I was born on the shores of Lake Superior  (technically in a hospital) and I spent a good deal of my life on the lake’s shores camping, loitering, and admiring it’s beauty.

On more than one occasion I’ve had to issue a chilly reminder about the lake “Don’t kid yourself, that water’s beauty is concealing a murderous personality, Lake Superior will kill you.”

This reminder was often viewed as a joke and laughed off, but it was nothing short of sincere.

In her latest post Amy Crea blogs about the book So Terrible a Storm: A Tale of Fury on Lake Superior

“Published by: Voyageur Press

It was Thanksgiving 1905 and thirty-one ships were on Lake Superior, making the season’s last, daring run–a run old salts had warned against, but to no avail against the shipping companies’ demands.  What none of the sailors knew until it was far too late was that they would soon face the worst storm ever to hit the Great Lake, a storm that nearly half of their number would not survive.

 

This is the story of that fateful storm, and of one of the worst shipping disasters in the nation’s history.  As the storm strikes without warning, readers are taken aboard the SS Mataafa as it crashes into Duluth’s piers, half of the crew freezing to death overnight as the other half survives by dancing through the dark around bathtubs set ablaze with scuttled pieces of the ship–all while 10,000 Duluthians set bonfires on shore to guide ships to safety”

Amy notes “Interested in ships, storms, the North Shore, history, or how people react under severe circumstances? This book’s for you.”
 

An excerpt from the book written by on-the-scene journalist Mary McFadden:

“Another boat is being broken to pieces by the angry seas near Lakewood, but her crew is safe and sound. Still another is beached above the canal, her crew is safe with friends. What more despoliation and tragedy awaits this morning’s knowledge cannot not be guessed. Science and human endeavor and the mighty work of human hands were flouted all day and all night by the elements gone mad.”

Well yeah, there’s that,but it sure is pretty.

What do you think about Lake Superior? Ever have a near death experience in it’s waters? Have any favorite Lake Superior get away spots?

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