Lake Superior and Shipwrecks

Gitche
Gumee
 What is Gitche
Gumee?
What is Gitche Gumee? “The big lake they called Gitche Gumee”,
it’s not just a lyric from the Edmond Fitzgerald song by Gordon
Lightfoot.
The Chippewa are the native peoples to the area. They called
Lake Superior, Gitche Gumee, which translates to The Great Sea.
Lake Superior is a Great Sea indeed, holding records superior to
other fresh water bodies in the country.

Lake Superior is
Superior
Lake Superior holds the record for the Deepest lake in the
Great Lakes, averaging 483 feet deep. The deepest point of Lake
Superior is:
1333 feet deep, located just 25 miles NE of the Miners Castle
overlook at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.
Lake Superior holds so much water that all the water in Superior
could cover North and South America in 1 foot of water!
Lake Superior is the Largest of the Great Lakes, and is the
Largest fresh water body in the world, by acreage. (Lake Baikal
in Russia holds more water, but is not the largest.)
The Coastline of Lake Superior, including all the islands, is
2,726 miles, which is roughly the distance from New York
to London!

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 Lake Superior is also the Clearest of all the Great Lakes.
The population living on the shores of Lake Superior is the
smallest so there is very little agriculture and industry along
the shores which, reduces the amount of water pollution.
With Lake Superior being so cold, there is little plant life in
Lake Superior that can thrive in such cold conditions. Plants
give off tannins which typically give lakes and rivers that “tea-
like” coloring. Without plants to release tannins, Lake Superior
remains crystal clear.

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Lake Superior is the Roughest of the Great Lakes. Waves
can reach great heights, “roughly” 30 feet during big storms in
the fall. A 51 foot wave was recorded (according to the
Minnesota North Shore Visitor Guide)

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Why so many Wrecks?
Lake Superior is one of the roughest of the Great
Lakes. Between Grand Island and Grand Marais,
there were approximately 110 known shipwrecks
to occur along Pictured Rocks. About 45 wrecks still
remain along Pictured Rocks. There are
approximately 200 shipwrecks between Grand
Island and Whitefish Point.

Early ships had to stop for fuel about every 10 hours

to get wood for the boilers making ship traffic close to
the shorelines. This posed problems because the
underwater and shoreline terrain had treacherous
sculpted ridges, sandstone rock reefs, banks, and
pinnacles.

The region was, and still is, notorious for thick

dense fog caused by the cool Lake Superior air
mixing with the warmer currents rising from the
300 foot Au Sable Dunes near Grand Marais.
Pictured Rocks was known as a “Ship Trap”,
especially when strong North winds blew. Many
ships would get thrown off course in the North
wind in fog and snow, and crash against the rocks,
or get stranded on rock reefs, because ships back
then did not have GPS or the advanced navigation
equipment used today.

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A few shipwrecks that can be seen from the
beach at Hurricane River are the Mary
Jarecki, The Gale Staples, and The Sitka.
Because these wrecks ran aground so close
to shore, the people on board, just walked
right off and went to the Au Sable
Lighthouse, as seen in the photograph. For
all three wrecks, the crew went to the
Lighthouse for the evening to wait for a tug
boat from Sault Ste. Marie to pull the ship
out for repairs, but a strong N. wind came
and created massive waves that smashed
the wooden ship into pieces, so in the
morning, there would be nothing but small
pieces of boat, and that is why the wrecks
still remain on the shores.

“Lake Mary Jarecki

Superior
Seldom Gives
Up Her Dead”
Lake Superior is the Coldest of all the
Great Lakes. At only 10 feet below the
surface the water rarely exceeds 45 degrees
Fahrenheit and the average temperature is which allows for the body to float. Without
roughly 36 degrees Fahrenheit. plant life the bodies stay at the bottom with
little chance of ever resurfacing. With this
The water is so cold, little plant life, bacteria,
being said, artifacts, lost shipwrecks, and
and algae are able to grow within the lake.
people are found at the bottom of Superior
Those who have lost their lives on Lake completely or almost completely preserved.
Superior rarely float up to the surface
because there is little plant life to help with
the decomposition or decay. The body has
gases that are released during this process

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 Great Lakes
Shipwrecks
The Gale Staples, Sitka, and Mary Jarecki are shipwreck
remains located at Hurricane River Campground at Pictured
Rocks National Lakeshore. The remains are visual tangible
reminders that lake superior can become quite rough.

Traveling Lake Superior in the 1800’s and 1900’s was a

rough ride. However, Superior does not hold the record
amongst the Great Lakes for acquiring the most shipwrecks.

This is mostly because the Upper Peninsula and surrounding

land was not as developed and industrialized as much as
other Lakes which had thriving big cities. Lake Superior only
had a few ports which mostly shipped out Iron Ore, tanned
hides, and lumber. In Lake Erie, and Lake Michigan,
populations were booming and goods needed to be sold.
With the more ships on the Lakes, the more prone ships
were to accidents and crashing into other ships.

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 Lake Superior Approximately 350-550 Shipwrecks

Shipwrecks
Edmund Fitzgerald

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 Lake Huron
Shipwrecks
Sweepstakes

Approximately 250 Shipwrecks

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 Lake Michigan
Shipwrecks Approximately 1,500 Shipwrecks
SS Carl D. Bradley

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 Lake Erie Shipwrecks
19th Century Schooner

Approximately 2,000 Shipwrecks

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 Lake Ontario
Shipwrecks
Lady Washington, 2nd oldest shipwreck
found in the Great Lakes

Approximately 300 Shipwrecks

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 Practice Safe
Boating
With Lake Superior being so rough and cold, please make
sure to be safe while boating and kayaking by having the
appropriate gear, and sea kayak. Having a sea kayak is much
safer because the design stops water from getting into the
cockpit and helps keep the boat balanced if water does enter
the boat. Practice exiting and entering the boat in shallow
waters before heading out to view the cliffs where there are
not places to stop and seek shelter or swim to. If one
encounters an “out of boat experience”, having some practice
getting in the boat and using paddle floats could save a life,
because help can be an hour or more out of the way.
Always remember, “If the water says no, don’t go”.

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