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The December 1909 gale

· Lake Erie losses: 2 pages · Lives lost on Lake Erie: 50–58

Also called: Storm of December 7–8, 1909

A gale with snow swept Lake Erie on December 7 and 8, 1909. The car ferry Marquette & Bessemer No. 2 vanished between Conneaut and Port Stanley with everyone aboard, the freighter Clarion burned near the Southeast Shoal, and the W.C. Richardson sank off Buffalo. At least fifty people died.

The Marquette & Bessemer No. 2, a 338-foot steel car ferry, left Conneaut, Ohio, on the morning of December 7, 1909, for her regular crossing to Port Stanley, Ontario, with about 30 railroad cars, most of them loaded with coal. The southwest wind was already gusting to 50 mph, and by evening it was blowing close to 75 mph.[1] She never reached port. On December 12 a lifeboat with nine bodies was found about fifteen miles off Erie, Pennsylvania. Between 30 and 38 people died, and her wreck has never been found.[1,2]

On December 8, at the western end of the lake, the iron freighter Clarion, bound from Chicago for Buffalo with flour and corn, caught fire near the Southeast Shoal off Point Pelee. One man died fighting the fire and another in a lifeboat; a second lifeboat with thirteen men aboard was never seen again. The steamer Leonard C. Hanna rescued six survivors, and fifteen lives were lost.[3,4]

The same day, near the other end of the lake, the cargo ship W.C. Richardson was driven onto a shoal about a mile and a half off Buffalo in the storm, listed heavily and sank. Her cook was washed overboard, and four crewmen who set off in a lifeboat against orders also drowned; the steamer William A. Payne picked up the survivors. Her wreck was broken up with explosives in 1913 and 1914 and her machinery salvaged for scrap.[3]

Counting the ferry's 30 to 38 dead, the Clarion's fifteen and the Richardson's five, the storm killed at least fifty people on Lake Erie in two days.[3,5]

Lives lost: Marquette & Bessemer No. 2: 30–38; Clarion: 15; W.C. Richardson: 5.

Ships lost

  • Marquette & Bessemer No. 2 Lost December 7, 1909 · storm
  • Clarion Lost December 8, 1909 · fire · location withheld
  • W.C. Richardson Cargo ship driven onto a shoal about 1.5 miles off Buffalo on December 8, 1909; her cook and four crewmen drowned.[3]

Questions people ask

What ships sank on Lake Erie in December 1909?

The car ferry Marquette & Bessemer No. 2, which vanished with all aboard; the freighter Clarion, which burned near the Southeast Shoal; and the W.C. Richardson, which sank off Buffalo.

Has the Marquette & Bessemer No. 2 ever been found?

No. Despite many searches and several unconfirmed claims, the car ferry lost in the December 1909 storm has never been found.

Learn more

Look, don't take

Look, don't take. Shipwrecks and everything on them are protected by law; removing or disturbing anything can be a crime.

  • United States: under the Abandoned Shipwreck Act (43 U.S.C. § 2105) the U.S. claims title to abandoned shipwrecks embedded in a state's submerged lands, or resting on them and eligible for the National Register, and transfers that title to the state.[6][7][8]
  • Ohio: R.C. 1506.32 requires a permit from the Director of Natural Resources, approved by the Ohio History Connection, to recover, alter, salvage or destroy abandoned property on, in or near a submerged watercraft or aircraft in Lake Erie.[9]
  • Ontario: under the Ontario Heritage Act no one may alter a marine archaeological site or remove an artifact from it without a provincial licence; fines for breaking this rule can reach $1,000,000.[10][11][12]

How Lake Erie wrecks are protected

Diving Lake Erie wrecks is dangerous: cold water, poor visibility, depth, entanglement and boat traffic. Nothing here is dive guidance or a dive position. Dive only with proper training, a qualified operator and current information from the groups that maintain moorings.

Sources

  1. SS Marquette & Bessemer No. 2, Wikipedia. Accessed .
  2. HCGL vessel record: MARQUETTE & BESSEMER NO. 2 (1st), Historical Collections of the Great Lakes, Bowling Green State University. Accessed .
  3. List of shipwrecks in 1909, Wikipedia. Accessed .
  4. HCGL vessel record: CLARION, Historical Collections of the Great Lakes, Bowling Green State University. Accessed .
  5. List of shipwrecks in the Great Lakes (Lake Erie section), Wikipedia. Accessed .
  6. 43 U.S. Code 2105 - Rights of access (Abandoned Shipwreck Act: title to abandoned shipwrecks), Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School (text of the U.S. Code). Accessed .
  7. 43 U.S. Code 2101 - Findings (Abandoned Shipwreck Act), Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School (text of the U.S. Code). Accessed .
  8. 43 U.S. Code 2102 - Definitions (Abandoned Shipwreck Act), Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School (text of the U.S. Code). Accessed .
  9. Ohio Revised Code 1506.32 - Application for salvage permit for submerged watercraft or aircraft, Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Accessed .
  10. law-on-oha-part6, Government of Ontario (e-Laws). Accessed .
  11. law-on-oreg-11-06, Government of Ontario (e-Laws). Accessed .
  12. Atlantic (1848 ship), Wikipedia. Accessed .

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