The Ghost Ships of The Great Lakes

Some lost ships still sail those waters...

Many ships have gone down on The Great Lakes over the years. It is estimated at least 6,000 ships have been lost to the waves, taking 30,000 people with them. Not surprisingly, there are stories about some of those ships that persist as tales of ghost ships.

SS Bannockburn

The SS Bannockburn has been called the Flying Dutchman of the Great Lakes for good reason. Launched in 1893, it was owned by the Montreal Transportation Company. The ship was sailing out of an area near present-day Thunder Bay, Ontario carrying 85,000 bushels of wheat on Nov. 20, 1902.

As she headed towards Georgian Bay, the ship suffered a slight grounding but with no apparent damage, it left the next day. The captain of the Algonquin saw the ship later that day, stating he viewed the ship several times but then that it was suddenly gone when he looked again. He blamed it on foggy weather and forgot about it.

That night, a powerful storm hit Lake Superior and the crew of the Huronic reported seeing another ship’s lights in the storm but that no signals of distress were reported. The next day, the Bannockburn was reported as overdue but due to the storm it was believed the ship was delayed.

On Nov. 25, the John D. Rockefeller passed through a field of floating debris that could have been the Bannockburn but at the time the ship had not been reported as lost. It was not until Nov. 30 that the ship was given up officially as lost.

On Dec. 12, a captain at a life saving station found a cork life preserver from the Bannockburn, the only known piece of wreckage ever recovered from the ship other than an oar that was also found. Within one year, people on the Great Lakes began to report her as a ghost ship, earning her the aforementioned title. To date, the wreck of the ship has never been found and no bodies have ever been recovered.

SS Kamloops

The SS Kamloops launched in 1924, serving mostly Lake Superior. On Dec. 4, 1927, the ship passed through the Sault Ste Marie Canal and entered into Lake Superior on what would be its final voyage.

As it sailed through the lake, a heavy storm erupted and coated the ship in ice. It was last seen steaming towards the southern shore of Isle Royale on Dec. 6.

After almost a week without any word, a search began for the ship that continued until Dec. 22 but the ship and the 22 men and women on board were never seen again. A further search was done in 1928 but while the ship was not found, bodies began to wash on shore, nine in total.

In December 1928, a trapper near the Agawa River in Ontario would find a bottled note from Alice Bettridge, an assistant stewardess, who had survived the sinking of the ship. She wrote:

“I am the last one left alive, freezing and starving to death on Isle Royale in Lake Superior. I just want mom and dad to know my fate.”

The ship was called a Ghost Ship for the next 50 years until Aug. 21, 1977 when it was discovered northwest of Isle Royale near what is now called Kamloops Point. It was under 80 metres of water on its starboard side. The cause of the sinking remains a mystery to this day.

SS Western Reserve

The Western Reserve was a 19^th century ship that was lost to the waves in the spring of 1892. The ship took her captain, Peter Minch, who was quite wealthy, down with her.

There is a story that an old sailor who worked for the Great Lakes Life Savings Service dreamt of the ships demise, and he was the one to later identify the body of Minch when it washed ashore.

In all, 31 people died on the ship but the ship itself has never been located and it is not known what ever happened to it.

SS Erie Board of Trade

I’ll finish off with a very mysterious story regarding the Erie Board of Trade, a ship that was sailing north of Michigan when the ship’s captain sent a crewman to sit on the boatswain chair for mast watch.

The crew knew that the chair was unsafe and the crewman fell to his death soon after getting into the chair. That is not the spooky part though.

The crew began to see the crewman on the deck repeatedly and then one fateful day, after his story was told in port by one of his fellow crewman, the Erie Board of Trade went out onto Lake Huron and was never seen again.