The Breaking Up of the Daniel J. Morrell

The SS Daniel J. Morrell broke apart on the 29th of November in a similar fashion to the Carl D. Bradley not more than 10 years beforehand. In a similar storm in a similar fashion. But what was dissimilar was one man's story of survival. Last more than 24 hours in the elements wearing nothing but boxers and a jacket. His story is a harrowing, yet sad one.

#History #Disaster

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Works Cited:
Torn in Two by Michael Schumacher
Deadly Voyage by Andrew Kantar
National Transportation Safety Board Official Report

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[isabellahunt]

Oh man, I actually teared up at his description of him hallucinating his crew back together and telling him he wasn't his time to join them. What a heartbreaking dream to have.

[CommandoCQC]

I’d like to hope that when Dennis passed, his crew mates were waiting there with smiles and telling him “you’ve got nothing to be sorry for Dennis, welcome home.”

[DJun]

"After 43 years he was finally connected to the ship, and the 28 shipmates he had left behind. The crew of the diveboat stepped back, leaving the emotional man to his thoughts."
I don't know why but that line, that whole scenario just hit me like a freight train. My eyes stung and I welled up thinking about that scene playing out.

[tamiyacar]

These tragedies always seem to occur when the company decides to do one more journey that wasn't originally planned! Especially in worsening weather!

[maggiespeaks]

My father sailed the great lakes for many years. I asked him once if he remembered when the Morrell sank. He said he was glad he was loading iron ore in Ashland Wisconsin. even though on Lake superior, he said the sound of the wind through the ore docks that day was the strangest he ever heard, and he was glad he was in port. He sailed for over 35 years.

He was also out there on the William Clay Ford searching for possible survivorsOf the Edmund Fitzgerald in 1975. He told me veteran sailors were sick that night… Which was his way of telling me even he was seasick.

[alanbryant]

36 hours and he lost 25 lb. I can't imagine shivering non stop that hard to lose that much weight. Also I never knew about Storm Oil attached to the Sea Anchor. I can understand the oils purpose after you explained it.

[UCannotDefeatMyShmeat]

Honestly I’m amazed they survived a few hours after dunking into the water, let alone 1-2 nights after

[jffry]

Short of the suicidal lyrics, this story is almost exactly lile the song Bones In The Ocean. Sole survivor, survivor's guilt, seeing the ghosts of his crew, being told it's not his time to die, revisiting the wreckage, never returning to sea. The parallels are uncanny.

[jasonessery]

I was lucky enough to hear Dennis Hale speak personally during an event in Goderich to mark the centennial of the storm of 1913. The oddest part was when he described finally drifting in on a lifeboat full of his own dead crewmates, and how hopeless he felt when calling for help. At the time I was considering a career in the maritime industry. I decided a career in the military was safer! May he rest in peace since he has now crossed over to reunite with his crew.

[CSltz]

I just can’t imagine how much time and work that you put into these mini documentaries. But I’m glad you do.

[armorer]

Imagine being told (in a certain way) that it wasn't your time to die. The hallucination of being back on your ship with all the crew, and them asking you what the hell are you doing here? That is a hallucination with a spiritual component.

[CriticalMaster]

These are the names of those who died aboard the Daniel J. Morrell. Please take a moment to remember their names:

Arthur I. Crawley (47) - Captain/Master
Phillip Eugene Kapets (51) - First Mate
Duncan Robert MacLeod (61) - Second Mate
Ernest George Marcotte (62) - Third Mate
Stuart A. Campbell (60) - Wheelsman
Charles H. "Fuzzy" Fosbender (42) - Wheelsman
Henry Rischmiller (34) - Wheelsman
Albert Paul Wieme (51) - Watchman
Norman M. "Norm" Bragg (40) - Watchman
Larry G. Davis (27) - Deckwatch
John Michael Groh (21) - Deckwatch (missing)
Arthur E. "Art" Stojek Sr. (41) - Deckhand
John J. Cleary Jr. (20) - Deckhand
John Henry Schmidt (46) - Chief Engineer
Valmour A. Marchildon (43) - First Assistant Engineer
Alfred Gust Norkunas (39) - Second Assistant Engineer
George Albert Dahl (38) - Third Assistant Engineer
Wilson E. Simpson (50) - Oiler
Donald Everett Worcester (38) - Oiler
Arthur S. Fargo (52) - Fireman
Chester J. Koniecska (45) - Fireman
Saverio Rocco Grippi (53) - Coal Passer
Leon Richard Truman (45) - Coal Passer
David Lawrence Price (19) - Coal Passer
Stanley John Satlawa (39) - Steward (missing)
Nicholas P. Homick (35) - Second Cook
Joseph Alois Mahsem (59) - Porter
Charles J. Sestakauskas (49) - Porter

[diggerfan]

The three greatest Great Lakes ships were lost in 17 years, the Carl D. Bradley (1958), the Daniel J. Morrell (1966), and the Edmund Fitzgerald (1975). Probably not the best era in shipping but still fascinating to learn about these disasters. Good job!

[vz__skorpion]

As a Michigander, these stories from the great lakes hit closer to the heart than some of your other videos. Loving the content, keep up the good work.

[superdave]

As an ex-navy guy whose career started some 30 years after this incident, it is amazing how things changed. As I listened to this story it more mirrors events with the Titanic than it does a actual events from some +50 years later.

Life rafts, lack of emergency communication, poor emergency floatation ... all these things were things we would have expected to be normal in 1912 when the Titanic went down. Not something you would expect from a ship sailing on the Great Lakes in 1966.

In my time in the US Navy, I've seen inflatables with full emergency resources, exposure suits to minimize hyperthermia in freezing water, emergency beacons issued to crew, and even emergency communication systems with their own power banks. And that is not even counting the various IFF and satellite monitoring systems used on US Navy ships for identification and location purposes.

If a US Navy ship were to sink, I'd like to believe that the US Navy would be responding before the ship even struck bottom. And the crew of said ship still stood a reasonable chance of surviving even in cold, rough seas.

[lomgshorts]

IN order to fit through the ancient locks of the old river/lake system, the freighters were limited to a certain width but not more than 625' in length. This caused great torsion problems with the riveted hulls. My Tug had towed many lake freighters with torn riveted plates or cracked hulls to safety at harbours with dry docks capable of receiving them for repairs and replacement of torn frames and side plates. I was just a kid then, 16 but adult sized so I could lie about my age and work with the tug company. One we towed had a broken back held together with welded chains to keep her from splitting in half. My family were Dutch, so Maersk was the obvious choice to work for. Many lake freighters were lost like this being caught between two high waves bow and stern with no support airships. They broke in half because they were heavily loaded, and had taken on water airships through hatches damaged by storms. Once a North wind started, we all knew that a storm was coming. We monitored 500KHz and channel 16, the two emergency frequencies available at that time and offered salvage contracts to shipping companies to bring their broken ships in to port. We carried four dewatering pumps on deck (that is all we had deck space for), and could sway them aboard ships in distress. Then we took them under tow because their engines would only make any breaks or torn plates worse in a high sea. The Great Lakes had short period waves with deep troughs between them due to their small sized channels and shallow depths. I believe that the Fitzgerald bottomed itself between two tall waves, broke her back, and sank in two pieces just as these ships did. I've seen three Lakers (colliers) pulled into Sodus bay and be unloaded because of developing cracks in their hulls, the coal sold to Rochester, Gas, and Electric to feed their coal electric generating stations, and what RG&E didn't buy went to mills to be ground to "pea gravel" to heat coal burning furnaces for home heating. I had a hard life until I quit Maersk for the State of NY D.O.T. Canal Section and worked the Erie Canal for many years. Working the Erie Canal was much easier as it was a State Job where you worked one of three shifts of eight hours instead of watch on and watch off every four hours. Yeah, we lived aboard our tug, but the hours were better, and the pay and benefits were MUCH better.

[hectorheathcote]

High sulphur steel was a big problem with the liberty ships in WW2 as well. Many broke up in the cold waters of the north Atlantic. Fair wind and a following sea.

[abrandenburg]

As a Christian, it infuriates me to hear a priest telling him not to speak of such things. How do you respond to a man you're ministering too like that? Just so cruel and unmerciful

[jimk]

I was working on the boats in '66 and '67. I took a picture of the Morrell in '66 on Lake Huron. Your description of life on the boats is fairly accurate. Storms can be quite fierce. Such a tragic story!

[OodlesofOwOdles]

Anyone find it odd that we get excited when Maritime Horrors releases a video, even though its guaranteed to be a grim tale of disaster and death? Anyways, great video my man, please make more.