The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1923-04-28
WRECKED AT HOME
PORT OF SEAMEN
Friends, instead of Death, Meet
Exhausted Crew Of Vessel.
BATTLE HOURS WITH STORM


Most Thrilling chapters-Loads<
Cars Break Loose During Hurricane
! and Batter Shlps-ts HelpIessn ess-
Gale Drives Them Home
Captain Fredericksen and the 81
men, heroes and survivors of the
wreck Of Ann Arbor car ferry No. 4
are recovering at Frankfort, Mich,
from their sufferIngs after ten-hour
battle with ~ dhdrricane amid the ice
does of Lake Michigan.
The story Of the wreck and the mar
row escape of the heroic crew, told
In brief ten-line message@last week,
u known now and adds to the history
| of Lake Michigan one OF it's most
thrilling chapters.
No. A. one of the big ferries which
carry Ann Arbor railroad freight cars
from Frankfort to Escanaba, Green
Bay, Menominee and Manistique,
now lies just inside the channel which
connects Lake Michigan with Little
Betsie bay. Icebergs 80 feet high are
piled over her, and around the stoves
In Frankfort, their homes, the 80 sur
vfvors tell tale of heroism and suf-
fering, and of escape from death
which was, in their eyes, a miracle
Hurricane Drives Them Home.
Driven before an S0mile hurricane
In binding snow, through one of the
widest nights ever seen on Lake
Michigan, with 10 cars of coal and
merchandise loose on the tracks, and
tearing the entrails out of the ship,
without control of the vessel, and not
knowing where they. were, they were
driven straight to the narrow channel
leading to home and saved
And Captain Fredericksens pipe
now stands in Frankfort's annals, to-
gether with Capt Chuck Larsen's cit
tie breezy outside" after a hurricane |
blew No over the breakwater.
Old No. 4, massive, aged, powerful
" engined and manned by crew Of
Frankfort men, carried 10 cars on that
trip. The ice was heavy, but the car
ferries, pounding and grinding
through, had kept the channel open.
Heavy float Ice md great foes were
encountered. The weather was cold
eight below, aud going down at sun
down, breezy and changeable, threat
ening snow.
toe Blocks Bernhard Ship.
The storm struck them at 10 D. M,
-sleet, with high wind and snow.
Waves lifted great blocks Of Ice and
sent them cannonading against the
steel sides of the big ship.
1t was 1870 when Captain Fred
erickson lighted his pipe The wind
was rising. Already the ferry was
taking water, the bombardment of Ice
its seamss
No. 4 was carrying on, fighting
giant seas, that piled ice on the decks,
and froze over everything. Then, with
the wild pitching of the ship; one of
the strings Of loaded cars encased in
the steel hull went loose.
The crew leaped down into the in
ner shell of the boat, with crowbars,
huge wooden blocks, and leaping
among the loosened cars, strove to
am the bars under the wheels and
prevent them from battering out the
,nds.
racks. The heavy stopping blocks
we're sheared away, huge Iron stanch-
ons smashed Half an hour later the :
airs on the inner string got loose. /.
S. Q. s. Call Sent Out
The wireless operator up in his .
oop, with the ice freezing him inside :
ntil he seemed In prison, sent out :
he 8. O. s. before midnight. The
reat ship way doomed. Captain Fred .
ricksen filled his pipe again and went. :
Glow Exhausted half frozen men, =
18th crushed hands, with battered :
odies, were fighting to prevent the .
'aded cars from breaking through =
lie steel shell and letting the waves =,
our through unchecked. :,
The forward end crew was being -
eaten Every car they anchored :,
cant another one sbreaking loose
alf of them were Injured Sweat !.
ON their exertions froze upon their v
,dies
In the engine room the crew, broil- =
G before overstrained engines and
eezing as the lake water swept to
cir waists with the lurching of the be
ssel, fought on, holding full head SC
steam, while water poured Through st
e ash pits and swirled around their Isl
Is. One wave, ice cold, camsAback gr
aiding hot and pouring Off steam co
Captain Allows It's Breezy til
And Captain Fredericksen filed his
De again and allowed it was bitd tri
eezy The wireless man could gef7 tie
answer - ~
they did not know where they were pc
In what direction they We're being IS
ven. 81
It was five in the morning when the
orator at Frankfort heard the call
help. He flashed back that the j
'ssl must be somewhere near shore, Ell
the call came strong tru
t was then, from what can be str
rned, about eighteen miles out in the
lake. The snow was heavy. the wa
was close to 20 below her