Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1905-11-05
TRAGEDIES OF THE LAKES
Midsummer Peace Contrasts Strangely
with Fierce Fall Storms
GREAT RISKS FOR HIGHER RATES
Romance and Pathos Fringe the
Tragic Fate of Craft Caught In
binding Storms-"LittIe Ice
Devils" as wreckers.

Landlubbers from these parts, who have
enjoyed midsummer outings on the Great
Lakes, can scarcely realize what perils turk
IN these land-locked waters, so peaceful are
they In summer time. Occasionally in mid
summer the elements kick up nasty seas,
but they are like ripples on a millpond
compared with the fierce waves rolled up
by storms such as swept Superior. Huron
and Erie few weeks ago, wrccking scores
of lake craft and causing the loss Of
twenty-one lives
Each year from the middle Of October
until the close of navigation occur on an
average more tragedies than during the
rest Of the season. 1t is the season when,
FOR the sake of higher rates, captains and
owners hazard lives and property in mad
races with the last cargoes from the north
From now on the scores of men who guard
the dangerous points between Duluth and
Buffalo are doubly vigilant. Constant
guard is kept by life-saving crews Power
full lights burn through every hour Of the
night, and with the coming of autumn they
burn through most of the hours of the day.
At any minute the 800 watchdogs between
the end of Erie and stormy Superior know
that tragedy may be literally blown upon
them.
little Ice Devils.
These are the days when the little ice
devils" get in their work; when, despite all
efforts, tons upon tons or roe grow to the
sides of ships, and like so much lead weight
them down to the bottom of the sea. In
Superior, the bottom Of which is filed with
deep pits and caverns, ship that is drawn
down by the ice never returns 70 the sur
face, for down in the black, cold depths of
the pits the ice never melts. Some have
in time become filled with ice,' but scien-
tihc investigations have proved otherwise
The ice is heavy enough to carry a ship
under water, and when once under water
the ship carries the ice to the bottom.
Otherwise the ice would not sink. Bodies
which sink in this lake are seldom re-
covered. or the 1870 persons drowned on
the Great Lakes two years ago, sixty were
lost in Superior, and only four Of these
were found. OF the 150 lost last year. more
than forty were drowned in Superior ant
three-fourths of the bodies disappeared for
, ever. This year the casualties on Superior
have been tremendous and within recent
weeks two ships have gone to the bottom
there, and only one person OF all those
lost has been recovered. With the un
usually high rates paid for the carrying Of
ore this year, ship captains and owners
are predicting that more vessels than ever
before will risk the peris of lake naviga
ton, and consequently more lives will bt
lost
Notwithstanding the many tragedies that
occur each year on Lake Superior Erie has
long been known the graveyard of the
Great Lakes" From the day the British
fleet was met there and defeated by the
Americans its record has been rising
Many years ago superstitous sailors re-
garded its as possessed of devils, and the
majority of seamen would rise from theil
berths and completely dress If they were
passing Point Pelee in the night. of thai
point scores of vessels have gone TO theil
doom, and hundreds Of lives have been lost
The most beautiful of the FIVE lakes II
calm weather, Erie, perhaps with the ex
ception of Superior is the most violen
during storms
PerIIOus Runs.
late November trip across Superior
next to Lake Erie in the frequency of IL
disasters, Is filled with days of anxiety 20
crew, captain and owners. From whereve
It is sighted along the way news is sent t
the owners But there may come a tim
when II appears no more. The story OF tn
tragedy is simple. II may have been clea
when the ship left port, but soon the al
turns bitter cold and the clear sky give
place to banks of snow clouds. Darkness
comes in the middle of the afternoon, an,
oftentimes with this darkness a heavy gale
Now, the darkness of day is worse than tn
densest blackness of night. Through tn
latter gloom the lights from shore may b
seen. but clouds of snow and sleet hid
these. So everything depends upon tn
captain. IL he thinks he is near the Bi