In my youth, living in Ashtabula, Ohio, on the shore of Lake Erie I had a fascination for the ore freighters plying the Great Lakes. I thought about what a wonderful adventure that would be. Then came the day I found myself aboard a Great Lakes freighter, and I really loved it! But fate has a way of changing things……
Can you imagine being aboard a Great Lakes freighter and watching it being ripped in half by gale force winds and then being tossed into the frigid waters of Lake Huron as the boat sank? Thirty-eight hours later you are the only survivor of a crew of twenty-nine.
Nothing could prepare Dennis Hale for his tragic experience on the steamship Daniel J. Morrell on November 29, 1966. Dennis and three others made it to a life raft only to face thirty-foot waves, sixty-five MPH winds and freezing temperatures. The sole survivor persevered two nights clad only in a lifejacket, peacoat and his underwear as his three shipmates perished before his eyes. There is no way he should have lived through this ordeal of physical pain and mental anguish.