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March, 1914 THE MARINE REVIEW 19 Capt. C. W.Watson, Steamer George F. Brownell (Formerly Chemung) We left Buffalo, wih. $5 3. storm signals, Nov. 7, at 4:08 P. M. (75th Meridian time). Draught 4 ft. 8 in. 14 ft. 11 in. The barom-: eter was low; wind S. and fresh, with low, heavy clouds. At 9:20 P.M. the wind. was still south, fresh, and a moderate rain falling. On Nov. 8, at 8:25 A. M., when at SE. shoal, the wind. was- S.-W. fresh, with rain. .The wind in- creased in velocity so that when at Bar Point, at 11:40AM. at was 40 to 50 miles per hour, near- ly due S. W. The rain had stopped, but the wind continued S. W. and hard until about 4 P. M., when in the St. Clair river it decreased in force. At Lake Huron lightship, at 8:10 P. M., found wind west and fresh; the clouds were very low, of whitish color and hard looking and were moving very rapidly from due west to east. At Harbor Beach at 12:40 A. M., Nov. 9, wind was still west and fresh; clouds coming from about W.. Ni W. Ab 20- AS MM, wind hauled north and increased very rapidly; at 6 A. M. began to snow, continuing heavily until 9:30 A. M. At 9:06 A. M., through a rift in the snow we saw Thun- der Bay Island, distant about three miles, also a large ship headed south about three miles to east- ward, but could not identify her. The seas increased very fast both in weight and velocity from 6 A. M. throughout the day. From Thunder Bay we held a compass course of N. N. W., passing Mid- dle Island. at 1038 A. M. -and Presque Isle at 12:35 P. M. As we were making good head- way and to avoid pounding and racing, we had been working at about our usual point, which gives a speed of 12 miles per hour in good weather, but well below the capacity of our en- gines. At 2 P. M. we were blown around into the trough of the sea, but with our large reserve of power we resumed our course in a few minutes, holding N. N. W. until Spectacle Reef bore west distant about two miles. Hauled in for Poe's Reef and had wind and sea on the starboard quarter until within about four miles of the reef, when we hauled west and from there to Poe's Reef we rolled nearly decks-to. We had no snow from 9:30 A. M. until after passing Mackinaw at 8:43 P. M., when snow flurries again started:. In. the interval the at- mosphere had been perfectly clear. Passed White Shoal at 10:37 P. M. and saw Simmon's Reef gas buoy. The snow then increased and at 12:30 A. M. Nov. 10, we stopped and let go both anchors in 10 fathoms. The snow contin- ued throughout the night and up to 10:30 A. M., being so heavy at times the smoke stack could not be seen from the pilot house. At 11: A. M. we could. see Lansing Shoal, about % mile due west. The wind moderating, we hove up and followed the north shore to Manistique, thence down the west shore. The wind went N. We about 6. P.M, Now 0. and moderated to a gentle breeze by next morning. The wind on Lake Huron, from 9:30: Aw Mi to 7 P. M. Naw. o varied from N. by E. to N. Eo by N:,: atid: at. times=trom 70. to 20 miles per hour, the clouds travel- ing from north to south until about 4:30 P. M., when they came from the N. N. W. One effect of the high wind was that at times when a sea would strike the ship the spray would be blown as high as the headlight, which was 75 ft. above the water; at other times the velocity was such as to pre- vent the spray rising over 4 or 5 ft. The temperature fell rap- idly to a low point and the ship iced up fast. The seas appeared to follow each other closely in series of three, which would strike with terrific force. I think few ships would have taken the pun- ishment the Brownell got, in the trim she was in, and come through as she did, without injury. I think that this storm had been traveling along the regular storm track and after reaching the Great Lakes region was suddenly divert- ed from that track for some rea- son, and so suddenly that its deflection could not be noted until after the storm was upon us. The high N. N. E. wind was perhaps a sort of a flare back of the high S. W. winds of the day previous. My own forecast on Nov. 7 was that the wind would shift from 5S. to S. W., blowing hard from that quarter for perhaps 12 hours, shifting N. W. and blow itself out in from 24 to 36 hours, which is the usual course taken by storms when preceded by similar barometer and weather conditions. That this was a freak storm, which even defied the finely equip- ped weather bureau, there can, I think, be no question, as at 2:15 P. M., Nov. 8, I received from the mail boat at Detroit a special N. W. storm warning and on pass- ing Port' Huron at: 7:45 2. WM, westerly signals were shown by both the American and Canadian weather stations. In view of the above, I think criticism of the weather bureau is entirely unjusti- fied. If Old Mother Nature chooses to depart from the usual course, upon which all predictions are based, and without advance notice, the bureau can hardly be held responsible. From my _ un- derstanding of cyclones I don't think this storm was a cyclone. I have seen a statement which © called attention to the fact that none of the lost vessels was equip- ped with wireless, I doubt if anyone connected with the Great Lakes and who knows the condi- tions which existed at that time is in any position to say that the loss of a life or a ship would, or could have been, avoided by its presence.