Re: [Paddlewise] Paddler Magazine

Hi Don and all,
My best guess is that they slipped a decimal place.  Over 2,000 ships wrecked on
Superior would be about right.  I have a copy of the Governments "Final
Environmental Impact/Management Plan" for the proposed Thunder Bay National
Marine Sanctuary proposed for the Alpena area on Lake Huron (not to be confused
with Thunder Bay on Superior).

 It cites a figure of up to 10,000 wrecks on all the Great Lakes by "folklore"
but states that most historians think that figure is highly inflated.  They cite
a study by (Martin 1996) which comes up with a figure of only 1,694 ships for
all of the Great Lakes, but it focuses on ships over 20 gross tons and is mostly
covering wrecks after the civil war.  The study estimates than about 40,000
ships have sailed the Great Lakes (pretty unlikely that half of them have been
wrecked on Lake Superior).

I believe I saw a figure somewhere that estimated about 6,500 shipwrecks for all
of the Great Lakes so over 2,000 might not be totally off the wall for
Superior.  For a figure of over 20,000 I think you would need to include every
row boat and birch bark canoe that ever sank!
superiorvisions_at_att.net wrote:

> Hello Paddle Wisers,
>
> Well our 1999 ECOLS Crossing of Lake Superior is listed
> on Page 48 of the current Paddler Magazine. The colorful
> man standing in the water is Rick Wright and he was one
> of five paddlers that finished the 34 mile and 51 mile
> sections of the crossing from Thunder Bay to Isle Royale
> and then from Isle Royale to the Keweenaw Peninsula.
>
> The only part of the Eco article that I am not sure of
> is the statement that Lake Superior has destroyed 20,000
> vessels in the last 150 years. Any input from anyone on
> the list regarding the number of vessels destroyed by
> Lake Superior?
>
> Good Paddling,
>
> Don Dimond
> Owner of Superior Visions Sea Kayaking School
> Board Member of Twin Cities Sea Kayaking Association
> Director/Minnesota Alliance of Sea Kayaking Educators
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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