Coast Guard Rescues Lake Superior

Speaking of US Coast Guard rescues: A southern Bay racer, John Beery, sends the following account of his great grandfather’s harrowing experience. John Wesley Duddleson was skipper of the LC Waldo when this happened on Lake Superior. One of the most dramatic rescues ever to take place in Lake Superior history occurred in the waters near Gull Rock. Shortly after midnight on Nov. 8, 1913, hurricane force winds sent a series of large waves over the aft deck of the 450-foot freighter L.C. Waldo, tearing away her pilothouse, damaging her steering gear, and eventually driving her up on Gull Rock’s shoals. Just months before, the federal government automated Gull Rock Lighthouse, so it was unmanned at the time of the Waldo’s beaching. For more than three days 24 people huddled in the ice-entombed forward half of the wreck with little food or heat, as winds howled and waves pounded outside. Rescue teams from two separate life saving stations in Eagle Harbor and Portage, Michigan braved deadly seas to converge on the wreck within hours of each other. The rescuers successfully transported all 22 men, two women, and the ship’s dog to safety. For their valiant effort, the rescuers were awarded the Gold Lifesaving Medal, which remains the U.S. Coast Guard’s highest honor. The 1913 storm that claimed the Waldo is one of the most infamous ever to visit the Great Lakes region. From Minnesota to New York, a total of 10 ships disappeared entirely in that storm (two in Lake Superior) with all hands lost on each vessel. The four-day maelstrom, which was marked by highly unusual hurricane-force winds, also wrecked 26 other ships throughout the Great Lakes. http://www.gullrocklightkeepers.org/gullrock.htm