Death on Lake Erie

October 22, 2009 11:22 pm

— CONNEAUT — Nearly 100 years ago, the Marquette and Bessemer No. 2 car ferry entered the world of Lake Erie folklore.
On Dec. 7, 1909, the vessel — hauling 30 railroad cars filled with coal — sailed from Conneaut for Port Stanley, Ontario. The large ferry encountered a terrible storm and sank with all hands lost.
A century later, the car-ferry disaster continues to fascinate shipwreck buffs and bedevil divers. Despite plenty of false reports, the wreckage never has been found.
The car ferry’s mysterious fate will be the subject of the 7 p.m. Tuesday meeting of the Conneaut Area Historical Society, to be held at the Villa at the Lake, 48 Parrish Road. Carrie Sowden, archaeological director of the Great Lakes Historical Society in Vermilion, will speak on the car-ferry disaster.
The public is invited.
The car ferry is one of the most significant sinkings in Great Lakes history, Sowden said.
“It’s probably one of the most well-known because it just disappeared,” she said. “It’s a pretty big boat to just disappear. It’s something people find very interesting.”
Plenty of other factors add to the mystery. Two days after the ferry was reported overdue, nine of the ferry’s crew members were found frozen to death inside a small boat. They were wearing normal duty clothes, not foul-weather gear, a clue the boat went to the bottom in a big hurry.
“There’s a ghost-story feel to the whole thing,” Sowden said.
Depending on accounts, 32 or 34 people were aboard the ferry. A majority of them were local residents, including Capt. Robert McLeod and his brother and first mate, John McLeod.
Port Stanley lies only 60 miles across the lake from Conneaut, no major journey for McLeod and his crew, but the vessel ran into a horrendous storm that created blizzard conditions and winds that topped 70 knots.
The temperature plummeted — from 40 to 10 degrees in less than 24 hours — and visibility was reduced to zero, according to accounts. The ferry, unable to enter Port Stanley, steered back into the storm in a desperate bid to find safe harbor.
People in Port Stanley and Conneaut reported hearing a distress whistle early on the morning of Dec. 8. The foul weather persisted for days, frustrating rescue efforts.
No survivors meant there was no firsthand account of what caused the calamity. Monstrous waves on the lake is one culprit. Some speculate one of the coal-laden railroad cars broke loose and slammed open one of the ferry’s gates.
“So much is unexplained,” Sowden said. “We’ve got a pretty decent story going on.”

Photos

Star Beacon files THE MARQUETTE and Bessemer No. 2 blasts its way into Conneaut Harbor by using dynamite in the frozen ice of Lake Erie, a year before it sank.