The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1917-09-20
THE GREAT LAKES
Romance and Tragedy of These
UnsaIted Inland Seas.
A VAST MARINE GRAVEYARD.

No Equal Area of Ocean Waters Has
Proved So Great a GIutton For Hu.
man Life and Ships and Rich Car.
goes-Mysteries Of Missing Vessels.
Some day the great lakes are going
to contribute glorious share to the
literature OF America. Until now they
have been unhonored and unsung, ex-
cept In some isolated cases, where the
poet or the rOmancer has sought his
audience In vain. All Of the romance
of the sea is not contained in the At
lantic or the Pacific. The great lakes
are rich in romance. History and
legend have Joined hands to weave a
thrilling narrative around this enchant-
ed country. Indian tradition clusters
thick about it. Three nations strug-
gled for dominion over the lake coun-
try-England, France and the United
States. Innumerable shipwrecks have
contributed their black pages to the
story of the inland seas. The thrill of
storm at sea. of struggle with the ele-
ments in the blackness of a Lake Su-
perior night, of glorious victory or
brave defeat, remains to be recorded
fittingly.
What chronicle contains a more fas-
clnating record than the narrative of
the voyage of exploration made by
Rene Cavalier de la Sale in his good
ship the Griffin, the first sailing vessel
to venture forth on the great lakes?
In 1879 this ship, captained by the in
trep1d French soldier of fortune and
manned by merry crew of voyagers,
with several Jesuit zealots, sailed the
length OF Lake Erie, Lake St. Clair and
Lake Huron on a voyage of adventure
and discovery. The Griffin was lost on
its return voyage. La Sale. who had
remained in the north country. never
heard of it again. The first mystery of
the great lakes had been recorded.
Countless others were to follow it, For
the great lakes hold their grim re ord
of tragedies.
1t is interesting to note that no sim
liar area Of any ocean, if suddenly strip
ped of its volume of water, would ex-
pose to human gaze larger number Of
sunken ships or more valuable cargoes
than lie at the bottom of these inland
waters. A record kept between the
years 1878 and 1898 reveals the start
ling fact that in that period $500 ships
were wrecked on the great lakes. and
1903 of these We're total losses. The
loss of cargo during the score of years
was nearly $S,0OO,O00.
Some of these vessels disappeared al
most as mysteriously as did the Griffith
in the brave old days of exploration.
No wreckage floated to the shore. The
great lakes hid well their secrets. Nav
igatOrs of the northern lakes insist that
there are portions of Lake Superior
where it is impossible to find the bot
tom. The superstition is that some
ships that have gone down at sea are
held forever in this unfathomable pit
beneath the waters.
Like the sailors of the salt seas. the
men who navigate the inland waters
are a superstitious lot. Almost every
wreck that marks the history of the
lakes is the inspiration of some weird.
fantastic story that by frequent repeti-
ton assumes the dignity of truth in
the sailors ready mind. One such SUI
perstition that is firmly rooted in the
minds of all great lakes navigators
concerns the mysterious wreck of the
Bannockburn.
She was d big, powerful freighter
carrying crew of twenty-five men.
She cleared Duluth on a day in the
late fall. What happened to her will
never be known. She went out in the
morning and was last sighted the next
evening. That was the end Not one
Of her crew was ever found. For more
than year the chill waters of Lake
Superior guarded well their secret
Then one day an oar was found float
ing among the driftwood of the bleak
north shore. A piece Of tarpaulin was
wrapped securely around it, and when
this was removed it was found that
the word "Bannockburn" was scraped
into the wood. The oar is all that re-
mains today to tell the story Of the
missing freighter.
According to the queer twist given
the story by the sailors of the inland
seas, the Bannockburn is supposed to
be the Flying Dutchman of the great
lakes. Sometimes at night, when the
chill north wind sweeps across the
swollen bosom Of Lake Superior and
the stinging "ice devils" fill the air,
the lookout on some lonely point calls
loudly to his companion and points to
where he imagines the Bannockburn,
all white with ice and ghostly in the
darkness, is slipping through the black
mystery of the lake.
The history Of the great lakes is
punctuated with thrilling narratives
such as this There are brighter chap
tiers that tell Of heroic rescues made by
dint of dauntless courage and super
human effort. - George W. Stark In
Outlook.