SS Carl D. Bradley

SS Carl D. Bradley was an American Great Lakes freighter that sank in a Lake Michigan storm on November 18, 1958. Of the 35 crew members, only two survived and 33 perished in the sinking. The ship was named after Carl D. Bradley, the president of Michigan Limestone and the Bradley Transportation Line, which owned the ship.

History

The SS Carl D. Bradley was built in 1927 by the American Ship Building Company in Lorain, Ohio. At 639 feet (195 m) long, it was one of the largest ships on the Great Lakes at the time. The ship was used to transport limestone from the quarries of Michigan Limestone in Rogers City, Michigan, to industrial ports around the Great Lakes.

Sinking

On November 18, 1958, the SS Carl D. Bradley was caught in a severe storm on Lake Michigan. The ship broke in two and sank, taking with it 33 of the 35 crew members. The two survivors, Frank Mays and Elmer Fleming, were rescued after spending almost 15 hours in the frigid waters of Lake Michigan.

Aftermath

The sinking of the SS Carl D. Bradley was one of the worst maritime disasters in the history of the Great Lakes. It led to changes in Great Lakes shipping regulations and improvements in weather forecasting and ship design.

See also

• List of maritime disasters
• Great Lakes Storm of 1913
• Edmund Fitzgerald (ship)