Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 January 1911 — A MYSTERY OF THE GREAT LAKES [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

A MYSTERY OF THE GREAT LAKES

ROMANCE, tragedy, heroic sacrifice and mystery make up the story of the “Pere Marquette," the great ferry boat which sank with its load of human freight in the middle of Lake Michigan on the morning of September 9, 1910. News dispatches of the days Immediately following the disaster depicted the romance, tragedy and heroism. Rut the mystery is deeper today than it was on the morning the accident occurred. Marine history chronicles no other case of this character. Ships have gone to sea never again to be heard of, and the mystery of yrbat became of them has not been dispelled. Other ships have sunk or been destroyed by fire or otherwise, but always, even though the survivors numbered only a mere handful, there have been satisfactory explanations of the cause that brought about the disaster. Twenty-seven of her crew, Including the captain and other officers, went down with the Pere Marquette, while 52 others of crew and passengers were saved by the timely arrival of ferry boat No. 17 of the Pere Marquette line. . . .. But the amazing fact is that not one of the survivors could tell what happened to the stricken vessel. And despite the time that has elapsed and the exhaustive investigations carried on by the owners of the vessel and by the government authorities, the myßtery still exists. What really did happen to the Pere Marquette? What caused the great lake leviathan, under headway for three hours or more after she was first damaged, to suddenly stop in her course, poise for a brief moment and then drop, stern foremost, like a leaden weight to the bottom of the lake? Did the -pere Marquette strike a submerged wreck? Did her great cargo of loaded freight cars shift? Was some of her crew drunk? Was an anarchistic maniac aboard? Had the vessel a vital defect in her construction, and if so are others of the Pere Marquette class constantly facing a similar danger? These and dozens of like questions are now being asked daily by every man connected with the shipping of the Great Lakes. And the theories advanced in response to the queries are as numerous as the questioners. It is the one unsolved mystery of traffic on our inland seas.

Here was a great modern vessel, newly examined by the federal inspectors, only a few hours out on her first trip after leaving the inspection docks, protected by every method, human and mechanical, known to navi-gation—-and not on the vast ocean, but on a land-locked lake. A relief boat was in sight before the Pere Marquette went down and followed in her wake for half an hour or more in response to her distress signals, was within fifty yards of her when she sank, and picked up the survivors. Fallowing the disaster an investigation so searching that it fairly grilled the survivors with questions was instituted by boards of inquiry which had every authority to summon witnesses and cross-examine, and which was supplied with the best expert advice and assistance. And yet—the mystery of what happened is as dark and unresponsive today as the 520 feet of blue water which covers the wreck of the Pere Marquette and the bodies of its heroic crew. A few minutes before midnight on September 8 the huge steel car ferry left her slip at Ludington, Mich., and started across to' Milwaukee with a cargo of 29 loaded freight cars and a number of passengers. That day two United States government inspectors had gone over her from stem to stern and pronounced her one of the most seaworthy vessels on the lakes. She-had been built

only a few years before. During the summer she had been In the excursion service out of Chicago. This was her first trip after being returned to the ferry service. Shortly after three o’clock on the morning of September 9 Captain Pete Kilty was called and told that there was something wrong. He arose at once to investigate. Less than, an hour later passengers were startled from their sleep by rappings on their doors and the voice of the cabin boy shouting, as his feet pattered on to the next cabin: “Hie captain says for everybody to get up!" Seymour B. Cochrans, general manager of the Chicago Navigation company, was one of the passengers. Upon being called by the cabin boy he at once wakened the wireless operator and instructed -him to get in .touch with land or with other steamers. For an hour the wireless searched the lake, but could get no answer. Finally word reached Ludington and ferry boats No. 6 and No. 20 started in search of the distressed vessel. No. 17 of the Pere Marquette service, en route from Milwaukee to Ludington, came within sight of the crippled No. 18, however, and In response to her distress flags offered assistance. In the meantime everybody on board had gotten up. Captain Kilty was on deck and many of the passengers talked with him. All of the crew was aroused and put to work. And yet, with all of this opportunity, none of the members of the crew who were saved, nor any of the passengers, learned what was the matter with the vessel. Theories of the Disaster. Here are some of the theories as to what happened to the Pere Marquette: Loaded freight cars, being run overboard, through the open rear, jammed on the “fantail” at the stern. Portholes, opened by an insane man, and bulkhead blown out, admitted water to engine room, flooding ship. __ Dynamite thrown into the boilers by maniac or brought aboard in coal and accidentally shoveled in by stokers. Water entering “flicker” compartment through open portholes burst ljulkheads and sank the vessel. Struck by a submerged wreck. Deck scuttles near the stern washed off and after compartment flooded. Sea cock allowed to remain open in after compartment. Stern plates loosened while vessel was in its slip taking on freight cars. Bottom pierced by floating log. Carelessness of members of crew who may have been drinking.

Numerous other theories are advanced by persons familiar with lake traffic, but none of them explain satisfactorily just what happened to the Pere Marquette. As the vessel went down many of the passengers and crew leaped into the water from the fore part, while others were swept off. So abrupt was the descent that the waves threrw a lifeboat which had put off from the ferry boat No. 17 back against that vessel’s side and crushed it. Ferry boats Nos. 6 and 20 from Ludington and the tug A. A. C. Tessler, which had come out from Milwaukee, and another tug from Sheboygan, Wis., towing the Sheboygan life-saving crew, came onto the scene after the vessel sank, but in time to assist in picking up the survivors. These facts indicate the suddenness with which the collapse came. The vessel gave a great lunge, the stern stg>t downward and the prow up, then the Pere Marquette disappeared. Most of the crew were still working below, trying to repair whatever damage then existed, and they went down with the boat Captain Kilty, on deck, followed the traditions of the seas and rests at the bottom of Lake Michigan his vessel, and thus all who know what did happem if any of them really,did know, a watery grave.

Interior of the Ship.