Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2015 All Rights Reserved USGenNet Data Repository Please read USGenNet Copyright Statement on this page: Submitted by Linda Talbott for the USGenNet Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ ========================================================================= USGenNet Data Repository NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization. Non-commercial organizations desiring to use this material must obtain the consent of the transcriber prior to use. Individuals desiring to use this material in their own research may do so. =========================================================================== Formatted by USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== Bodies of 8 Crewmen Sighted; Winds Hamper Rescue Effort. ----------------------- Charlevoix, Mich. (AP) - A gigantic air-sea search for survivors of the storm-sunken freighter Carl. D. Brad- ley, commanded by a Loudonville, N.Y., man was in- tensified today after two survivors were rescued and the bodies of eight seamen were spotted in Lake Michigan. Still missing was Capt. Rol- and Bryan, a winter resident of Loudonville, who was in charge of the limestone carrier which broke under pounding of stormy waters and sank. Coast Guard cutters and planes spearheaded the inten- sive search for the rest of the 35-man crew. The hunt, ham- pered by the high winds that swept the lake, was stepped up after reports that a liferaft with men aboard had been sighted. It was not located immediately. Found alive were Frank Mays, 26, and first mate El- mer Fleming, 43, both of Rogers City, Mich. A Coast Guard amphibian plane crew reported sighting "several" on a raft nearby off High Island. It gave no figures. Picked up Quickly Condition of the two res- cued was not immediately de- termined. The cutter Sundew quickly picked them up and other rescue craft sped to- ward the scene. High Island is some 45 miles out in the lake from Michigan's northwestern shore. High Island is north and east of Gull Island off which the 615-foot Bradley went down after sending a desper- ate "May Day" distress signal reporting she was breaking up and sinking. The Bradley was en route to its home port of Rogers City, Mich., after having unloaded at Buffington, Ind., at the low- er end of Lake Michigan. It had been feared the Brad- ley's full crew had perished with her in the storm-tossed mountainous waves whipped by winds of up to 60 miles an hour. Evidence of Blast One of the first vessels re- sponding to the Bradley's frantic calls for help said it found evidence the ship might have been split in two by a violent explosion. One report said the ship struck a boulder reef, on the Michigan side of the island. Towering 20-foot waves whipped up by 60-mile-an- hour winds battered at the stricken vessel when the first SOS electrified Coast Guard monitors in the area. The last official distress message re- ceived from the captain was a forboding: "We are breaking up and in a sinking condition." The Charlevoix Coast Guard also reported hearing the Bradley's radio operator shouting hysterically: "Get on your life jackets. We're going down." Tank Found Then there was silence. No more was heard from the freighter, once the largest ship on the Great Lakes. The first rescue ship to reach the scene, the German freighter Christian Sartori, reported evidence of a tre- mendous explosion. It spotted a large blast-torn tank and what appeared to be a raincoat but nothing else. First to join the German ship at the scene was the cut- ter Sundew from Charlevoix, some 35 miles away. The buoy tender Hollyhock, from Stur- geon Bay, Wis., also was dis- patched to help in the search. Temperature Drops As the searchers combed the turbulent seas, the tem- perature dropped to sub- freezing and southwest winds continued to howl in one of the worst late shipping season storms in years. Throughout the long night, flares lit up the scene. When the Sartori exhausted its sup- ply, a plane dropped a fresh load. The Bradley was flying the flag of Bradley Transporta- tion Company of Rogers City, Mich. The firm is a subsidiary of U. S. Steel Corporation. Coast Guardsmen said the approximate site of the Great Lakes worst cargo shipping disaster in nearly 20 years was about 15 miles west of the south end of Beaver Is- land. Water at that point is 250 to 300 feet deep. "The Knickerbocker News", Albany, N.Y. Wednesday, November 19, 1958 ===========================================================================