Back on August 27th, I wrote about the Chicago Flashback about the October 30, 1929, Tribune front page about the great stock plunge. They had a reprint of the front page and another headline read "12 Lost, 60 Saved in Lake Wreck."
Shipwrecks have always been of interest to me, but the print was too small.
Fortunately, the Flashback page also had an article on the shipwreck along with two other front pages. The October 29, 1920 headline "Gale and Waves Bring Ruin" and Nov. 1st "Tell Horror of Ship Crash."
October and especially November, the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald and all, can be stormy on the Great Lakes.
As the financial tempest brewed, so did storms pounding the Great Lakes region. From Oct. 22nd to Oct. 23rd a gale lashed the shore, ripping up parts of Lake Shore Drive, demolishing concrete promenades on North Avenue and destroying lakefront parks and beaches.
Fifty-three mile an hour winds whipped monstrous waves which were even worse because Lake Michigan was at its highest water level since 1886. Oak Street Beach disappeared.
As news of the stock market collapse spread on Oct. 24th, there came reports that 52 people were feared dead when the car ferry Milwaukee sank. On Monday, Oct. 28th, the S.S. Wisconsin sank in heavy seas. Sixteen died and 60 were saved by heroic efforts by the Coast Guard.
On October 31st, a freighter heading for Chicago collided in heavy fog with the freighter Senator, sinking it with seven deaths.
Some Mighty Bad Times to Be Out on the Lake. --Cooter
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