Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2015
                           All Rights Reserved
                        USGenNet Data Repository

         Please read USGenNet Copyright Statement on this page:
                <http://www.us-data.org/fineprint.html>

Submitted by Linda Talbott
for the USGenNet Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/
=========================================================================
Formatted by USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott
All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded.
===========================================================================

    VESSEL NAME:   Nordmeer
    OTHER NAME(s): -
    OFFICIAL NO:   LR525650 (German Registry)
    DATE OF LOSS:  19 November 1966
    REASON:        Navigational error
    LOCATION:      Lake Huron, Thunder Bay Island Shoal
    RIG TYPE:      Propeller
    HULL TYPE:     Steel
    BUILDER:       at Flensburg, Germany - 1954
    OWNER(S):      -
    MASTER:        Capt. Ernst-George Steinbeck
    TONNAGE:       8,683 gt
    DIMENSIONS:    470 x ? x ?
    CASUALTIES:    0
    SURVIVORS:     43

                   Grounded on Thunder Bay Island Shoal, about 8 miles off
                Alpena, during calm and clear weather after turning inside
                the USCG flashing buoy which marked the dangerous shoal.
                Thirty-three of the crew were taken off by the SAMUEL
                MATHER while the captain and seven others stayed aboard in
                hopes of lightering the cargo of coiled wire and floating
                the NORDMEER free of the shoal.
                   On November 29th a savage gale ripped through the lakes
                packing winds of 70 miles an hour and blinding snow.
                Helpless in the full fury of the storm the NORDMEER sent
                S.O.S. signals and fired off distress flares.  The
                remaining eight crew members were taken off by a USCG HH52A
                Seaguard amphibious helicopter and landed on the deck of
                the MACKINAW.
                   This savage storm also pushed the big carferry CITY OF
                MIDLAND onto a sandbar at Ludington and took down the 587
                ft. freighter DANIEL J. MORRELL.

 ========================================================================
Sources: Rattigan "Great Lakes Shipwrecks and Survivals" - p. 145
         Stonehouse "Short Guide to the Shipwrecks of Thunder Bay" p. 45
         Mariner's Weather Log, Vol. 39 - p. 9
         Annual Report of the Lake Carriers' Association, 1966 - p. 45
         Michigan History, July/August 2015, "Thrilling Thunder Bay Rescue"
         Owosso Argus-Press, 11 November 1969
         Chicago Tribune, 30 November 1966
         The Miami News, 30 November 1966

Last updated 30 September 2015