Great Storm of 1913: The loss of the John A. McGean
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David Yates, For the Signal Star
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Published on: November 8, 2019 | Last Updated: November 8, 2019 1:12 PM EST
Steamer John A McGean lost with all hands in the Great Storm of November 1913. HURON COUNTY MUSEUM
In the aftermath of the Great Storm of Nov.1913 between Amberley and Kettle Point, the wreckage and debris of eight ships that had gone down with all hands streamed ashore. The John A. McGean was one of those vessels lost in the 'November Witch' that claimed the lives of over 250 mariners.
Amid the flotsam were several bodies of the McGean's crew who drifted ashore and whose final resting place is in Huron County.
On the morning of Saturday, Nov. 7, Chauncey R. Nye (43) captain of the steamer John A McGean ordered his vessel to make steam to leave Sandusky, Ohio for the last run of the season.
The McGean was laden with 6,000 tons of 'black gold', or coal, and bound for Lake Superior. It would be a long trip as the McGean and her 23-man crew (some sources claim as many as 28 crewmen) delivered the winter's supply of coal to isolated port towns in northern Michigan before making the return trip to Lorain, Ohio to lie up for the season.
With luck, Captain Nye would be home in plenty of time to celebrate his anniversary on Dec. 16 with his wife, Eve, and their five-year-old son, Paul.
Captain Nye was a well-known figure on the lakes. His fondness for dance halls in port towns along the Great Lakes earned him the nickname 'Dancing Chauncey.' With 27 years of sailing on the lakes 'Dancing Chauncey' was an experienced seaman who had crewed almost every type of vessel on the lakes. It was Nye's second season as the McGean'scaptain and he was not deterred by the clearly posted storm warnings as he sailed out of Sandusky into Lake Erie.
Only five years old, the John A McGean was launched in Lorain, Cleveland in 1908 and named for one of the directors of the American Shipbuilding Company. She was a large iron hulled vessel with a length of 432-feet (132m) and a beam, or width, of 52-feet (16m). When loaded, she weighed 5,100 tons.
Captain Nye knew of the great northwest gale ravaging Lake Superior that Saturday when he headed her into Lake Huron's waters. Sensibly, he chose to run the McGean along the Michigan shore on what mariner's called the DeTour line.
By hugging the Michigan shore, the McGean would be safe from the worst of the northwest gale before locking down in the Soo Canal and entering Lake Superior.
Indeed, early Sunday morning, Nov. 8, it seemed the storm had blown itself out. However, in what mariners call a 'sucker hole' it was only the calm before the next storm as the gale force winds only shifted direction.
By noon, near hurricane force winds of 60-70 mph arose from the northeast. Blinding blizzard conditions combined with high waves peaking at 35-feet (11m) made the "White Hurricane" the worst storm recorded in Great Lakes history.
The McGean was last sighted struggling against the winds and waves off Taras Point, Michigan. She would not be seen again until 1985 when marine archaeologist, David Trotter, found her lying in 175-feet of water off Harbour Beach, near the Michigan thumb.
Trotter pieced together the McGean's final terrifying moments on Sunday, Nov. 8, 1913. From the pilothouse, Captain Nye ordered his Chief Engineer, Calvin Smith, to stoke the McGean's boilers hot enough to keep her steam engines running the ship ahead of the waves to avoid being overwhelmed and swamped. When the winds shifted direction, mountainous waves battered the McGean from all sides making it impossible to steer.
As the McGean plunged into a trough something hard struck her keel bending it at a 45-degree angle and breaking off one of her propeller blades. Whatever struck the McGean, all on board knew the ship was helpless and rudderless at the mercy of the waves.
A monster wave carried away the wheelhouse and stove in the McGean's engine room skylights and deck hatches. In seconds, Lake Huron's icy waters swamped the engines and flooded the ship's holds. The crew had only moments to react. Engulfed by the waves, the giant 432-foot McGean rolled over and vanished under the waves. For decades afterwards, it was said, area residents collected buckets full of coal from the McGean's holds off the beach.
On Wednesday, Nov. 12, the McGean's tragic fate was confirmed when the upper part of her wheelhouse washed ashore near Bayfield. That same day, five miles south of Goderich, Knyvett Naftel, saw the chilling spectre of three men lashed to a lifeboat bearing the name John A McGean drifting towards the shore.
The stiff and ice capped bodies were identified by papers found in their pockets as wheelsman George Smith, Thomas Stone and watchman John Owen. Smith and Stoneman were Ojibwa natives from Sarnia and were given a native burial there.
Three days later the Clinton New Era reported that two bodies had been found wearing McGean lifebelts near Bayfiled. The bodies were taken to Brophey's funeral home in Goderich where they were photographed for identification. One was later identified as Second Cook, D. M Betts of Pennsylvania.
On Nov.20, the Goderich tug W. L. Hortonbrought in Chief Engineer Calvin Smith whose mortal remains were found near Black's Point. Smith was the last of the McGean's crew to be identified.
Several other crewmen washed ashore but none claimed their remains and, at least 16 of the McGean's crew have no grave but the sea including Captain Nye's. Along with three other unknown mariners, an unidentified sailor from theMcGean was given the largest burial in Huron County's history.
On Nov.23, 1913, the entire Town of Goderich lined the funeral route from Brophey's Funeral Home to the Maitland Cemetery to pay their last respects to the unknown sailors who had perished in the Great Storm.
The funeral cortege of the unknown seamen was the last act in the tragic history of the John A McGean.
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