I'm watching a fascinating show on the Science channel called "Shipwrecks of the Great Lakes." Apparently there are over 10,000 known shipwrecks in the Great Lakes with many more yet to be discovered. This is the largest number of shipwrecks per square mile in the world. Thunder Bay, in Lake Huron, has over 200 wrecks with an estimated 100 more yet to be discovered. The ice cold fresh water keeps them in a remarkable state of preservation and they form a valuable archeological resource. Why so many wrecks? First, the Great Lakes are a weather cauldron with warm air from the plains states meeting cold fronts from Canada. Lake effect weather conditions produce intense short lived storms which seeming arise without warning. Weather prediction during most of the last century was notoriously unreliable. Further mariners tended to look at their own barometer and local cloud patterns and disregarded the weather predictions. Additionally there were a number of uncharted shoals in the Lakes. Many of the sinkings occurred in November, well after the end of the recreational boating season. Ship captains were eager to make one more run before the December freeze. Finally, there was an attitude amongst most Lakes mariners that sailing the Lakes was somehow safer that the deep ocean. After all, land was no more than a couple of hundred miles in any direction. Unfortunately this left little room for error. Bulk freighters tended to be oversized and under powered. It made economic sense but lessened the ability to fight the weather. No mention at all was made of radar or the lack of radar. Check the listings of shows on the Science channel and see this show when it repeats. It makes sailing in the Bering Sea look like a piece of cake. Larry Z ************** Dell Inspiron 15 Laptop: Now in 6 vibrant colors! Shop Dellbs full line of laptops. (http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100126575x1222008777x1201444407/aol?redir=http :%2F%2Fad.doubleclick.net%2Fclk%3B215566094%3B 37864358%3Bv)

> Snip > Many of the sinkings occurred in November, well after the end of the > recreational boating season. Ship captains were eager to make one > more run before the December freeze. Even more eager were the ship owners. In the forties and fifties (and presumably earlier, though I was too young to know) all the floating navigation aids were pulled out in late October and early November to avoid damage and destruction by ice. The lighthouses went dark and insurance companies terminated insurance on both ships and cargoes. However, some ships continued to operate on the upper lakes without insurance or navaids until the ice finally shut things down, sometimes trapping ships in places their owners wouldn't have chosen. The crews on these late season vessels were often referred to as 'prize crews'. They were paid substantially more for these trips and apparently there were enough volunteers to crew the ships. My father took me down to the waterfront as a small child early in WW2 to see the herring fleet come in. It was November and there was as yet no snow on the ground in Port Arthur (now Thunder Bay on Lake Superior), but the fishboats were so laden with ice that they bore little resemblance to boats and some of them were listing at alarming angles, even as the crews were chopping away at the ice with axes. The herring fishery disappeared not long after that, followed some years later by the commercial lake trout fishery. Terry Tamarack