we might never have located the Arlington… and we certainly wouldn’t know as much about her story as we do today,” stated the manager director of the historic society, Bruce Lynn. “These targets don’t always amount to anything… but this time it absolutely was a shipwreck. A wreck with an interesting, and perhaps mysterious story.”
The circumstances main as much as the Arlington’s wreck are certainly peculiar.
According to the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society, the Arlington and the Collingwood set off on Lake Superior and have been quickly met with dense fog.
“As the day turned to night the fog turned into a storm and battered both ships.”
As the Arlington began to tackle water, its first mate, Junis Macksey, directed the helmsman to hug the north shore of the lake, which might have offered some cowl from the wind and waves. But Captain Burke countermanded the order and charted a course throughout the open lake.
In the early hours of May 1, 1940, the ship’s chief engineer raised the alarm that the Arlington was beginning to sink.
“Out of fear for their lives, and without orders from Captain Burke, the crew began to abandon ship on their own,” the historic society write. “Reports indicate that (Burke) was near the pilothouse of his ship and waved at the Collingwood minutes before his ship went to the deep, 650-feet to the bottom of Lake Superior.”
The pilothouse is the place the wheel of the ship is situated. Photos of the Arlington launched on Tuesday present that its steering wheel has remained intact all this time.
Photo of the SS Arlington’s steering wheel.
The Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society
Burke “easily could have been saved like the rest of his crew” on that fateful day, the historic society claims, although the Midland Heritage Committee experiences a barely completely different story.
“It is believed that Burke heroically kept the freighter upright until the lifeboat was launched, ensuring the survival of all his crew members. However, by staying at the helm too long Burke was unable to board the lifeboat before the ship overturned, causing his death,” the committee writes.
In any case, researcher Fountain hopes this discovery can “provide some measure of closure to the family of Captain Burke.”
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