Morbid Fact Du Jour for August 13, 2015

Today’s Appalling Yet Truly Morbid Fact!

Mr. John H. Graham, President of Graham Morton Transportation Company, surveyed the barometer in his St. Joseph, Michigan home at 4 a.m. the morning of January 21, 1895. It registered 28, the lowest he had ever seen, and two of his ships were scheduled to sail within hours. He raced down to the dock in time to stop the Petoskeyfrom casting off and ordered the telegraph operator to send a message to the second ship, the 217-foot passenger and package steamer Chicora in Milwaukee. The telegram was sent through to Milwaukee and a bike courier was dispatched. He arrived just as the Chicora pulled away from the dock with 23 crew and passengers aboard but no one could hear his shouts above the noise of the boilers and churning propeller.

Soon after departure, the Chicora ran into appalling conditions as a ferocious winter storm swept across Lake Michigan. When the vessel did not arrive in St. Joseph on time, the alarm was sounded and Mr. Graham sent telegrams to ports along the route, hoping theChicora had taken refuge from the storm. The answers were all the same: “No, theChicora wasn’t here.” His worst fears were confirmed when wreckage began to wash ashore. No one had survived.

Was there more to the disaster than atrocious weather? [Um… no. – DeSpair] A superstitious dread had risen among the crew and Captain Edward Stines after a passenger, during the trip to Milwaukee, had shot a duck that landed on the deck in the middle of the lake. While the boat was loading in Milwaukee, they repeatedly referred to the shooting as an evil omen.