10 missing ships lost without trace.

[KANACKI]

Hola Amigos

My apologies in advance as the following ships are not treasure ships but intriguing mysteries in regards to their fate.

After a life time of sailing oceans all over the globe one thing one learns that oceans can keep her secrets well. And anyone who has ventured out into the vast wide ocean will attest how small vulnerable and frail we really become to the elements. Nothing more lonely and eerie is to be at sea 3am in the morning in pitch blackness riding out a storm with waves big enough to eat your vessel. And a dread if calamity happens there may be no one to rescue you.

There is amigos a kindred spirit between those who venture on the high seas regardless of nationality, race or religious political briefs. An understanding of the horror that one faces out in the open ocean especially when things go badly wrong amigos. Even the most atheist of us will hope and prey when faced with such calamities. And as many wreck divers will attest diving on such shipwrecks is timely reminder of human frailty is..... And the bigger the vessel the stronger the reminder is such amigos.

How could such large vessel with the hope and dreams of many come to such awful fate? But they do. More intriguing are the ones we do not know their fate? The vessels that have disappeared without trace.

The following 10 ships I have selected are from various eras and from all over the world, big and small and their fate are unknown and mysterious.....

Anyway I hope you enjoy the post.

1. Marlborough

She was an iron-built two-decked merchant sailing ship which disappeared in 1890. She was built by the firm of Robert Duncan and Co., Port Glasgow and launched in 1876 for her owner John Leslie, who later sold her to the Albion Line. Marlborough disappeared during a voyage in January 1890, and has not been seen or heard from in over a century. Searches and investigations have yielded nothing conclusive, and the ship's ultimate fate, and that of her crew, remains unknown.



2. USS Cyclops (AC-4)

She was the second of four Proteus-class colliers built for the United States Navy several years before World War I. Named for the Cyclops, a primordial race of giants from Greek mythology, she was the second U.S. Naval vessel to bear the name. The loss of the ship and 306 crew and passengers without a trace some time after 4 March 1918 remains the single largest loss of life in U.S. Naval history not directly involving combat. As it was wartime, she was thought to have been captured or sunk by a German raider or submarine, because she was carrying 10,800 long tons (11,000 t) of manganese ore used to produce munitions, but German authorities at the time, and subsequently, denied any knowledge of the vessel. The Naval History & Heritage Command has stated she "probably sank in an unexpected storm", but the ultimate cause of the ship's loss is not known.



3. SS Waratah

She was a passenger and cargo steamship built in 1908 for the Blue Anchor Line to operate between Europe and Australia. In July 1909, on only her second voyage, the ship, en route along the coast of the Colony of Natal from Durban to Cape Town, disappeared with 211 passengers and crew aboard. No trace of the ship has ever been found.



4. SS Naronic was a cargo steamship built by Harland and Wolff in Belfast for the White Star Line. A sister ship of SS Bovic, she was built at the time the company wanted to increase its market share in the transport of live cattle on the North Atlantic route. Along with other company's ships of the same type, she was responsible for transporting goods from Liverpool to New York and bringing back American cattle on the return trip. She also had cabins that allowed her to carry a few passengers. At the time of her entry into service, the Naronic was the largest cargo ship in operation.

Less than a year after her maiden voyage, she was lost at sea during an east-west crossing of the Atlantic Ocean. The ship had departed without any problems being reported. However, at that time, there was no way for ships at sea to report possible incidents. Her wreck was never found, but soon after she went missing, two of her lifeboats were sighted by ships. The commission of inquiry formed to determine the causes of the sinking of the Naronic found no explanation; tests carried out on her sister ship, the Bovic proved that her stability was good; and no ice fields were reported on her route. Several hypotheses have been put forward, in particular that of a sinking following a storm or an explosion of chemicals transported in the hold of the ship.

The sinking of the Naronic killed 74 people. In the period following the disappearance of the ship, several bottles containing messages allegedly written during the sinking were found, but these were probably hoaxes?



5.SS Marine Sulphur Queen

She was a T2 tanker converted to carry molten sulphur, noted for its disappearance in 1963 near the southern coast of Florida, taking the lives of 39 crewmen.

In the investigation, the Coast Guard determined that the ship was unsafe and not seaworthy, and never should have sailed. The final report suggested four causes of the disaster, all due to poor design and maintenance of the ship. The loss of the ship was the subject of lengthy litigation between the owner and families of the missing men.

Despite the clear cause of the disaster, an inaccurate and incomplete version of the ship's disappearance is often used to justify Bermuda Triangle conspiracies.



To be continued.....

Kanacki

 

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[KANACKI]

Hola amigos

Continuing this list of mysterious disappearances of ships.

6. MS Berge Vanga

She was an ore-bulk-oil carrier with 227,912 tonnes deadweight (DWT). The ship was owned by Norwegian shipping company Sig. Bergesen d.y. and registered in Liberia. The ship had build number 300 at the Uljanik shipyard in the port city Pula in Croatia where it was built in 1974.

The ship was en route from Brazil to Japan with iron ore when contact was lost with the vessel in the South Atlantic from 29 October 1979. The ship vanished and the ensuing search operation yielded no results. 40 people lost their lives.

Some debris that could resemble parts from the tanker was found but no people. Still very little is known about the disaster, and the hearing after the accident was held behind closed doors. The principal theory holds that the cause could have been explosions caused by oil residue in the cargo compartments. MS Berge Vanga was, like its sister ship MS Berge Istra which disappeared under similar circumstances four years earlier, a ship which could transport both oil and iron ore.



7. Nereus

She was lost at sea sometime after 10 December 1941 while steaming from St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands (along the same route where her sister ship Cyclops had disappeared) with ore destined to make aluminum for Allied aircraft. Nereus was presumed sunk after being torpedoed by a German U-boat. However, there are no German U-boat claims for this vessel.Both Nereus and Cyclops could have been lost to U-boats which were later lost themselves to Allied action or storms at sea.

The wreckage has never been located nor the actual cause of her disappearance determined.No trace of her has been has ever been found.



8. USS Porpoise

The second USS Porpoise was a 224-ton Dolphin-class brigantine. (In early American usage, a brigantine was referred to as a hermaphrodite brig.) Porpoise was later re-rigged as a brig. She was based on the same plans as Dolphin.

Recommissioned in May 1853, she was assigned to North Pacific Exploring and Surveying Expedition under Commander Cadwalader Ringgold, a veteran, like Porpoise, of the Wilkes Expedition. She joined the squadron at Hampton Roads, and with it, stood out to sea on 11 June 1853. Porpoise rounded the Cape of Good Hope, and with the squadron explored and charted many Pacific islands and shoals before arriving in China in March 1854. The squadron put to sea once more to explore in the Bonins, the Ladrones, and the Marianas. Porpoise parted company with the other vessels on 21 September 1854 between Formosa and China, and was never heard from again. It is supposed that she foundered in a heavy typhoon which occurred a few days after her separation from the squadron.



9. SS City of Glasgow

The SS City of Glasgow of 1850 was a single-screw passenger steamship of the Inman Line, which disappeared en route from Liverpool to Philadelphia in January 1854 with 480 passengers and crew. Based on ideas pioneered by Isambard Kingdom Brunel's SS Great Britain of 1845, City of Glasgow established that Atlantic steamships could be operated profitably without government subsidy. After a refit in 1852, she was also the first Atlantic steamship to carry steerage passengers, representing a significant improvement in the conditions experienced by immigrants. In March 1854 City of Glasgow vanished at sea with no known survivors



10. SS Koombana.

SS Koombana was a late Edwardian-era passenger, cargo and mail carrying steamship. From March 1909 to March 1912, she operated coastal liner services between Fremantle, Western Australia and various ports in the northwest of that state. She is best known for disappearing at an unknown location north of Port Hedland, Western Australia, during a tropical cyclone on 20 March 1912, killing 74 passengers and 76 crew; in total, 150 people died.

Other than a small quantity of wreckage, no trace was ever found of the ship, which was presumed sunk along with several other vessels during the same storm.



That is just a list of 10 vessel for examples that have vanished with the fate not fully understood. Sadly I could post many others of vessels that disappeared. But as every wreck diver here knows every ship tells a story even the ones we cannot find.

Kanacki

 

[Gare]

Kanacki I read your article and enjoyed it very much. Thank you for taking time to post this. I would like to also add it is not just the oceans that hold secrets. When i held a captains license on the great lakes I remember storms where people were screaming on the radio we are sinking and nothing could be done in time. Thanks again for taking time to post this. i am also a diver but have never dived on a wreck. Kanacki PLEASE be careful out there on the waters Calm winds and smooth sailing buddy

 

[KANACKI]

Kanacki I read your article and enjoyed it very much. Thank you for taking time to post this. I would like to also add it is not just the oceans that hold secrets. When i held a captains license on the great lakes I remember storms where people were screaming on the radio we are sinking and nothing could be done in time. Thanks again for taking time to post this. i am also a diver but have never dived on a wreck. Kanacki PLEASE be careful out there on the waters Calm winds and smooth sailing buddy

Hola Amigo

I can understand the frustration amigo.

Just a few years ago Crow and I was in New Zealand when a many good friends of ours and sailed across the Tasman and vanished. The 85-year-old staysail schooner Nina, a fabled 50-foot (LWL) ocean racer that once was the flagship of the New York Yacht Club. The disappearance of the Nina launched New Zealand's biggest maritime search ever, with no success. The crew of the Nina had departed the Bay of Islands at the end of May 2013 and headed out into the Tasman Sea at the worst time of the year.

In the Tasman Sea, where muscular westerlies blowing unimpeded across the Southern Ocean pile up towering waves and ride the vortex of savage storms, yachts are swallowed with disturbing regularity, in winter especially. The 1,200 miles of sea between New Zealand and Australia known as “the ditch” — the Tasman Sea — is a nasty shrew at May’s end, when three months of winter descends on these parts.

“The Tasman Sea is shooting gales out like a machine gun, living up to its reputation,” wrote David A. Dyche III, owner and captain for 25 years of the staysail schooner Nina, in a May 2013 entry on Facebook. He was aiming for a May 29 start from Opua on New Zealand’s North Island, bound for Newcastle, Australia, 1,500 miles away.

Nina set out from Opua on May 29 with Dyche, 58; his 60-year-old wife, Rosemary; their son David, 17, who was to leave the boat in Australia to go away to college in the United States; Kyle Jackson, 27; Evi Nemeth, 73, a retired University of Colorado professor, author and international authority on computer systems administration; Danielle Wright, 18; and British crewman Matthew Wootton, 35.

Nina was last heard from June 4, 370 miles west-northwest of Cape Reinga on the northwestern-most tip of North Island. The RCCNZ reported 26-foot seas and 50-mph winds gusting to 70 in the vicinity as one of a string of brutal winter lows .

No trace of them was ever found.

Here is the last picture of the vessel taken in NZ.



Kanacki

 

[KANACKI]

Hola Gare

I never sailed the great lakes but I have heard not to underestimate her as she can bite real hard. I know the tragic story of SS Edmund Fitzgerald was an American Great Lakes freighter that sank in Lake Superior during a storm on November 10, 1975, with the loss of the entire crew of 29 men. When launched on June 7, 1958, she was the largest ship on North America's Great Lakes, and she remains the largest to have sunk there.

There was another vessel that mysteriously sank?

SS Plymouth was an American Schooner barge that sank during the Great Lakes Storm of 1913 in Lake Michigan, near St. Martins Island at the mouth of Green Bay, while she was being towed by the tug James H. Martin from Menominee, Michigan, United States to Lake Huron.



As far a I know they have not found her either.

So amigo The great lakes keep her secrets well also.

Kanacki

 

[Ohiogoldfever]

Hola Gare

I never sailed the great lakes but I have heard not to underestimate her as she can bite real hard. I know the tragic story of SS Edmund Fitzgerald was an American Great Lakes freighter that sank in Lake Superior during a storm on November 10, 1975, with the loss of the entire crew of 29 men. When launched on June 7, 1958, she was the largest ship on North America's Great Lakes, and she remains the largest to have sunk there.

There was another vessel that mysteriously sank?

SS Plymouth was an American Schooner barge that sank during the Great Lakes Storm of 1913 in Lake Michigan, near St. Martins Island at the mouth of Green Bay, while she was being towed by the tug James H. Martin from Menominee, Michigan, United States to Lake Huron.

View attachment 1945915

As far a I know they have not found her either.

So amigo The great lakes keep her secrets well also.

Kanacki

My family an I just visited the museum that holds the bell from the Fitzgerald. The Great Lakes are pretty mean waters at times. Basically salt less seas. I don?t have a picture of the bell but they did have some amazing light house reflectors.

 

[releventchair]

The Griffon holds my interest. Much of that due to the era and it's goings on. And the area near me.
And part , due to it's being credited as the first to sail above a certain area...
The Lost Griffon - First Ghost Ship of the Great Lakes | Michigan's Otherside

Uh oh. Someone mentioned triangle...
A song from my youth..


I guess you've heard about the Bermuda triangle

There's something going on
Nobody seems to know just what it is
And the airforce won't let on
It might be hole down in the ocean
Yeah or a fog that won't let go
It might be some crazy people talking
Or somebody that we ought to know
Down in Bermuda, the pale blue sea
Way down in the triangle, it's easy to believe

Now here's one
You see strange shapes in moonlight
And shadows in the night
They said that wingtip seemed to brush their faces
And strangers stole their sight
Way down in the triangle
Where the sea was smooth as glass
Giving you one answer to a question
That you never thought you'd ask
Ah down in Bermuda, in the pale blue sea
Way down in Bermuda, yeah it's easy to believe
Down in the triangle, it's easy to believe

They came from Galveston
They came from New Orleans
And then from Bloomington, and Delaware
The used St. Petersburg, they came from Tampa
And then from Mexico, it doesn't matter where
They all completely share,
All of those ships and planes,
A great big mystery that cannot be explained,

Down in Bermuda, in the pale blue sea

Your feeling safe in your harbour
And everything seems certain
Right next to Palm Beach and Key Biscane
Behind a velvet curtain
But then the moon goes grey with worry
And the sea turns a pale white
You better believe something strange is going on tonight
Down in Bermuda, ah, the pale blue sea

Bermuda Triangle, yeah, it's easy to believe
Down in the Triangle, it's easy to believe

They came from Galveston
They came from New Orleans
And then from Bloomington, and Delaware
Bermuda, the pale blue sea

Songwriters: Welch Robert L
For non-commercial use only.
Data From: Musixmatch

 

[Mackaydon]

Kanacki,
I can somewhat relate to your story of high seas. Maybe twenty years ago, I had my boat, the RV Explorer ((Roatan), in the Seranilla islands, 220 miles from Nicaragua and 170 miles from Jamaica; looking for the lost Spanish 1605 fleet.
A nor-eastern caught us. On our 3/4 inch line, we anchored on the lee of one small island. During the night, all I could think of was the line snapping or the anchor breaking loose and my boat smashing into a nearby adjacent reef. Scared? Hell yes; so much so that I was singing nursery rhymes as if I were home with the kids.

My favorite lost vessel is the SS. Pacific, lost off Cape Flattery, Washington State. She collided with another vessel, which continued on without offering assistance. Several survivors of the 'Pacific' made it to shore, but the vessel has never been located. It ranks within the top three of loss of life along the US western coast.

Don......

 

[crashbandicoot]

Thank you,KANACKI,this is most interesting and well written.You be safe out there!

 

[crashbandicoot]

Kanacki I read your article and enjoyed it very much. Thank you for taking time to post this. I would like to also add it is not just the oceans that hold secrets. When i held a captains license on the great lakes I remember storms where people were screaming on the radio we are sinking and nothing could be done in time. Thanks again for taking time to post this. i am also a diver but have never dived on a wreck. Kanacki PLEASE be careful out there on the waters Calm winds and smooth sailing buddy

Didn,t know that about you Gare,I,ve always wanted to see the Great Lakes but never made it up there.Being a Captain there must have been,Interesting to say the least.

 

[chub]

Quality content Kanacki!

chub

 

[newnan man]

Very interesting post. Thanks

 

[Crow]

Thank you,KANACKI,this is most interesting and well written.You be safe out there!

Gidday Crashbandicoot

That is some thing Kanacki has down to a fine art amigo.

He when not travailing the world he is snuggled up on his remote island on and off for that last 40 years 111 sq km paradise. He is unofficially lives virtually like a king by proxy. There are 5 tribal chiefs on the island controlling a population of about 6600 that all rely on Kanacki to keep business going as he has finger in all of them. He is the deal breaker on the island. Each chief try to curry favor and even the governor of island. they and chief of police play pool and drinking a cold beer together with Kanacki once a week. When traveling around the world be brings back gifts for the entire population.. Every christmas he dresses as Santa sits on the back of a pickup gives out 6600 christmas care packs assembled by the parish churches on the island.

His house is always open having a big family 8 children growing up and their partners 12-13 grandchildren, Gee I lost count. Driving with him in a pickup along one road that circles the island by the time you drive from one end to the other he has full vehicle of people plants and animal walking alongside the road. In appreciation of been given a lift he will have tuna, lobster, crab all manner of fish and fresh fruits and vegetables given to him. A lot of bartering goes on. Everything runs on island time very "manyarna.

And right now his two vessels a schooner and a brig has been sitting on the two slipway of the islands until covid 19 settles down and they can respectively return to Indonesia and Thailand respectively. 3 of his 4 sons are skippers that run that those respective business now.

Kanacki is retired like me no longer needing to work.... but old habits die hard even for a pair or trio of old adventurers. I know he secretly itching for another adventure.

Crow

 

[KANACKI]

Gidday Crashbandicoot

That is some thing Kanacki has down to a fine art amigo.

He when not travailing the world he is snuggled up on his remote island on and off for that last 40 years 111 sq km paradise. He is unofficially lives virtually like a king by proxy. There are 5 tribal chiefs on the island controlling a population of about 6600 that all rely on Kanacki to keep business going as he has finger in all of them. He is the deal breaker on the island. Each chief try to curry favor and even the governor of island. they and chief of police play pool and drinking a cold beer together with Kanacki once a week. When traveling around the world be brings back gifts for the entire population.. Every christmas he dresses as Santa sits on the back of a pickup gives out 6600 christmas care packs assembled by the parish churches on the island.

His house is always open having a big family 8 children growing up and their partners 12-13 grandchildren, Gee I lost count. Driving with him in a pickup along one road that circles the island by the time you drive from one end to the other he has full vehicle of people plants and animal walking alongside the road. In appreciation of been given a lift he will have tuna, lobster, crab all manner of fish and fresh fruits and vegetables given to him. A lot of bartering goes on. Everything runs on island time very "manyarna.

And right now his two vessels a schooner and a brig has been sitting on the two slipway of the islands until covid 19 settles down and they can respectively return to Indonesia and Thailand respectively. 3 of his 4 sons are skippers that run that those respective business now.

Kanacki is retired like me no longer needing to work.... but old habits die hard even for a pair or trio of old adventurers. I know he secretly itching for another adventure.

Crow

Hola amigos

Hard job but some ones got to do it. I will be playing Santa again this year. As silly as it looks the kids and elderly get a kick out of it. It started a few years ago with a group pick ups with radios christmas carols throwing lollies to the kids along the road. With Santa helpers passing out some christian cheer in tropical heat driving through 6 villages a few days before christmas. Last year we had pick up with hula dancers. Another band playing with drums and guitars and ukes. Each church decked out a pickup in a religious theme. Each year one of chiefs nominally leads the pickup in the car war veterans. So it has become a mobile Mardigra around the island. family's park out their front yard partying awaiting moving parade.

Oh by the way thanks for the thumbs up crash bandicoot

My island is in zone where hurricanes typhoons or cyclones cannot form. They never cross the equator, nor do they occur near it. Hurricanes and cyclones are born in waters at least eight degrees north or south of the equator. ... Hurricanes and cyclones can't actually form within 4 degrees of the equator, because the Coriolis effect is just too small. My island has rain because it has mountains that collects clouds created from evaporation of seawater. So in effect we have a micro climate.

Hola Crow old amigo

My two expensive mistresses my brig and schooner have had 12 months restoration. My two sons are eager to put them back into service. we are hoping January punting them down the slip. Then race them around the island before being re provisioned for their journey to their respect tourist destination.

You will be pleased to know we have put a collision bulkhead into the schooner. It was unnerving for long ocean transits without collision bulkheads. We have put one also in between the engine room and main cabins. And a better fore suppression system in the engine. As we as extra ballast. The brig well being an old girl as you know is a tough old girl of 71 years old. We repainted her hull put conditioning in her. but had to place conditioning pipe through all the 5 bulkhead each one has a cut off valve in case of bulkhead being breached. The only bulkhead that is not air conditioned is the collision bulk head. But as you know that is the sail store and workshop is still the hot hole..

Kanacki

 

[Crow]

Well amigo one good thing with both vessels on the slips for many months you had the opportunity to do maintenance on your vessels. Perhaps they will be back earning money again next year?

Makes you wonder some of those missing ships had cut corners with maintenance. One catastrophic failure can set a fatal chain reaction.

Makes me think the Marine Sulfur Queen was un-seaworthy and Cyclops and Nersus was the tendency to be top heavy.

As for ire ore bulk carrier oil tanker. I suspect a catastrophic fire explosion in the first ore oil bunker that created a catastrophic structural failure. There was a lot of super tankers build in the 1970's with dangerous design flaw.



Under given conditions the ship can snap in two and sink rapidly before crew could react.

Crow

 

[Crow]

Gidday Amigos

Indeed the great lakes has had more than its fair share of missing ships.

SS D.M. Clemson above was a 468-foot (143 m) long steel-hulled Great Lakes freighter that went missing on 1 December 1908, on Lake Superior. The ship was last seen coming through the Soo Locks, onto Lake Superior. The ship was built in 1903 for the Provident Steamship Company. She is known for sinking on Lake Superior, on the night of 1 December 1908 with all hands; 24 men lost their lives. The wreck of D.M. Clemson is still missing, and the cause of her sinking remains a mystery to this day.

SS Canastota above was a British-flagged, coal-burning, two-masted, steel screw, cargo steamer of 4,904 gross register tons (GRT) and 3,139 net register tons (NRT). Canastota was last seen on 13 June 1921, leaving Sydney bound for Wellington, New Zealand. Although almost forgotten today, Canastota's loss was a major news item, in Australia and New Zealand, during the second half of 1921.

K?benhavn above was a Danish, British-built five-masted barque used as a naval training vessel until its disappearance after December 22, 1928. Built for the Danish East Asiatic Company in 1921, it was the world's largest sailing ship at the time, and primarily served for sail training of young cadets.

The K?benhavn was last heard from on December 21, 1928, while en route from Buenos Aires to Australia. When it became clear the ship was missing, a lengthy search ensued, but neither K?benhavn nor anyone who had been aboard her on her final voyage were ever found. Despite both the extensive search and much speculation about the vessel's fate, K?benhavn remains missing and what happened to her crew and cadets remains a mystery.

Aurora above was last seen in 1917, when she departed Newcastle, New South Wales, bound for Iquique, Chile with a cargo of coal. Lloyd's of London posted the ship as missing on 2 January 1918; it was believed she was a casualty of World War I, possibly being sunk by a mine laid by the German merchant raider Wolf. One of Aurora's lifebelts was recovered from the Tasman Sea between Sydney and Brisbane six months after her disappearance.

MV Kairali above was a bulk carrier, owned by Kerala Shipping Corporation (KSC). She disappeared with her crew of 49 and 20,000 tonnes of iron ore on 3 July 1979 while sailing from Margao, India to Rostock, Germany, via Djibouti.

The steamship Bannockburn above was a Canadian registered steel-hulled freighter which disappeared on Lake Superior in snowy weather on November 21, 1902. She was sighted by the captain of a passing vessel, the SS Algonquin, around noon of that day but minutes later disappeared. The wreck of the ship has never been found, with the exception of an oar and a life preserver, and no bodies were ever recovered. Within a year of her disappearance she acquired a reputation as a ghost ship and became known as The Flying Dutchman of the Great Lakes.

Gee Kanacki the more you look the more you find ships missing without trace.

Crow

 

[releventchair]

There can be rouge waves on the great lakes.
"Chop" is common. Short pounding waves.
As a youth I'd get turned loose in a 16' aluminum boat inland. A route allowed passing through two lakes into Lake Michigan.
You picked your days. Too rough of water in the large second lake ,or at a channel mouth , one turned back.
That boat groaned at times , and rivets talked. Years of poundings....

How a craft is built matters. Swells on the ocean vs chop of the great lakes , and each lakes characteristics (Earie for example is shallow in relation to others. seiche is faster probably. and waves can get wild fast.)


But , back to design , compromise costs cargo space.
While I vote better safe than sorry , others risk more.

[ Profile photo for Phil Hanbidge
Phil Hanbidge
, lives in Canada
Answered 2 years ago ? Upvoted by
Neill Conroy
, I am a seafarer and professional ship manager. My great-grandfather was a shipowner and Master and my grandfa? ? Author has 307 answers and 321.8K answer views
Ships that are specifically designed as Great Lakes bulk carriers are NOT (in most cases) suitable for operations in offshore trade.
?Lakers? are optimized to carry maximum cargo through the locks of the St Lawrence Seaway (Seaway-max), and some (there are about thirteen 1000-footers) are so large they cannot transit below Lake Erie as they can only fit through the locks at Sault Ste Marie (Soo-max). They are typically slower than their offshore cousins, since speed is less crucial in inland waters trade.
These ships have little or no flare to their bows so they would slam heavily into the larger waves found in open seas. Also their structural integrity is not designed for the stresses of the longer wavelengths of ocean swells.
They are designed to meet the specific regulatory controls of the Canada / US waters within which they operate.


By comparison, ocean freighters are typically built with finer lines, greater flare to their bow, and structural integrity designed for the waves encountered at sea. The foc?sle is designed to give protection against waves breaking across the open decks. Design considerations take into account the variety of port state controls they will encounter in voyaging to different countries.


Now, there are certainly ships that are designed for both Great Lakes trade AND offshore voyages. They typically sacrifice their optimal cargo capacity for a bit more seakindliness/seaworthiness.


While these all might look similar to the layman, there are certainly design considerations that are unique to each. A laker would theoretically be able to make limited voyages offshore (in fact, some are built or modified overseas then sailed offshore WITH RESTRICTIONS), but would by no means be suitable for unrestricted ocean operations.]

 

[KANACKI]

Hola Amigo

I have not sailed the great lakes but imagine the waters can be very deceptive. The term lake is deceptive as it more an inland sea than a lake.

Kanacki

 

[releventchair]

The lakes see many sails.
A weather eye matters.

 

[Crow]

Gidday amigos

In the voyages I sailed with Kanacki on the "Drumbeat" There is always a deep seated fear somewhere some place the ocean if you disrespect her will claim you for her ocean and be swallowed up into oblivion. Kanackis drumbeat was a tiny in comparison to some of these ships that vanished without trace.

Here is some vessels that disappeared without trace.

MS Munchen below was a German LASH carrier of the Hapag-Lloyd line that sank with all hands for unknown reasons in a severe storm in December 1978. The most accepted theory is that one or more rogue waves hit Munchen and damaged her, so that she drifted for 33 hours with a list of 50 degrees without electricity or propulsion. disappeared without trace.

How can such large ships vanish without trace? Perhaps a testimate to powers of the winds a oceans that keep their secrets well.

SS Vaitarna below, popularly known as Vijli or Haji Kasam ni Vijli, was a steamship owned by A J Shepherd & Co, Bombay that disappeared on 8 November 1888 off the coast of Saurashtra region of Gujarat in cyclonic storm during a crossing from Mandvi to Bombay. More than 740 people on board went missing in the disaster.

SS Java built in 1865 below went through several names and owners. In 1889 it was sold to a French company and renamed the Electrique. In 1892 it was sold again to J. Herron & Co of Liverpool and again renamed the Lord Spencer. During an 1895 voyage from San Francisco to New York it went missing.

F/V Pacesetter below was a 127-foot (38.7 m), steel-hulled, Bering Sea crab-fishing boat launched in 1976 as Priscilla Ann. In 1979, she was renamed Coastal Glacier. The vessel eventually was acquired by Matt Pope and Dale Lindsay and renamed Pacesetter. Pacesetter was reported missing in 1996 by the United States Coast Guard Seventeenth District headquartered at Kodiak, Alaska. The search ended with no sign of the boat or her seven-man crew. The loss of Pacesetter was noted as the worst sinking in the Alaskan 1996 snow fishery.

Proteus below was lost at sea to an unknown cause sometime after 23 November 1941. There are no German U-boat claims for this vessel.One suggestion, having no supporting documentation, is that the vessel's disappearance can be attributed to the Bermuda Triangle. One thing suspicious that two over of her class disappeared without trace cyclops and Neresus.

Such mysterious fate for such vessels most of all it the relatives, friends and lovers have no closure on the ultimate fate of loved ones and go to their grave not knowing what went wrong.

Crow