Mysterious Shipwrecks of the Great Lakes 

For those who didn’t grow up around the Great Lakes their size is kind of hard to grasp; they’re not lakes; they’re more like miniature oceans. And shipwrecks are spectacularly preserved in lake superiors fresh water that has two temperatures: ice and melted ice.

"By the the twelfth Century the ship was declared missing" I think it was a bit after that, Simon.

Absolute legend. Hopefully he does cover the Edmund Fitzgerald, the anniversary of its sinking just passed a few days ago

Never underestimate Gitchee Gumee. That was drilled into my head as a kid. I use to go fishing on Lake Superior with my dad and grandpa. Storms roll in from out of nowhere.

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down Of the big lake they called Gitche Gumee The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead When the skies of November turn gloomy With a load of iron ore twenty-six thousand tons more Than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty That good ship and true was a bone to be chewed When the gales of November came early

Caitlin Doughty / Ask A Mortician has an excellent episode on her channel about the perfect preservation in the lakes. "The Lake that Never Gives up her Dead" is what it's called.

I live in a small town in Southern Ontario, close to Lake Erie. Our cottage and many nearby were partially furnished by furniture that floated in from wrecks, probably at the beginning of the 20 century, or perhaps in the late 1800s. The wicker pieces were probably, older than the maple pieces. I am typing on an old wicker desk that was found right now. We don't know which boat it was from or the circumstances of its sinking.

"The catastrophe was responsible for more deaths than the Titanic" I didn't know 844 was a larger number than 1,500

I grew up by Lake Ontario. These lakes are closer to inland seas than what many people think of as lakes. My wife grew up in Massachusetts and when she took her first look across Lake Ontario from the pier I used to fish off as a kid she just stared and looked from right to left and back again. I asked her what was wrong and she said "I've never seen a lake before where I couldn't see the other side. I feel like I'm looking out on the ocean." When those lakes get stormy they're nothing to mess with. I've seen the ends of the piers loaded up with ice 12 feet or higher from the waves hitting them during the Winter. There are maps showing all the known shipwrecks in each lake and all the lakes are littered with them.

I live by Lake Erie and it’s still something to see 1000 ft freighters on a freshwater lake. 20 ft waves are also not uncommon in the fall and winter here.

When my father was diving The wreck of the Emperor off Isle Royal in the 1960s, he met an old timer that said the Kamloops was full of Canadian Whisky bound for the US during prohibition.

I'm impressed by the fact you pronounced Sault Ste. Marie correctly lmao. 90% of people who read the name get it wrong in my experience.

They're still discovering and rediscovering wrecks all around Michigan. There are massive sand dunes along the coast, including one that made an entire city disappear. As the dunes move, with wind, various relics become uncovered. It's pretty crazy!

2:33 By the twelfth century? The ship was declared missing 700 years before it sank? What is this

Bodies in shipwrecks of Lake Superior are "ghosts" they dont decay, but become pale "waxed" floating bodies in the shipwreck

My father had neighbors (a father and son) who were aboard the Eastland, he could hear the family crying for days and mourners visiting the home to pay their condolences. He said the family’s cries were so mournful that his family cried too, just hearing them.

My grandfather was a crew member on the "SS JP Morgan Jr" when it collided with the SS Crete in June 1948 on the Great Lakes durning a storm and fog. It crushed the forward crew's cabin. Luckily neither sank but 2 men died in the collision. I have vintage photos we found in my great grandfathers attic of the ship before and after the collision. I have the pictures of the full crew, Captain Quinn, the coal room, the boiler room, the engine room, and even the ships mascot, a little dog named "Tiny". My grandfather took very good pictures of the damage. I also have pictures of the look -out who was spotting at the time of the collision, and pictures of the tug boat that steered the damaged ship to safety after the collision. The ship was eventually scrapped in 1980. I also have pictures of many other steam ships operated by Pittsburg Steam Company on the Great Lakes as well as the different harbours. Fascinating stuff.

I think if you made this video you could probably make an entire episode on the Edmund Fitzgerald.

Really enjoy these videos that look back into a time of history. 🙂

This one needs a part 2. And maybe 3.

Not all Epic Canadian shipwrecks live underwater some of us are perfectly happy on land 😂

as a young lad growing up in Ontario Canada the SS Edmund Fitzgerald was a legend sinking and even a song was made of it ..great story i was surprised you didnt include that ship wreck

I've dove on the Kamloops, its definitely haunted. His name is Grandpa, his body can still be found trapped in the engine room, and you can see him walking around, working, relaxing, etc as if she was still sailing.

Where is Edmund Fitzgerald? Are you going to do a Megaprojects or Geographics on it then?

@2:35 I'd like to hear more on how a ship that sank in 1927 was discovered in the 12th century!

Thank you Simon, I live on the North Shore of Lake Erie near Long Point which is known as the graveyard of ships. Every year or so a new wreck is found or identified. There are many that are easily accessible to even novice divers. Thanks for the great content.

I can see how that would make a good training ship. "If you do anything wrong, this ship will roll over and drown you all in this freezing water. It has done so before! Remember the dead and learn from their mistakes."

Whenever anyone outside of the US askes where I'm from they usually don't know where Michigan is, but once I tell them it's the one that looks like a mitten they automatically know

Back in '76 I was happily fishing out of a rowboat on a bright, calm, sunny day. Suddenly a violent wind struck blowing to the East which was straight out into the lake for me. They called it a Derecho. Some sort of unusual weather front. I was young and well conditioned to rowing my boat and made straight for shore. I had to drag the boat down the beach to get home. Larger boats did not have my luck and I watched one swamp and sink. It was a lesson about how quickly the big lakes can kill that I never forgot. Sometime I'll tell you the story about nearly freezing to death while ice fishing. In Michigan get tough or die is not a joke.

I was literally, standing in the checkout line at Goodwill thrift store, yesterday, talking about all the shipwrecks in the Great Lakes... Good timing, Simon, that's what I call synchronicity.

I know my comment will probably be buried under the rest, and I am a bit intoxicated so bear with me. Simon; you are an absolute powerhouse of information and community service. I'm subscribed to ALL of your channels and actively follow each one. I absolutely love getting informed while I smoke my nightly bowl, and I adore the fact I can get consistent, thorough coverage on ANY plethora of topics from the same guy! I'm a pretty liberal dude but even my conservative father loves your channel. I share links with him throughout the night as I find topics you cover I think he'd also enjoy. I guess what I'm trying to say is thank you for everything you do. My whole family looks forward to your uploads. My parents used to think that RU-vid was just used for people posting skits and home videos, but thanks to you they view RU-vid as the next generation of informed television. Your work is absolute top quality with no equal. Sure you could find a guy that might cover WWII a bit more thorough, but you'd be hard pressed to find that same guy making a video of world events and important biographies! We come here to see YOU give us the good word, we're not just hear for the word in general; we love YOUR take on the world around us. We're all honored in my household to have access to such quality programming without the need to pay off Comcast. I might not be able to pay you my cable bill but godamn I'll always make sure to give you that 100% watch time! Happy holidays mate, from my family to yours. You're an absolutely irreplaceable icon, Simon, all your writers included! (Except Danny, that man needs a seat in Valhalla! He's on a whooole other level of scripting!)

Thank you for including the Eastland. People outside Chicago don't know about this ship accident at all despite the loss of life.

Ah, yes, the Temporal Laws. With an infinite improbability drive (and a strong Brownian Motion producer) you can lose a ship today and finally notice it is missing 700 years ago.

You could honestly make a series out of this, I mean, there’s just so many shipwrecks in the Great Lakes

What about a Great Lakes Geographics? Or a mega project video on the work the Army Corp of Engineers has done around the Great Lakes would also be interesting.

"The Great Lakes: Glacial Graffiti" Geographics title suggestion

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down, of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee

Nice to see some lesser known wrecks covered. If you run out of material you could easily do a part two or three like you do on other channels Simon, The Great Lakes are as bad as the Bermuda Triangle for lost ships.

I live at the Port of Goderich on Lake Huron , we have a grave at the locale cemetery many unknown sailors that washed up on shore, many from the Great Storm of 1913. There are around 60 ship wrecks off of Goderich , they have gave it the nickname The Bone Yard .

What I got from this video is that there were steam ships in 12th century. A truly informative channel.

Simon, I heard that in the 1800s a ship returning from Chicago to Milwaukee filled with Irish sank. Almost every Irish family in Milwaukee and the grief was so great it caused rhe vast majority of Irish to leave the city. Would love if you could find more on this Lake Michigan shipwreck and do a video.

Thanks for highlighting little-known shipwrecks instead of the Edmund Fitzgerald. There are plenty of videos about it.

Another great episode Simon. I spend almost every summer weekend diving the various wrecks of the Great Lakes and there is some very interesting history on the bottom. A couple nuggets, a German WWI submarine and many Avengers aircraft when Lake Michigan had training aircraft carriers for WW2. Keep up the great work and I really appreciate all the work that goes into all your channels.

I won't say anything about the Civil War sometime after the 1950's. 7:00

Thank you Simon! You should do a side project on the St Lawrence seaway and the welland canal! Thanks for all you do!

The building that served as a temporary morgue for the victims of the SS Eastland was later converted into a television studio where the Opera Winfrey show was produced.

Not really sure why but hearing Simon mention my hometown of Sault Ste. Marie made me incredibly happy.

Loved this, really hope you are thinking of going a Part II?

The Kamloops definitely did not exist in the *twelfth* century, lol! But there is at least one body down there, and he is quite real. You can find an excellent video about it over at Ask A Mortician. Complete with footage of said body.

There needs to be a mega projects episode on the Edwurd Fitzgerald...

SUGGESTION, I'm not sure if you would understand.. but it changed the image of a company in the 80's, showed Americans what v6 turbos can do. "Buick GNX"

Thanks again Simon! Two further nautical suggestions for you: firstly, the MV Kalakala, one of the first streamlined deco ferries and secondly, what about extending the theme of this video with one on the lost ships of Bass Strait? Happy new year!

Wow, absolutely nothing about the most famous of them all, the Edmund Fitzgerald?

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down Of the big lake they called Gitche Gumee The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead When the skies of November turn gloomy With a load of iron ore twenty-six thousand tons more Than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty That good ship and true was a bone to be chewed When the gales of November came early The ship was the pride of the American side Coming back from some mill in Wisconsin As the big freighters go, it was bigger than most With a crew and good captain well seasoned Concluding some terms with a couple of steel firms When they left fully loaded for Cleveland And later that night when the ship's bell rang Could it be the north wind they'd been feelin'? The wind in the wires made a tattle-tale sound And a wave broke over the railing And every man knew, as the captain did too T'was the witch of November come stealin' The dawn came late and the breakfast had to wait When the gales of November came slashin' When afternoon came it was freezin' rain In the face of a hurricane west wind When suppertime came, the old cook came on deck sayin' "Fellas, it's too rough to feed ya" At seven PM, a main hatchway caved in, he said "Fellas, it's been good to know ya" The captain wired in he had water comin' in And the good ship and crew was in peril And later that night when his lights went outta sight Came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald Does any one know where the love of God goes When the waves turn the minutes to hours? The searchers all say they'd have made Whitefish Bay If they'd put fifteen more miles behind her They might have split up or they might have capsized They may have broke deep and took water And all that remains is the faces and the names Of the wives and the sons and the daughters Lake Huron rolls, Superior sings In the rooms of her ice-water mansion Old Michigan steams like a young man's dreams The islands and bays are for sportsmen And farther below Lake Ontario Takes in what Lake Erie can send her And the iron boats go as the mariners all know With the gales of November remembered In a musty old hall in Detroit they prayed In the maritime sailors' cathedral The church bell chimed 'til it rang twenty-nine times For each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down Of the big lake they called Gitche Gumee Superior, they said, never gives up her dead When the gales of November come early

2:34 That's AMAZING! I didn't even know 20th century wrecks COULD be declared missing in the 12th century.

I feel like I fine a new Simon Whistler channel every other week

How could you do a video on great lake shipwrecks and not mention the Edmund Fitzgerald? That's the most famous shipwreck in the UP and arguably the most famous wreck the Lakes have claimed.

Most of its Booty was looted in the 90's . The people that publicly found the ship took my than 100 bars of gold . They only admitted to finding the wreck after the coast guard approached them!

I've been watching your content for some time now and its been great! We have a family cottage on Whitefish Bay, AKA Lake Superior. I'm what is known as a Boat Nerd around these parts. Thanks for bringing some well deserved attention to some under appreciated history! The Fitz is obviously the most well known tragedy but there are other ships that went down that should be remembered as well!

As a resident of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, and a sailor on the Lakes myself as my career during the Summer months, I know these lakes well, and the stories that follow.

it's so big the water stays cold year-round, I tried swimming in the lake and had to get out a few minutes later. I hope you do a video on the Edmund Fitzgerald.

You're losing it, Simon. The SS Kamloops was declared missing 700 years before it was built? How is the SS Eastland incident responsible for more deaths than the Titanic? SS Eastland deaths: 844, Titanic: over 1500?

1:05 - Chapter 1 - SS Kamloops 3:45 - Chapter 2 - SS Eastland 6:40 - Chapter 3 - The keystone state

Please do vids on the other mysterious shipwrecks in the Great Lakes. Also, a vid on treasure / artifacts recovered from shipwrecks in the Great Lakes would be neat!

1:55 is Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. It's a beautiful sight to see. I'm surprised Simon didn't cover the Edmond Fitzgerald as it's the most famous shipwreck in the great lakes!

Great "Lakes." They're more like a collection of inland seas.

Ayy a video about my state! Fantastic as always!

this needs a part 2

A couple of comments. The title of the video starts with "Mysterious", so the E Fitzgerald probably wasn't included because it's well known why it went down. The Eastland sank on the Chicago River, not far from the Great Lakes, but not on the Great Lakes. The little boy (who they said was the only person not identified, "Number 396"), was later identified as Willie Novotny, age 7. He was unclaimed at the start, since the rest of his family died on the Eastland. His body was later identified and claimed by his Grandmother.

The lake it is said never gives up her dead... Oh Lake Superior how you amaze me.

Thank you for highlighting ships other than the Edmund Fitzgerald on this one. There's plenty of video about her, but there are a great many weird sinkings in the Great Lakes that nobody ever hears about.

Love having a video centered around something so close to home! Maybe you could cover Mackinac Island at some point... it has a very interesting history and present

The Western Electric clock tower was within view of where I grew up. Lots of neighborhood elders were eyewitnesses to the Eastland disaster, some because they'd been on that company excursion. and many would tell the story to us kids. (Cicero, Illinois was a great place for learning history when I was a kid. People socialized on their porches and after dinner would often just sit around talking with various neighbors. Kids were welcomed if we could shut up and not fidget. Our town was famed for Al Capone and the 1951 race riot which got so out of control that the National Guard had to come out to stop it. Organized crime was also significantly present and powerful. I learned a lot.)

says eatin by wolves shows a mountain lion 🥴

As usual thank you sir for these informative and educational docs.

As a Michigander I truly enjoyed this Episode.

12th century?

Pretty sure that first ship is pronounced KAM-loops, not KAMP-loops. There's only the one P in the name.

Shout out from Sault Ste Marie!!

Could you do a part two on this? Also there have been a lot of instances of planes crashing or disappearing on the great Lakes too

Where’s the Edmund Fitzgerald?

Edmund Fitzgerald, on the lake that never gives up its dead.

Props to you for including the Eastland disaster

As someone who grew up in Erie PA it’s cool to see them get some attention; thanks for this video!

2:34 12th century? lolwut?

No mention of the Edmund Fitzgerald? It is the most fames Great Lakes ship wreck.

Came here from business blaze listened to this driving along the Huron coast of Michigan!

Exceptionally enjoyable and well done video.

6:56 by the late 1950's? Slow down and read what your interns write...

Sounds like the divers in the first story were experiencing nitrogen narcosis combined with fear.

thank you thank you for making this

Love the videos 👍, should do one on the first powerlines.

2:32 12th century?! “Smash that dislike button!!”

"I am your boy with the bl...oh, wait..."

I love your videos! Thank you from the Great Lakes state of Michigan!

Please do more on the shipwrecks of the Great Lakes!

A great side project would be hitlers autobahn here in Germany

What is up with Simon lately. More uncharacteristic errors in this. Mixed up dates, blatantly false death toll claims. At one point he says the SS Eastland disaster was responsible for more deaths than the Titanic. Eastland deaths: 844 Titanic deaths: approx. 1500 Perhaps Simon needs to slow down on all the videos and focus on his accuracy. We'll all benefit from the correct information more than the lost videos

This was really good, but maybe you could do a side video about all the airplanes that have been lost in the great lakes, specifically with all the World War II training missions that happened in the area and the handful of different training planes that crashed in the water

Stopping at most parks along Erie, in NE OHIO, I see signs and plaques for different ship wrecks. Erie may be the shallowest of The Great Lakes, but it has also made her one of the most deadly. The Lake can go from calm to 6'-8' waves with major storm squalls in under an hour (oftentimes, half-hour or less.) The first thing you learn when boating on Erie is to head to shore at the first sign of rain. From there, head to the closest harbor to wait out the storm. Respect Her and She'll be good to you, don't and She'll have Her way regardless.