The Great Lakes are the largest accumulation of fresh water on our planet (22.7 thousand km2). The system included five reservoirs: Lake Superior, Huron, Michigan, Erie and Ontario. Since time immemorial, the Great Lakes have been used as natural waterways, despite the fact that travel along them has always been rather unsafe. Today, the bottom of the Great Lakes is literally covered with the skeletons of ships that were once shipwrecked in their waters. Local diving enthusiasts even have a special direction - wreck diving, in which divers find and investigate sunken ships.
We are used to the fact that most shipwrecks happen in the ocean. Disasters are usually caused by storms, icebergs and coral reefs. But those living near the Great Lakes are not by hearsay familiar with storms, and with mysterious waves, and even … with their own "version" of the Flying Dutchman.
A storm on large lakes is of the same order as a storm on small seas. However, they are much less frequently reported in the media, and only a few, the most outstanding disasters appear on the news pages of major publications. According to the latest data provided by American divers, between 6,000 and 10,000 shipwrecked ships rest at the bottom of the Great Lakes. Dozens of discovered vessels are added to this list every year. Approximately one in five is identified - water and time spares neither logs nor hulls.
The story of one such ship, lost during a storm in 1912 and found 60 years later, formed the basis of the musical "The Christmas Schooner". All due to the fact that the main cargo of the ship was Christmas trees. In vain, the population was impatiently awaiting the arrival of the trees - the festive cargo remained at the bottom of the lake, never making anyone happy. For a long time, the schooner was listed among the missing until it was discovered by scuba divers.
Another story is completely mystical. It is readily told to tourists. 1679, September 18 - the ship "Griffon", which belonged to the French traveler Rene Robert, Chevalier de La Salle, was to arrive in Niagara (New York). This ship was built here, and the locals knew it very well. When it became clear that the "Griffon" was delayed, at first they did not attach much importance to this - the ships quite often were out of schedule for several hours.
But because the ship did not appear either in a day or in a week, it became clear that another shipwreck had occurred. There were no eyewitnesses to the tragedy that took place on the Griffon, it simply disappeared without a trace. Its fragments were discovered and identified only in 1955. However, this is far from the strangest thing. A large number of unfamiliar people assure that on foggy nights, "Griffon" is often seen floating silently on Lake Huron. At night you cannot see all the details of its equipment, but the outlines of the ship are easily recognizable.
The Great Lakes are already used to this kind of ghost ships. Mention about them can be found in chronicles dating back to the middle of the 17th century. For example, in New Haven, Connecticut in 1648, many people simultaneously saw a ghost ship. At the same time, he not only passed by, but showed the amazed eyewitnesses the scene of the shipwreck. This outstanding event was interpreted as a sign sent by God, shedding light on the mystery of the death of one of the missing ships. True, those who have encountered ghost ships report that they quite often depict scenes of their wreck, repeating them at each meeting with observers.
If in the distant 17th century the appearance of ghost ships and mysterious shipwrecks were explained by the play of supernatural forces, in our time scientists have taken up the solution to such a phenomenon. There were plenty of hypotheses.
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The most rational researchers attributed the incident to storms of enormous force. They still occur - for example, in 2003, a storm broke over the Great Lakes, which was accompanied by snow and rain. The wind speed reached 100 km / h. Hundreds of buildings were destroyed by the elements, leaving more than one and a half million people without electricity. Of course, modern means of communication helped to send the storm warning to all residents of the area, so only two people died.
And two or three centuries ago, ship captains counted only on signs. Hurricanes and storms on the Great Lakes are attributed by many to the influence of El Niño (El Nino in Spanish - "Christ the Child"). This warm seasonal surface current in the eastern Pacific Ocean appears at intervals of 2 to 7 years and has an adverse effect on the climate. The hurricane, tornado and storm caused by El Niño are extremely powerful and unpredictable. Although, the destruction of ships was not always due to a storm.
The Indians living on the shores of the Great Lakes have preserved many ancient legends, which are based on real facts. In particular, the local tribes are remarkably aware of one natural phenomenon that has remained almost unexplored to this day - the Three Sisters. “Three sisters” are three huge waves that absolutely suddenly appear on the smooth surface of the lake and rush to the shore, sweeping away everything in their path. Modern Americans are also familiar with this phenomenon, but they call it "session", which means "level fluctuations."
1954, June 26 - A session hit the shoreline of Lake Michigan between Whiting, Indiana and Wakegen, Illinois, destroying dozens of buildings and washing away 50 people, eight of whom drowned. Many fishermen sat quietly on the shore of the lake, fishing. The weather was perfect, the lake looked absolutely calm. Suddenly, a three-meter water shaft crashed onto the shore. It happened so suddenly that no one had time to escape.
A similar phenomenon was observed on Lake Superior. Jay Gowley, who wrote a book on the mysteries of the Great Lakes, described the disaster that happened to the bulk carrier Sames E. Davidson, weighing 6,000 tons. If the disappearance of ships that plowed the waters of the Great Lakes in the 17th century can be explained by their technical imperfection and the absence of a meteorological service, then the death of a modern dry cargo ship seems inexplicable. The wave effortlessly destroyed a ship capable of withstanding ocean storms. Its power must be colossal! The wind, no matter how strong it was, could not give the wave such energy.
Where, then, do these waves come from in the Great Lakes? A more probable version seems to be that the Three Sisters and similar phenomena are caused by tremors. Then the unexpected formation of waves and their tremendous energy can be easily explained. But if this were in fact so, then the seismic stations in America and Canada would easily compare the data on tremors with the frequency of occurrence of huge waves. The phenomenon of the Great Lakes would be explained, it would even be possible to predict it, based on data on seismic activity. But there is no direct correspondence between earthquakes and waves.
Even more mysterious is the disappearance of airplanes over the Great Lakes. They could not have been knocked down by a three-meter wave! However, the fact remains: much more plane crashes happen over the lakes than over the rest of the surrounding area. This area is gradually acquiring the fame of an anomalous zone, no less famous than the Bermuda Triangle.
Among the hypotheses that explain the "strange behavior" of the lakes, you can find the most incredible. In particular, ufologists are sure that anomalous phenomena are either caused by aliens, or are the object of their interest. According to Jay Gowley, observers have repeatedly seen strange objects over the Great Lakes, capable of moving absolutely silently and possessing extreme maneuverability. In this regard, it was suggested that in the Great Lakes region there are a kind of "gate" through which aliens enter our world. Their use creates disturbances in nature, as a result of which huge waves appear on the lake, and planes lose control and fall.
Scientists believe that the myth of the flying saucers is of dubious value. At the very least, attempts to explain the inexplicable should be based on facts, and not on blind faith in the existence of "brothers in mind." But it should be admitted that modern science is able to explain only a part of the phenomena observed on the Great Lakes. In particular, according to scientists, the main culprits of shipwrecks are still not mythical UFOs and not even the Three Sisters, but the most ordinary storm waves.
The fact is that lakes, no matter how large, are still incomparably smaller than the ocean. That is why storm waves are different there. Long and relatively gentle waves are formed in the oceans, which only shake ships. Only those ships that find themselves in the immediate vicinity of the coast are at risk. They can be thrown onto rocks or reefs. It is no coincidence that the captains, having received a storm warning, took the ships out to the open sea. In large lakes and small seas, a different effect is observed: the waves there are short and very steep. They can not only rock the ship, but also turn it over. This insidious property of storms on lakes is well known to everyone who swims in the Caspian Sea, Baikal and Lake Ladoga.
But the appearance of ghost ships and the disappearance of airplanes so far have absolutely no scientific explanation. Perhaps these phenomena are somehow related to the geological structure of the area. But it will be a long time before the mystery of the Great Lakes is unraveled.
O. Ochkurova, T. Iovleva