SS ''Carl D. Bradley'' was an American self-unloading

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lak ...

freighter that sank in a Lake Michigan storm on November 18, 1958. Of the 35 crew members, 33 died in the sinking. Twenty-three were from the port town of

Rogers City, Michigan Rogers City is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 2,827 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Presque Isle County. The city is adjacent to Rogers Township, but is politically independent. Rogers City is located on L ...

, United States. Her sinking was likely caused by structural failure from the brittle steel used in her construction as well as extensive use throughout her 31-year career. Built in 1927 by the

American Ship Building Company The American Ship Building Company was the dominant shipbuilder on the Great Lakes before the Second World War. It started as Cleveland Shipbuilding in Cleveland, Ohio in 1888 and opened the yard in Lorain, Ohio in 1898. It changed its name to t ...

in Lorain, Ohio, ''Carl D. Bradley'' was owned by the Michigan Limestone division of U.S. Steel, and operated by the

Bradley Transportation Company The Bradley Transportation Company, was an American shipping company that was a subsidiary of the Michigan Limestone and Chemical Company and handled its shipment of limestone to its parent company U.S. Steel. It boasted a large fleet of self- ...

. She retained the title of "

Queen of the Lakes ''Queen of the Lakes'' is the unofficial but widely recognized title given to the longest vessel active on the Great Lakes of the United States and Canada. A number of vessels, mostly lake freighters, have been known by the title. History of name ...

" for 22 years as the longest and largest freighter on the Great Lakes.

History

Design and construction

's fleet of self-unloading ships was used to haul

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

from the Michigan Limestone quarry in

. ''Carl D. Bradley'' was built to meet Michigan Limestone's lucrative contract with a cement firm in

Gary, Indiana Gary is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The city has been historically dominated by major industrial activity and is home to U.S. Steel's Gary Works, the largest steel mill complex in North America. Gary is located along the sou ...

.. By , she was longer than the second largest ship on the

and her engine had almost twice the power of engines installed in most

lake freighter Lake freighters, or lakers, are bulk carrier vessels that operate on the Great Lakes of North America. These vessels are traditionally called boats, although classified as ships. Since the late 19th century, lakers have carried bulk cargoes of ma ...

s. At , she was the longest freighter (and the largest self-unloader) on the lakes for 22 years. Later the AA class of U.S. Steel-owned freighters was roughly the same size as ''Carl D. Bradley'' but shorter in length by just inches. ''Carl D. Bradley'' retained the title "

" until the launch of the SS ''Wilfred Sykes'' in 1949. ''Carl D. Bradley'' began as hull 797 in 1923 at the

in Lorain, Ohio, where she was launched on April 9, 1927. She was outfitted with her fore and aft housing in the ensuing months until her maiden voyage, when her namesake Carl David Bradley, the president of Michigan Limestone; Bradley's wife; the Rogers City community band; and hundreds of Rogers City residents greeted her as she steamed into Calcite Harbor on July 28, 1927. Bradley declared that the new ship was "the last word in freighter construction." The

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mu ...

(USCG) described ''Carl D. Bradley''s design and construction as:

... typical arrangement for self-unloading type vessels with a forepeak and large cargo area, and hawing propulsion machinery aft. These areas were separated by two transverse watertight bulkheads, the collision bulkhead at frame 12, and the engine room forward bulkhead at frame 173. The cargo hold space was divided into five compartments by screen bulkheads above the tunnel and the unloading machinery was located in the conveyor room just forward the cargo spaces. The entire 475 foot length of the cargo space was open longitudinally through the tunnel and conveyor room.

As the flagship of Bradley Transportation Company, ''Carl D. Bradley'' often carried corporate officials and guests in her staterooms. She received more attention than the other ships in the fleet, with her gray and red paint always fresh, her decks freshly hosed down, and a larger crew. She had individual rooms for the captain, chief

mates Mates is an English surname, and may refer to: * Mates (born 1964), British newsreader and journalist * Michael Mates (born 1934), British politician * Frederick S. Mates, founded the Mates Investment Fund in 1967 that crashed in the bear market ...

, chief steward, and

engine room On a ship, the engine room (ER) is the compartment where the machinery for marine propulsion is located. To increase a vessel's safety and chances of surviving damage, the machinery necessary for the ship's operation may be segregated into var ...

officers. The rest of the crew was housed in comfortable dormitory style rooms. She had a "state-of-the-art" galley with huge refrigeration units and storage pantries. Her engine room housed a huge generator powered by two Foster-Wheeler boilers. ''Carl D. Bradley'' was the only fully electric ship in the Bradley Transportation fleet; her generator powered everything from the propeller to the running lights..

Career

''Carl D. Bradley'' registered port was

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

; however, her true base of operations was Rogers City, where Michigan Limestone was based. The Bradley Transportation fleet was predominantly crewed by men from Rogers City. Many of crew were friends, neighbors, or familial relatives. As the boats often departed and returned every few days, many of the crew made their homes and raised their families in Rogers City. During her career, ''Carl D. Bradley'' carried different grades of limestone from Lake Huron to deepwater ports on Lakes

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

and

Erie Erie (; ) is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. Erie is the fifth largest city in Pennsylvania and the largest city in Northwestern Pennsylvania with a population of 94,831 a ...

and occasionally

Lake Superior Lake Superior in central North America is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface areaThe Caspian Sea is the largest lake, but is saline, not freshwater. and the third-largest by volume, holding 10% of the world's surface fresh wa ...

. She set new records in stone trade, carrying her largest cargo in 1929 when she loaded with of limestone, a cargo that would require 300 railroad cars to move. She was the first lake freighter to pass through the new MacArthur Lock at the

Soo Locks The Soo Locks (sometimes spelled Sault Locks but pronounced "soo") are a set of parallel locks, operated and maintained by the United States Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit District, that enable ships to travel between Lake Superior and the low ...

in 1943. As the largest ship on the lakes, ''Carl D. Bradley'' was traditionally the first boat through the Straits of Mackinac when the ice kept the smaller vessels from leaving port. She served as an

icebreaker An icebreaker is a special-purpose ship or boat designed to move and navigate through ice-covered waters, and provide safe waterways for other boats and ships. Although the term usually refers to ice-breaking ships, it may also refer to smaller ...

. Her forepeak was filled with concrete; she would break ice to Indiana, and then go to the Lorain shipyard for replacement of broken plates before starting her season. ''Carl D. Bradley'' sustained damage in a collision with MV ''White Rose'' on the

St. Clair River The St. Clair River (french: Rivière Sainte-Claire) is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed November 7, 2011 river in central North America which flows from Lake Huron int ...

on April 3, 1957. She was in dry dock in

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for seven days in May 1957 for major repairs to her hull.. ''Carl D. Bradley'' had two groundings while proceeding out of Cedarville, Michigan, one in the spring of 1958 and the other in November 1958, the latter of which required repairs. These groundings were not reported to the USCG, which would later consider whether the groundings caused hull stresses that contributed to ''Carl D. Bradley''s sinking.. The USCG noted that although Bradley Transportation received an award for 2,228,775 injury-free man hours from April 24, 1955, to December 31, 1957, while operating ''Carl D. Bradley'', the company's focus was industrial safety rather than material safety of the vessel. Since the company's founding in 1912, it had never lost a ship until loss of ''Carl D. Bradley''. Although ''Carl D. Bradley'' was normally one of the busiest ships in the Bradley fleet, she was laid up from July 1 to October 1, 1958, due to a downturn in the steel industry. She made only 43 round trips in the 1958 shipping season. ''Carl D. Bradley'' was scheduled for repairs in Manitowoc,

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

, when she laid up over the winter.. Her owner, Bradley Transportation, a U.S. Steel subsidiary, planned an $800,000 replacement of her rusting

cargo hold 120px, View of the hold of a container ship A ship's hold or cargo hold is a space for carrying cargo in the ship's compartment. Description Cargo in holds may be either packaged in crates, bales, etc., or unpackaged (bulk cargo). Access to h ...

and bulkheads. A common joke among her crew was that she was being held together by her rust. Sailors reported that they picked up sheared off rivets by the bucketful following storms due to ''Carl D. Bradley''s excessive twisting and bending in heavy weather. The USCG conducted an annual inspection of ''Carl D. Bradley'' on April 17, 1958, and found her seaworthy.. On October 30, 1958, the USCG found no problems during a safety inspection of ''Carl D. Bradley'' that included a fire and boat drill.

Final voyage

''Carl D. Bradley'' met its fate on November 18, 1958, while en route to Rogers City. The previous day, she had completed what was initially supposed to be her last voyage of the 1958 season, which she completed with the delivery of a cargo of crushed stone at Gary, Indiana.. After leaving Gary, ''Carl D. Bradley'' set course for Manitowoc, where she was due to spend her winter layup in dry dock and was to have a new cargo hold fitted. She departed Gary empty on her final voyage on November 17 at 10:00 p.m. with in her ballast tanks for stability. However, when ''Carl D. Bradley'' was only a few hours from Manitowoc, she received an order from U.S. Steel to return to Calcite Harbor, as they had scheduled her to deliver another load of stone at the last minute. The winds were at the start of her trip. The weather forecast was a

gale A gale is a strong wind; the word is typically used as a descriptor in nautical contexts. The U.S. National Weather Service defines a gale as sustained surface winds moving at a speed of between 34 and 47 knots (, or ).. ''Carl D. Bradley''s path would take it into a lethal storm that was the result of two separate weather patterns merging. A line of thirty

tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...

es extended from

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

; more than of snow fell on

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north ...

and

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who comprise a large porti ...

; nearly of snow fell in

Wyoming Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to the s ...

;

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...

's temperatures plummeted to below freezing; and

Tucson , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

, had a record snowfall. Captain Roland Bryan was known as a "heavy weather captain" who took pride in delivering his cargo on time.. Bryan's usual course up Lake Michigan was quicker and ran closer to the Michigan shore. On November 18, he avoided the brunt of the building seas by instead traveling along the lee of the Wisconsin shore. He planned a course with his

first First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

and second mate that would take them to

Cana Island Cana Island is an island in Lake Michigan in the town of Baileys Harbor in Door County, Wisconsin, United States. The Cana Island Light is on the east side of the island. It is possible to walk to Cana Island from the mainland over the tombo ...

, then turn at Lansing Shoal near the Beaver Island group. Although the seas gathered strength from the southwest, they were not considered severe and the ship was riding smoothly. However, there is evidence that regardless of his reputation, Bryan likely had his doubts concerning how well the 31-year-old vessel could manage in rough seas. Not long before ''Carl D. Bradley''s loss, he stated in a letter to a friend that he was well aware that the ship was not in the best condition structurally and should not be out in bad weather. He also expressed in the letter that he was relieved that ''Carl D. Bradley'' was slated to receive a new cargo hold during her winter lay-up in Manitowoc. Two ships were running parallel with ''Carl D. Bradley'' when she passed

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at th ...

, at 4:00 a.m. on November 18. She reduced her speed sometime prior to 4:00 p.m. to . By 4:00 p.m, she was past

Poverty Island Poverty Island is a small island in the U.S. state of Michigan. The island is within Delta County in Lake Michigan and is home to the Poverty Island Light Station, an abandoned lighthouse which is in disrepair. Poverty Island is currently owne ...

with Bryan in charge of navigation and the first mate on watch. Winds were storm force from the southwest at . ''Carl D. Bradley'' was "riding comfortably with a heavy following sea slightly on the starboard quarter." At 5:35 p.m. the ship was about southwest of Gull Island. At this moment a loud thud was heard followed by a vibration. The first mate turned aft and saw the stern of the vessel sagging. Bryan slammed the engine's telegraph to "stop engines" and sounded the alarm to abandon ship. As the ship broke in two, he shouted at the crew on deck to run and don their life jackets. The first mate managed to radio transmissions of mayday and give their position before the power lines aboard the ship were severed. The distress call was picked up by the USCG, amateur radio and commercial stations on land and sea. ''Carl D. Bradley'' had one

life raft A lifeboat or liferaft is a small, rigid or inflatable boat carried for emergency evacuation in the event of a disaster aboard a ship. Lifeboat drills are required by law on larger commercial ships. Rafts ( liferafts) are also used. In the m ...

stored in the bow section and two

lifeboats Lifeboat may refer to: Rescue vessels * Lifeboat (shipboard), a small craft aboard a ship to allow for emergency escape * Lifeboat (rescue), a boat designed for sea rescues * Airborne lifeboat, an air-dropped boat used to save downed airmen A ...

stored in the stern section. The crew in the stern section attempted to lower the lifeboats. One lifeboat became entangled in cables and the other lifeboat dangled at an impossible angle for launching or boarding. The life raft was tossed clear of the wreck when the bow section sank.. The four crew members who reached the life raft were repeatedly thrown off by the massive waves and only two survived. The crew on the German cargo vessel ''Christian Sartori'' witnessed the sinking through their binoculars. They saw the lights go out on the fore part of the ship while the aft end of the ship remained lit. Then they saw the lights on the aft end go out so that the silhouette of the ship remained barely visible. A short time later they heard an explosion and saw a red, yellow and white column of flame and remnants shoot up in the air. They "concluded that the ''Bradley'' had exploded"..

Search and rescue

After witnessing the explosion, ''Christian Sartori'' immediately altered course for ''Carl D. Bradley''s location. However, the wind and waves were so fierce that it took her one and one-half hours to traverse the that separated the vessels. The Plum Island lifesaving station deployed a boat within minutes of the sinking. The crew was unable to steer or make any headway in the storm and was forced to seek the shelter of nearby Washington Island. The USCG Cutter ''Sundew'' went out from

Charlevoix, Michigan Charlevoix ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Charlevoix County. The population was 2,348 at the 2020 census. Charlevoix is mostly surrounded by Charlevoix Township, but the two are administered autonomously ...

, into the open lake in the pounding seas of an unremitting gale. She arrived at the search area at 10:40 p.m. on November 19, five hours after ''Carl D. Bradley'' sank. Coast Guard Station Charlevoix also launched a motor

lifeboat Lifeboat may refer to: Rescue vessels * Lifeboat (shipboard), a small craft aboard a ship to allow for emergency escape * Lifeboat (rescue), a boat designed for sea rescues * Airborne lifeboat, an air-dropped boat used to save downed airmen ...

in an attempt to reach ''Carl D. Bradley'', but this was ordered back after being mercilessly tossed about on Lake Michigan. The USCG Cutter ''Hollyhock'' from

Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin Sturgeon Bay is a city in and the county seat of Door County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 9,646 at the 2020 Census. The city is well-known regionally for being the largest city of the Door Peninsula, after which the county is n ...

, arrived on the search scene at 1:30 a.m. on November 19 after a seven-hour trip that her skipper described as "a visit to hell." During the night, friends and family members of ''Carl D. Bradley''s crew drove from Rogers City and the surrounding towns to Charlevoix where any survivors would arrive. They kept vigil by lining the beach at Charlevoix with their car headlights turned on. Eight other commercial vessels joined the search at daybreak. USCG air and surface units searched for survivors throughout the following days. At 8:37 a.m. on November 19, ''Sundew'' located ''Carl D. Bradley''s forward life raft fifteen hours after the sinking and from the disaster site. Two survivors were on the raft — First Mate Elmer H. Fleming, 43, and Deck Watchman Frank L. Mays, 26. Another crew member from ''Carl D. Bradley'', Deck Watchman Gary Strzelecki, was also found alive, but died not long after being rescued. The two survivors said that they fired two of the three

signal flare A flare, also sometimes called a fusée, fusee, or bengala in some Latin-speaking countries, is a type of pyrotechnic that produces a bright light or intense heat without an explosion. Flares are used for distress signaling, illumination, ...

s stored on the life raft not long after ''Carl D. Bradley'' sank. When they tried to fire the remaining flare, it was wet and would not fire when ''Christian Sartori'' passed within without seeing them. Mays reported that his cork-filled life jacket kept him buoyed but he had to hold it down just to keep it on due to the force of the waves. He knew that he had to find something to hold on to in order to survive. During the day, ''Sundew'' and other vessels recovered seventeen more bodies, all wearing lifejackets.. The bodies were brought to Charlevoix City Hall for family identification. More lifejackets were found laced up, indicating that they may have slipped off while they were worn. In all, of the 35 crewmen, 33 lost their lives. The bodies of the fifteen men not recovered remain missing to this day. After the ice broke up in the spring of 1959, the

United States Army Corps of Engineers , colors = , anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day) , battles = , battles_label = Wars , website = , commander1 = ...

located ''Carl D. Bradley''s wreck using

sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigate, measure distances (ranging), communicate with or detect objects on o ...

equipment aboard MS ''Williams''. The wreck was found northwest of Boulder Reef and just south of Gull Island lying at a depth of . Later in 1959, ''Carl D. Bradley''s owners, U.S. Steel, hired

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

-based Global Marine Exploration Company to survey the wreck using the underwater television from the USS ''Submarex''. They concluded that the ship was lying in one piece. However, the two survivors continued to maintain that they saw ''Carl D. Bradley'' break in two. The U.S. Steel survey of the wreck was criticized because it was conducted in secrecy without impartial witnesses.

Coast Guard investigation and recommendations

Investigation

The Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation found that ''Carl D. Bradley'' sank from excessive hogging stresses. The Marine Board reported that four vessels were crossing Lake Michigan parallel or ahead of ''Carl D. Bradley'' during the storm and that eight other vessels sought shelter at the time of the casualty. They concluded that Bryan "exercised poor judgment" when he decided to leave the shelter of the Wisconsin shore and sail into the open lake during the storm. However, the Commandant of the USCG, Vice Admiral A.C. Richmond, issued his own report that disapproved the Marine Board's conclusion that Bryan used poor judgment. Richmond noted that his conclusion was supported by the vessel's 31-year history of Great Lakes navigation and the report that it was sailing smoothly prior to its sinking. His report also rejected that hogging stresses caused ''Carl D. Bradley'' to sink, instead concluding that she broke up due to "undetected structural weakness or defect." Maritime historian Mark Thompson wrote that the type of steel used in the older vessels may have caused their structural failure:

After the ''Carl D. Bradley'' sank in 1958, Coast Guard technical experts were aware of the shortcomings of the notch-sensitive and brittle steel that was used to build many ships prior to 1948, but there doesn't seem to have been any program in place to warn the owners or crew of such vessels. That led to the loss of the '' SS Daniel J. Morrell'' in 1966, and may have been a factor in many other shipwrecks.

Recommendations

Following their investigation of the ''Carl D. Bradley'' sinking, the Marine Board made the following safety recommendations: :1. Mechanical changes should be made in the way lifeboats are disengaged and deployed.. :2. A second life raft should be mandatory on Great Lakes cargo ships because they land upright no matter how they are overturned. :3. Each life boat should be equipped with two tow ropes (painters). :4. Six parachute-type flare signals with equipment for firing them skyward should be stored on each lifeboat and life raft. :5. The cork and canvas life vests should be updated to include crotch straps and collars to support the neck. The Great Lakes shipping industry later replaced the rigid, open rafts like the one carried on ''Carl D. Bradley'' with inflatable life rafts with an enclosed canopy for protection against the elements. In 1968, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) gave notice to the USCG Commandant that the structural failure sustained by SS ''Edward Y. Townsend'', ''Carl D. Bradley'', and ''Daniel J. Morrell'' could recur under similar circumstances. The NTSB recommended that the USCG take action to implement a progressive structural renewal on ships constructed prior to 1948.

Legal settlement

''Carl D. Bradley''s estimated value at the time her loss was $8 million, making her the most costly shipwreck in Great Lakes history. U.S. Steel initially offered $660,000 as a

settlement Settlement may refer to: *Human settlement, a community where people live *Settlement (structural), the distortion or disruption of parts of a building * Closing (real estate), the final step in executing a real estate transaction *Settlement (fin ...

. Family members of the lost crewmen felt that U.S. Steel used the USCG findings to avoid responsibility for the loss of ''Carl D. Bradley''. The company believed that their 1959 survey results of the wreck supported their position that her loss was an " act of God". Ten families filed lawsuits seeking more than $7 million just weeks after the USCG report was released. U.S. Steel reached a $1,250,000

lump sum A lump sum is a single payment of money, as opposed to a series of payments made over time (such as an annuity). The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development distinguishes between " price analysis" and "cost analysis" by whether ...

settlement one year and sixteen days after the sinking. A commissioner was appointed to determine how the settlement money would be divided among the families. The settlement would not guarantee lifelong financial security to the victims' families. One published source said the settlement was "one of the fastest in maritime history for a case of its scope.".

Later wreck surveys

Jim Clary, marine author and artist, and Fred Shannon, maritime explorer, led two diving expeditions to the wreck with the goal of proving that the survivors' account that ''Carl D. Bradley'' broke apart was accurate. Survivor Frank Mays participated in both expeditions. The first expedition in 1995 was conducted with a submersible. It was unable to conclusively prove whether ''Carl D. Bradley'' broke apart due to poor visibility and weather conditions. However, "Mays, as the only living survivor of the tragedy, placed a plaque on the wreck in memory of his fellow crewmen." Clary, Shannon, and Mays conducted the second expedition in 1997 with a

remotely operated underwater vehicle A remotely operated underwater vehicle (technically ROUV or just ROV) is a tethered underwater mobile device, commonly called ''underwater robot''. Definition This meaning is different from remote control vehicles operating on land or in the a ...

(ROV). They obtained underwater video film showing two sections of ''Carl D. Bradley'' sitting upright about apart at a depth of . Forty years after ''Carl D. Bradley''s sinking, Mays was able to view her hull from inside the submersible. He later wrote, "I saw it go down in two pieces on the surface and now I've seen it in two pieces on the bottom of Lake Michigan." This was arguably an unparalleled experience in Great Lakes shipwreck history. ''Carl D. Bradley''s wreck lies in of water in a

thermocline A thermocline (also known as the thermal layer or the metalimnion in lakes) is a thin but distinct layer in a large body of fluid (e.g. water, as in an ocean or lake; or air, e.g. an atmosphere) in which temperature changes more drastically with ...

with a temperature of . A very high degree of technical skill and long decompression are required to dive this wreck. The wreck is totally encrusted with

quagga mussel The quagga mussel (''Dreissena rostriformis'', also known as ''Dreissena bugensis'' or ''Dreissena rostriformis bugensis'') is a species (or subspecies) of freshwater mussel, an aquatic bivalve mollusk in the family Dreissenidae. It has an aver ...

s. Mirek Standowicz made the first scuba dives to ''Carl D. Bradley'' in 2001. He videotaped the

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for a documentary by Out of Blue Productions. His video recorded the glass blown out of the pilot house windows and the telegraph in the stop position. Two Minnesota divers, John Janzen and John Scoles, spent months preparing to remove ''Carl D. Bradley''s

bell A bell is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be made by an inte ...

. They designed a special battery system and underwater torch and conducted practice dives in a flooded iron mine in Wisconsin. After obtaining the required permission from Michigan government agencies, Scoles and Janzen conducted three dives to ''Carl D. Bradley'' in August 2007. They removed the original bell and replaced it with memorial bell of similar dimensions, engraved with the names of the lost crew. They were the first scuba divers to reach the stern of ''Carl D. Bradley'', including long penetration dives inside the ship's engine room. Frank Mays was present on the surface during the dives and saw the bell for the first time in 49 years when it broke the water surface.

Legacy and memorial

Of the 35 crewmen, 33 died in the sinking; 23 were from Rogers City, Michigan, a town with 3,873 residents. Twenty-three women were widowed and fifty-three children became fatherless. Two ''Carl D. Bradley'' wives had children on the way. The largest mass funeral service was held at St. Ignatius Catholic Church for nine of the recovered victims. Friends and relatives would nearly double the town's population during the funerals and memorial services. There was a funeral on every street. Rogers City's mayor issued an official proclamation declaring that every November 18 would be dedicated to the memory of the men lost on the ship. The

Mariner's Church Mariners' Church of Detroit is a church with worship services adhering to Anglican liturgical traditions located at 170 East Jefferson Avenue in Downtown Detroit, Michigan. It was founded in 1842 as a special mission to the maritime travelers ...

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

, offered special prayers for the vessel's sailors. Ships at sea dropped anchor at noon for memorial services for those lost on ''Carl D. Bradley''. The ''

Detroit News ''The Detroit News'' is one of the two major newspapers in the U.S. city of Detroit, Michigan. The paper began in 1873, when it rented space in the rival ''Detroit Free Press'' building. ''The News'' absorbed the ''Detroit Tribune'' on Februar ...

'' established the "''Carl D. Bradley'' Ship Disaster Fund" and contributed $1,000 to set it up. Donations came from across the country, ranging from Michigan Limestone's $10,000 contribution, to collections aboard commercial ships, to individual donations. On August 9, 1997, a memorial in Rogers City's Lakeside Park was dedicated to the thirty-three men who lost their lives on ''Carl D. Bradley'' and ''Cedarville''. The bell from ''Carl D. Bradley'' was returned to Rogers City in 2007. It was restored and unveiled in a ceremony held on the weekend of the 49th anniversary of the sinking. On November 17, 2008, a 50th Anniversary Memorial was held at the Great Lakes Lore Maritime Museum in Rogers City when the bell was tolled to commemorate the crew. The documentary movie ''November Requiem'' premiered at the Rogers City Theater during the ceremonies. It used author Andrew Kantar's book, ''Black November'', as a major source and focused on the repercussions on the small community of Rogers City after ''Carl D. Bradley'' sank. The documentary was featured on

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

in November 2008. In 2010, it won two Emmy Awards for best historical documentary and best original music score. In 2019, Captain Andrew Stempki released a “songumentary” entitled "The Men Long Forgotten" that memorialized the wreck. Stempki is also constructing a screenplay for a feature film.

References

External links

''Carl D. Bradley'' homepage

University of Detroit Mercy - ''Carl D. Bradley''

'' Presque Isle County Advance'' and '' Alpena News'', respectively.
Newspaper headlines, "33 Missing as Freighter Sinks in Lake Michigan"
'' Bay City Times'' and erroneous headline from ''

Detroit Times Six different newspapers called the ''Detroit Times'' have been published in the city of Detroit; the most recent existed for six decades, from 1900-60. Overview *The first iteration of the ''Detroit Times'' was an antislavery bulletin only print ...

''.
Pictorial history of the Carl D. Bradley.

The Ship that Time Forgot, video of underwater expeditions to the Carl D. Bradley.

published by the Ninth

U.S. Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mul ...

District. * ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaFzyDbZy5I Carl D. Bradley Engine Room, August 2009, on YouTube {{DEFAULTSORT:Carl D. Bradley Great Lakes freighters Steamships of the United States Merchant ships of the United States Maritime incidents in 1958 1927 ships Queen of the Lakes Ships built in Lorain, Ohio Shipwrecks of Lake Michigan Wreck diving sites in the United States