Rainy Day and Memories

Today it is rainy and cold in northern Michigan. My husband, sister, Kathy and I decided to visit the "Great Lakes Lore Maritime Museum" in Rogers City, Michigan, a small town 40 miles north of my home town of Alpena on the shores of Lake Huron. When we approached the museum we saw a closed sign on the window. A man was just about to enter the building when I asked him if he was opening the museum, he said he would if we wanted to visit. We were so thankful for his willingness to open the museum for us. We had a personal tour and enjoyed hearing the stories he had to tell about the history of many the ships and the men who sailed them.

Most of you who read this blog know that my father and brother sailed the freighters on the Great Lakes. The sailors lived on the ships 24/7 from March through December. During the winter months, many of them furthered their careers by attending classes to obtain a license for the next season as mates, engineers and captains. Since dad was a captain when I was a child, he could take his family on the ship during the summer months. We spent quite a bit of time in the pilot house with the mates and wheels-men. Dad picked us up to look through the lens piece of the radar, would let us blow the ships whistle to salute another ship and even let us sit on a high stool and turn the wheel of the ship (in open water) while helping us read the compass. We got to know the crew in the pilot house and galley. These men were also close friends of my parents. Our visit today to this maritime museum was in many ways a walk down memory lane. Many of the crew members on the ships that dad sailed have been inducted into the "Great Lakes Hall of Fame." We read their collages and saw pictures and artifacts from the ships. It was a thrill to see both my dad, Captain James M. Burke and my brother, Captain Gordon T. Burke's pictures on the wall of the museum.

Dave Erickson is the director of the museum and fully dedicated to preserving this rich maritime history on the Great Lakes. In the above picture, Dave is sitting in the memorial hall that honors the survivors and crew members who were lost in the sinking of the Carl D. Bradley, SS. Cedarville, Daniel J Morrell and the Edmund Fitzgerald. You may notice that behind Dave is his own collage as a survivor of the sinking of the SS Cedarville when a Norwegian ship rammed the Cedarville in heavy fog in the Straits of Mackinaw in 1965. I remember the sinking of these ships and my own anxiety for my father's safety especially as the gales of November stirred up the lakes. With the exception of the Fitzgerald, the ship's home port was Rogers City. The deep sorrow of so many husbands, fathers, and sons lost to the fury of the Great Lakes within a few short years from this very small town was almost unimaginable. The museum includes many artifacts from the ships including compasses, ships wheels, "chadburns" (a brass communication device mounted on the floor of the pilot house and engine room), dishes, uniforms, life preservers and life rings. The many newspaper accounts bring to life the stories of these men and ships.

These next pictures show two of the Huron Portland ships my father captained in green paint, as I remember them. In later years, National Gypsum Company bought Huron Portland Cement and the ships were painted white.

If you want to visit this unique museum, you won't be disappointed. I regret we didn't take the time last month to stop by when we were on our Pure Michigan tour. Hopefully our grandchildren can return to Michigan when they are a bit older and learn about their maritime family history.