Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1895-04-20
MYSTERIOUS TIDES.
THOSE OF THE LAKES THAT THE
SHIPPERS CALL SWASHES.


SHIPPERS CALL SWASHES.
They Rise Suddenly From Calm Water and
Display Many Strange Caprices-An Old
Lake Erie Skipper Talks Interestingly
on the Subject.
"Tidal waves on the great lakes are
not of uncommon occurrence" said an
old Lake Erie skipper, land although
meteorological experts have for more
than 100 years tried to study out their
cause we don't know any more about it
now than they did at the time the great
wave rose suddenly on Lake Erie, off
Rockport, and destroyed Colonel Brad
streets fleet, in October, 1894. That
was tho first tidal wave on the lakes
that we have any record of.
Il have seen many of these swashes,
as we call them ON the lakes, the last
one about ten years ago, when my
schooner was swept high and dry at
Port Stanley by wave that seemed to
rise OH tho lake like some monster ma
rine animal coming from the depths to
tho surface. We could see it rushing to-
ward us a mile away. 1t came with a
boiling front ten feet high, kissing like
loud escaping steam as it swept toward
US. That is peculiar thing about the
lake tidal waves. They do not come
with roar, like the ocean surf, but
with loud, kissing sound, and there is
only one instance on record where they
are either accompanied or followed by
strong winds.
"That one instance was at Toledo, in
December, 1856, when the wind, which
had been blowing stiff offshore, sudden
ly whirled into bowling nor'easter,
and as quick as the change in the wind
that wave leaped out of the lake and
came hurting upon the Shore wild and
angry mass, eight feet high. In every
other recorded occurrence of these mys-
terious freaks of the lake waters the sur
face of the lake has been perfectly calm
and the air scarcely perceptible.
''Such was the condition when that
big wave attacked US at Port Stanley,
swapping my schooner and drowning
one Of my men. The wave receded as
fast as it had rushed in, and the lake,
in less than ten minutes, was as smooth
as a mirror.
"Within tho next hour there were
four more swashes, each one of less
force and volume, until the last was
scarcely more than ripple.
almost the first thing remember,
for I was but three years old at the
time, was one of these tidal waves. 1t
appeared early in the spring on the Can
ada shore, off Otter Creek. There was a
piece of woods there then, with long
stretch of beach between it and the
lake My father had "a 80 ton schooner
lying off the shore half mile or more.
The water was dead calm, when,
without warning of any kind, wave
lifted itself from the bosom of the lake,
probably p miles out and swept shore
ward with it's mighty hiss. My mother
and I were with father on his schooner.
AS that swash came rushing upon us it
seemed to mo as if the leaping foam Of
it's white crest was higher than the
schooner's masts, but know now that
it was not moro than 10 feet high.
Tho wave was high enough and strong
enough, though, to sweep the schooner
ashore us if it had been a cockleshelI,
and across that stretch of beach into the
woods, where it was left among the
trees, hopeless wreck.
"In ten minutes the lake was as calm
as ever, but an hour later a similar
wave appeared at Kettle Creek, 20 miles
from Otter Creek, and tumbled all sorts
of lake craft ashore.
81 guess the greatest tidal wave ever
seen on any of the lakes was the one
Dr. Foster and his party Of voyagers
saw on Lake Superior, between Copper
harbor and Eagle river. That was in
August, 1915. This swash was more
than 20 feet high, and, like all of its
kind, sprung suddenly from the lake at
dead calm. 1t was a quarter of mile
distant from Dr. Fosters boat, which,
when the disturbance began, was direct
ly in the path of the wave 1t was CREST
cd with foam, and curled over like q
mighty ocean surge. Before reaching
the boat, however, the wave turned so
that it's nearest extremity swept past it
at distance of 80 feet the water be-
tween that extremity and the boat being
scarcely rut1led by the influence of the
rushing tide.
"The wave was only half mile from
shore, but Notwithstanding its great
size and velocity it never reached there.
The same mysterious caprice that caused
it to change its course and pass HARM
lessly by the vessel seemed to seize it
once more, and it sank rapidly from its
great height as it approached the shore
and struck the beach with no more force
or rise of water than might have come
from the wash of a passing vessel.
Thermometer notable swash on Lake
Michigan at the mouth of the Menomi-
nee. That one appeared in April, 1853,
and rushed into the river with such
tremendous force and volume that it up
set the ferryboat on the Menominee.
The reeurrent oscillations of these
swashes are usually of decreasing size
and force. but this one Oh the Menomines
wasn't that kind The ebb of this tide
was just as sudden as its flow, but in q
few minutes it was followed by another
wave much larger than the first one,
and the ebb of the second swash was
followed by wave still larger than the
second.
"That seemed to satisfy the mood of
tho Lake at Mpp03Oina6 that day and.