Editorial Reviews:
By the author of Mighty Fitz, the dramatic account of the sinking of the Carl D. Bradley on Lake Michigan, published on the fiftieth anniversary of the wreck. At approximately 5:30 P.M. on November 18, 1958, the Carl D. Bradley, a 623-foot limestone carrier caught in one of the most violent storms in Lake Michigan history, snapped in two and sank within minutes. Four of the thirty-five man crew escaped to a small raft, where they hung on in total darkness, braving massive waves and frigid temperatures. As the storm raged on, a search-and-rescue mission hunted for survivors, while the frantic citizens of nearby Rogers City, the tiny Michigan hometown to twenty-six members of the Bradley crew, anxiously awaited word of their loved ones? fates. In Wreck of the Carl D., Michael Schumacher reconstructs, in dramatic detail, the tragic accident, the perilous search-and-rescue mission, and the chilling aftermath for the small town so intimately affected by the tragedy. A fitting tribute to a powerful ship, the men who died aboard it, and the town that still mourns its loss, Schumacher's compelling follow up to Mighty Fitz is a wonderful addition to the literature of the Great Lakes and maritime history.
Customer Reviews:
 "The boat is getting pretty ripe for too much weather."
Imagine if you can spending 15 hours in the dark on an 8 by 10 foot liferaft in northern Lake Michigan during late November with 20 to 30 foot waves buffeting the raft and tossing you into the big lake several times . . . and surviving the ordeal.
This is what happened to two crew members of the Great Lakes freighter CARL D. BRADLEY after their boat broke up and sank with no warning on November 18, 1958 during a gale (winds of approximately 60 - 65 mph). Unfortunately, 33 other crew members weren't so lucky and drowned. 56 children from Rogers City, Michigan (the boat's home port) were left fatherless on that night fifty years ago.
This well-written book tells the story, in the present tense mainly, of the BRADLEY disaster in an exciting and detailed manner. If a person has an interest in Great Lakes maritime history, they in all likelihood will have a hard time putting this book down once under way. (In this respect it reminds me, somewhat, of THE GALES OF NOVEMBER by Robert J. Hemming, a fascinating book about another Great Lakes tragedy, the EDMUND FITZGERALD.) In the book under review, Michael Schumacher describes the BRADLEY, talks about individual crew members, life in Rogers City, and, of course, narrates in great detail the boat's final voyage up Lake Michigan, and the aftermath of the disaster, including the US Coast Guard investigation and report.
As I was reading the book I kept wondering and thinking about two key questions: why did this tragedy occur and could it have been avoided? My answer to the second question really ties in with the answer to the first one.
Yes, the horrible event of November 18, 1958 could have been avoided if Captain Bryan had remembered this fact about his boat, in which he had earlier noted to a friend:
"The boat is getting pretty ripe for too much weather. I'll be glad when they get her fixed up...The hull is not good...and was badly damaged...."
He also said he had been ordered by the boat's owners to "nurse" the boat in bad weather and to "take it easy" on his boat. (quotes from p. 8)
With all this in mind and given the weather forecast he received, and because of increasing winds that he observed the afternoon the boat sank, I conclude he should have done what some (though not all, I admit) other captains of Great Lakes freighters were doing that day: heading into a port, or bay, or taking cover behind one of the many islands along the Wisconsin side of Lake Michigan.
So it appears that maintaining his schedule was more important to the captain than putting his damaged boat and the human beings who sailed it in possible peril. Sad indeed, but he was certainly not the first Great Lakes captain to put his crew in jeopardy, nor the last.
Included in this book are the names of the BRADLEY crew on the fateful day, the findings and report of the US Coast Guard panel which studied the sinking, the Coast Guard Commandant's dissent from the panel's conclusion, a glossary of nautical terms, a map of Lake Michigan's western shore, a section of black and white photos, and a useful bibliography.
Having written books about the BRADLEY and the FITZGERALD (*MIGHTY FITZ*), perhaps Mr. Schumacher might turn his attention to the sinking of the DANIEL J. MORRELL, to which he makes a brief reference on page 181?
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and his other one on the FITZGERALD.
Tim Koerner
December 2008
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