Lake Erie has seen its share of disasters, claiming more ships per
square mile than any other body of freshwater. Read the mysteries of its
most mysterious and notorious wrecks and disappearances.
The great lakes have seen many ships meet their end, but none so much as
Lake Erie. As the shallowest of the Great Lakes, Lake Erie is prone to
sudden waves and wildly shifting sandbars. The steamer Atlantic
succumbed to these conditions when, in 1852, a late night collision
brought 68 of its weary immigrant passengers to watery graves. The 1916
Black Friday Storm sank four ships -- including the unsinkable James B.
Colgate -- in the course of its 20-hour tantrum over the lake. In 1954,
a difficult fishing season sent the Richard R into troubled waters in
the hopes of catching a few more fish. One of the lake's sudden storms
drowned the boat and three man crew. At just 50 miles wide and 200 miles
long, Lake Erie has claimed more ships per square mile than any other
body of freshwater. Author David Frew dives deep to discover the
mysteries of some of Lake Erie's most notorious wrecks.