Great Lakes wrecks

[John Arton]

Having a quite day watching T.V. presently on Documentaries on Sky watching a program called Great Lakes Ghost Ships regarding a ship called the L R Doty a steam ship that towed a sailing ship called the Olive Jeanette.
Apparentley it was quite common in the old days for steam ships to tow behind them a sailing ship to carry extra cargo.
Tragedy struck this tow when it was caught in one of the violent storms that hit the Great Lakes in winter. The tow line parted after some time as they both tried to weather the storm and the steam ship sank shortly after with all hands. The sailing ship actually made it back to port (Milawakee).
Just recently the wreck of the Doty has been discovered and hopefully an explanation can be found as to why the much larger and powerful steam ship sank, whilst the sailing ship survived.
A further interesting fact. A mussel that originated in the Baltic now inhabits the Great Lakes and has taken over from the native mussels. Even though this is an envasive species it has led to some of the clearest waters anywhere in the Lakes , which is a boon to divers.
V. Interesting prog. well worth an hour or so viewing.
rgds
JA

[Stan Carter]

Hi John, dont think i have seen that one yet, but have watched many programs on the lakes, all very interesting. but the mussel problem has gradually got worse over the years since they were brought into the lakes in ballast. it may be good for visability, unfortunatly they are killing the natural vegitation and i understand effecting the ballance of oxygen levels. this of course effects the fish stocks in all the great lakes. now we are seeing them being taken to other lake outside the lake system, all because boaters will not take time to clean their hulls and motors to ensure no further migration occurs. it's a problem thats not going away soon.
regards, stan.

[Tony Wilding]

I did not realise just how rough and dangerous the Great Lakes can get, have been up as far as Detroit a few times, allways flat calm, have since read of some of the Ships Wrecked there, was shocked to find so many. maybe it has something to do with the depth of water there.

[Bob Hollis]

Tony I remember in the 1960s reading that the great lakes had the greatest loss of peacetime tonnage in comparison to any other body of water in the world.