VOLUME XXIX NO. 3 FOR GREAT LAKES MUSEUMS, ASSOCIATIONS AND HISTORIANS ESTABLISHED 1983 Commemorations planned for INSTITUTIONAL MEMBER NEWS DOOR COUNTY the Great Lakes Storm of 1913 MARITIME MUSEUM A port call by the three-masted, schooner Denis Sullivan was one of the highlights of the 22 nd Annual Door County Maritime Museum Classic and Wooden Festival. The event was held in Sturgeon Bay, Wis. and attracted over 40 vessels. A 31-foot Hacker-Craft runabout, the Yesterday owned by Tim and Jackie Danis of Egg Harbor, Wis., claimed Best of Show honors., and the Borum , a 16-foot runabout built in 1953 and owned by Larry Fisette of De Pere, Wis., garnered People’s Choice honors. The two-day festival also saw its largest number of team entries ever in the popular Sikaflex Challenge boat building contest. Artist Randy Rasmussen repeated as the People’s Choice award winner in the event’s “Paint the Bay” plein air painting competition. Rasmussen’s “Snug Harbor” will be featured in the poster for the next year’s event The iron ore freighter Henry B. Smith and its 25-person crew were among the 19 ships and over which is scheduled for the weekend 260 people lost during the Great Lakes Storm of 1913 (State Historical Society of Colorado photo). of Aug. 3-4, 2013. Jerry Richter earned honorable mention for his This year, the centennial of one of the on the western end of Lake Superior. “Pelicans over Dunlap Reef.” worst storms in the region’s maritime At the time, the weather forecast in history will be commemorated as part The Detroit News called for “moderate Based on the success of its “Pirates!” of “A Remembrance: The Great Lakes to brisk” winds for the Great Lakes temporary exhibit several years ago, Storm of 1913” series of events. The region, with occasional rain showers the Maritime Museum has opened commemoration has been organized on Thursday night or Friday for the an updated version entitled “Pirates by museums and volunteers from upper lakes and fair to unsettled – Ship to Shore” which features a several Lake Huron communities. conditions for the lower lakes. half-scale model of the pirate ship Fortune . The exhibit also includes Described as a “white hurricane” by Around midnight, the steamer Cornell pirate artifacts from throughout the many, the Great Storm of 1913 began ran into a sudden northerly gale about United States, interactive displays on the night of Thursday, November 6, Continued on Page 12 and hands-on activities. It will be on display through Jan. 31, 2014. The 19 th Door County Lighthouse Maritime Museum plans announced Walk offered visitors a weekend of The Great Lakes Historical Society Settlement and Exploration, Expansion land and water tours of ten Lake has announced detailed plans for the and Industry, Safeguard and Support, Michigan lighthouses. The Door National Museum of the Great Lakes and Shipwrecks and Survival. County Maritime Museum and which is scheduled to open in the Lighthouse Preservation Society has The Society’s original museum themes Toledo Maritime Center in 2013. scheduled the next Lighthouse Walk of commercial shipping, passenger for the weekend of June 7-9, 2013. The National Museum’s 9,000 square ships, lighthouses & lifesaving and feet of exhibit space will be divided shipwrecks will be incorporated into The Maritime Museum sponsored a into four themed display areas and each of the major display areas. The cruise to the Pottawatomie Light on will include more than 50 interactive planned interactive features include Lake Michigan’s Rock Island last features. Those display themes are Continued on Page 2 Continued on Page 2 PAGE 2 ASSOCIATION FOR GREAT LAKES MARITIME HISTORY NEWSLETTER VOLUME XXIX NO. 3 INSTITUTIONAL MEMBER NEWS to museum officials, the displays and content in the new exhibit will have explicit connections to Detroit. For Continued from Page 1 example, displays will examine the summer. Located off the northerly tip city’s place at the center of the fur of the Door County Peninsula, the trade in the 18th and 19th centuries, lighthouse was built in 1858. and how its geographic placement made it of strategic importance for In other news, the Museum hosted the French, British and Americans. The Association for Great Lakes Maritime two presentations by Dennis Hale, History is an international organization of the sole survivor of the wreck of the Later, the Detroit River lead to the institutions, museums, societies, and individuals freighter Daniel J. Morrell which city becoming a center of industrial interested in preserving and interpreting the sank on Lake Huron in November development, marine transportation, maritime history of the Great Lakes. 1966. After the three, fully-dressed and manufacturing. Displays will also Membership includes a subscription to this men he was in a lifeboat with died of explain how the river’s status as an newsletter and the opportunity to participate hypothermia, doctors were mystified international border was a factor in in Association activities. In addition to its newsletter, the Association also sponsors an that the 26-year-old Hale survived the Detroit’s role in the Underground annual meeting, and encourages research, the ordeal clad only in shorts, a pea coat Railroad as well as smuggling activity exchange of information, and the publication of and a life preserver. during the Prohibition Era. materials on Great Lakes maritime history. DOSSIN GREAT LAKES MUSEUM According to Society officials, the Individual membership is $40 per year. “Built on the River” exhibit will The Detroit Historical Society has Institutional membership is $60 per year. highlight how the Detroit River is begun work on a multi-million dollar To become a member or for a brochure “inescapably linked” to the city that improvement project involving both containing more information about the shares its name. The exhibit has been the Dossin Great Lakes Museum and Association, write to: designed to both encourage public Detroit Historical Museum. As part Association for Great Lakes Maritime History understanding of the importance of of the project, the Dossin was closed P.O. Box 484 maritime history to local history, and in December for installation of a new Bowling Green, OH 43402 to give “a modern perspective” to permanent, centerpiece exhibit that history and “the affinity that ASSOCIATION OFFICERS entitled “Built on the River.” Detroiters have felt for the rivers President While museum will still embrace and lakes of the region.” Laura Jacobs, Archivist Great Lakes marine history, according Continued on next page UniversityofWisconsin-Superior JimDanHillLibrary-MaritimeCollection Vice President Sowden also presented a program Bob Graham, Archivist New museum entitled “They Left Toledo: Tales of HistoricalCollectionsoftheGreatLakes Continued from Page 1 Loss and Disaster of Vessels that Left Secretary Toledo, Ohio.” Ed Warner, IndividualMember simulations of the bridge and engine room of an early 20 th century Great Chris Gillcrist, the Society’s executive Treasurer Lakes freighter. director, presented “The Great Lakes John Polacsek, IndividualMember There will also be a working bilge and the Cold War: How the United The AGLMH Newsletter (ISSN 1081-4744) pump that visitors can set to simulate States Protected its Most Important is published bi-monthly by the Association for water flowing into a schooner’s hull Industrial Resources.” His program Great Lakes Maritime History. The submittal under normal sailing conditions, was based on recently uncovered of articles, news, photos, drawings, research documents, including some which requests, letters, etc. relating to the maritime heavy weather or when the hull has been damaged. Outside the museum, discussed plans for protecting the history of the Great Lakes region is welcomed region’s freighters in the event of a from members and non-members. All items will a maritime-themed park is now being be considered for publication and should be constructed alongside the new berth nuclear attack. sent to the editor: for the Col. James M. Schoonmaker . To fully achieve its exhibition and Bob O’Donnell The park will include several large program plans for the National 521 Wesley Avenue Museum of the Great Lakes, the Green Bay, WI 54302 artifacts from the Historical Society’s collection, such as a 22-ton propeller Great Lakes Historical Society has Home Tel.: 920-469-3460 undertaken a capital campaign to E-mail: [email protected] from the John Sherwin which was raise $2.5 million. Members of the The Association for Great Lakes Maritime History cast in Toledo. As a preview to the is incorporated as a nonstock, nonprofit corporation types of programs to be offered at the Society’s board have committed under the laws of the State of Wisconsin. The U.S. $400,000 to the campaign. Internal Revenue Service has ruled the Association new museum, Historical Society staff to be under Sections 507(a)(l) and 170(6)(l)(A)(v) members have made several public Additional funding for the museum – EIN 39-1484960. presentations in recent months at and maritime-themed park will come the Toledo Maritime Center. from a $6,075,000 grant from the Ohio For more news and information, Those presentations have included Cultural Facilities Commission. The visit the Association Web Site “Nautical Archaeology of the War City of Toledo is also paying for the of 1812” by Carrie Sowden of the removal of an abandoned power plant www.aglmh.net Historical Society’s Peachman Lake that is adjacent to the site in what is Erie Shipwreck Research Center. referred to as the Marina District. VOLUME XXIX NO. 3 ASSOCIATION FOR GREAT LAKES MARITIME HISTORY NEWSLETTER PAGE 3 In addition to displays on the city’s historic lighthouses on Lake Superior the naval aspects of the War of 1812. industrial and marine industries, the islands, and eastern Lake Ontario.