You need to be a member in order to leave a comment. Today, Grandpas well-preserved corpse is still floating in the wreck of the Kamloops, where he spends most of his time occupying the engine room. Bob Berg Could possibly explain why it looked so white I suppose thanks for the info much appreciated! Swimming over dead bodies, haunted shipwrecks, and a mysterious floating stump. Talks & Readings, Search Events Shipping comes to a halt in the Great Lakes during the winter time due to the harsh icy conditions so ship owners push to get as much freight delivered as possible before winter sets in. In this chapter, they discussed the various ways shipwrecks are being delt with in their legacy. Due to the extreme cold and depth at the site of the wreckage it remains remarkably well preserved. The location of the shipwreck was unknown until sport divers located the wreck in 1977. Ontario Divers report seeing Whitey follow them or stare at them while they explore the shipwreck. At ten o'clock Tuesday night [Dec 6], the lookout on the steamer QUEDOC suddenly saw a dark mass ahead, and gave the alarm immediately. [4] In June, more bodies were discovered. - Concrete Contractors of Raleigh, N.C. Frank Sanders | Is a Maritime Career Waiting for You? The Kamloops and her 22 crew members were never seen alive again. I haven't heard this one. History Divers who have been down to the wreck have reported strange encounters such as being followed by the body or being surprised suddenly by the body floating towards them. Business The doomed vessel cleared Port Colborne, Ontario on the Welland Canal upbound on December 1 at 9:30 AM ( Detroit Free Press, Dec. 2, 1927). [4] As a canaller, she carried diversified "package" freight between Canadian ports. [4] When the 1928 navigation season opened in April, a further search was made for wreckage from Kamloops. Unfortunately for Kamloops and other vessels assigned to Lake Superior runs, a massive storm began hammering the lake on 5 December. Answer (1 of 15): Eventually, it decomposes like any other body, in any other environment. The Coast Guard ceased its search of the Keweenaw in the face of heavy seas and ice, and suggested concentrating efforts on the shores of Isle Royale and Manitou Islands (Houghton Daily Mining Gazette, Dec. 16, 1927). A rumor had circulated from Buffalo that Lake ships, fearing another blockade, would end their season on November 30, but executives of Canada Steamship Lines denied the rumor. This is the anchor chain to the OOCL Honk Kong container ship, being raised out of the water. Franklin D Roosevelt. Other divers claim that the corpse of Old Whitey would float along behind them as they explored, sometimes even reaching out and touching them. Its an example of science playing an affirming role of what the Knowledge Keepers already recognized.. Evangium doesn't have a personal statement currently. The weather remained at sub-zero levels with lows of 10-38 degrees F. below zero reported. The SS Kamloops was last seen in December 1927 and went missing. It's painful to hear that 215 bodies were found at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School. Brian wrote his wife in Toronto, saying that the weather was very bad and that he was going out to anchor his ship (Ibid., Dec. 14, 1927). [5], A search for Kamloops began on 12 December, concentrating on the Keweenaw Peninsula and Isle Royale; the search continued until 22 December. Captain R. Simpson of Quedoc arrived at the Soo and discovered Kamloops still on the unreported list. Wolves Cookie Notice Some divers reported seeing the pale white ghost kicked back in one of the crew bunks, quietly and calmly watching the explorers make their way through the sunken ship. The cutter Crawford, which postponed entering the drydock in Duluth at Marine Iron and Shipbuilding for repairs, went to investigate. The wreck was found while diving off Ken Merryman's boat Heyboy, on the second day of the search. 'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+"://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs"); Content copyright 2016 Planet Weird unless otherwise noted. Storm signals were raised once again on December 7, as a northeast wind began blowing at 20 to 30 miles per hour. It was known that there were two women aboard Kamloops during its final voyage. After all, it had been awhile. Widdowson is a former tenured professor at Mt. The SS Kamloops has lain at the bottom of Lake Superior for nearly 100 years but visiting divers claim they are not alone when visiting the shipwreck. 800 East Lakeshore Drive He didnt want the same thing to happen to the rest of us kids. [3] She was built to fit inside the locks of the Canadian-operated canals of the lower Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River during the years prior to the construction of the St. Lawrence Seaway. At first, the woman, reportedly found attired in nightclothes, was believed to be stewardess Netty Grafton of Southampton (Owen Sound Daily Sun Times, June 6, 1928). I went because my father wanted me to, Highway said about his dad, a caribou hunter and champion dog sledder who was illiterate. Powered by Invision Community. CNN . An artists depiction of the layout of the wreckage of the SS Kamloops. In the middle of a particularly nasty gale, the captain of the Quedocspotted a dark mass rise up out of the waters, and quickly turned course, warning theKamloops, which was shrouded in the thick fog. It doesn't mention the body in the engine room though. This is the biggest fake news story in Canadian history, Flanagan told The Post. We need someone who's a SAR Diver to clear up that one. The band called the discovery, Le Estcwicwy or the missing.. As winter closed in, rescuers suspended the search, and all 22 people aboard the Kamloops were feared to have sunk along with it - a fear that increased as the bodies of some crew members were . The downbound grain fleet had weathered the storm at Fort William. Apparently Kamloops passed through the Soo on December 4 in the company of Quedoc, a 345-foot bulk freighter ( Owen Sound Daily Sun Times, Dec. 13, 1927). As more time passed without a trace of wreckage, and hope was reluctantly abandoned, the general feeling grew that Kamloops would remain a Lakes mystery (Sault Daily Star, Dec. 14, 1927). It involves a ship called The SS Kamloops that sank in 1927 off Isle Royale in Lake Superior. Its deadweight capacity was 2,400 tons on a 14-ft. draft (Canadian Railway and Marine World July 1924). All had been found with lifebelts. Living, or should I say non-living, proof of this scientific fact is evident aboard the shipwreck of the USS Kamloops, which wrecked in Lake Superior carrying farm equipment on the way to Canada back in a frigid winter storm in December of 1927.. That's why embalming is necess. 84001769 [1] Added to NRHP. The day following the executive's statement, a 36 mile-an-hour northeast wind began, causing the upbound vessels to shelter overnight on November 30 at Whitefish Point and the Welcome Islands. 'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+"://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs"); Charity & Fundraisers They were found along with wreckage of the lost steamer. The Islet Prince, which had seen no wreckage, was called back to port by CSL officials. A north gale was blowing, there was a heavy sea, and it was rough going. The executive's declaration would prove ironic on two counts: Company vessels would be lost in 1927, and others would end their season icebound in the very same channel as the year before. Kamloops (/ k m l u p s / KAM-loops) is a city in south-central British Columbia, Canada, at the confluence of the South flowing North Thompson River and the West flowing Thompson River, east of Kamloops Lake.It is located in the Thompson-Nicola Regional District, whose district offices are based here.The surrounding region is sometimes referred to as the Thompson Country. Then there were others who reported something even more frightening: that Grandpa would follow them as they made their way through the ship, and that he wasnt just a ghost he was physical. Many of the graves hes identified at residential schools in other parts of the country, though, come from actual cemeteries and its not always clear how they died. Pigmentation, yes. SALVAGE & RECOVERY OPERATIONS. Lake Superior (Kamloops Shipwreck) Lake Superior is spooky for a lot of reasons. The ship passed Detroit at 11:30. Old Whitey pictured in the engine room of the sunken SS Kamloops. Many divers make note of interacting with Old Whitey in their dive logs. The prospect of finding survivors still alive on Isle Royale was considered remote (Daily Mining Journal, Marquette Dec. 16, 1927). With no power, she was at the mercy of the raging storm and the northeast gales tossed and blew her toward Isle Royale. The story goes that in a fresh water lake, at that depth, there are no fish to eat the remains and the temperature is so low all year round, that a body won't decompose. . With its Curses, Violent Apparitions, and Portals, is Ohios Bellaire House the Most Haunted Home in the World? The steamship Kamloops was built by Furness Shipbuilding Co. Ltd. in Haverton Hill within Stockton-on-Tees in the northeast of England for Steamships Ltd of Montreal, Quebec. Hes been searching for and identifying the grave sites of indigenous children at residential schools in Canada since 2009 after being hired by Canadas powerful Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The temperature was 8F. Twenty-nine men died in the . The consent submitted will only be used for data processing originating from this website. On June 4, six more bodies of Kamloops' crew were found, again by fishermen. The storm became a major blizzard. . Speculation on the whereabouts of Kamloops centered on Isle Royale. If divers can go there, they could probably recover the body. This evidence supports the belief held at the time by many that the bodies found were the occupants of a lifeboat that made it to shore. They call him Grandpa or Old Whitey, because the cold lake waters have bleached the preserved body a pale, ghostly white. only shades of grey. Books Continue with Recommended Cookies, The Wheel of the SS Kamloops, submerged under Lake Superior. In spite of this spooky behavior none of the divers felt threatened by the presence of Old Whitey. The coal fired, forced draft engine could not function without the stack. It seems that the harder it is to access a haunted location, the scarier the ghost stories tend to be, and they dont get much creepierthan that of Grandpa, the spirit haunting the submerged wreck of the SS Kamloops. Highway said the Guy Hill school wasnt perfect and that he witnessed and experienced some abuse. His body stiff and his skin white as snow, the nameless member of the Kamloops crewhad floated inside the ship for fifty years, alone until the divers began to occasionally filter in. Thanks for contacting us. They speak of paying respects to Old Whitey or shaking hands with grandpa. First Nation members had long believed that the area held the remains of Kamloops students, according to both Casimir and Read. Her cargo of shoes, tar paper, farm equipment, barrels, toothpaste and lifesavers can be seen pouring out onto the . An ancestor of mine lived there for a time in about, donna Creamore | Lake Superior Journal: The Vanishing Act at Pebble Beach, In 1976, I married my wife and we took a camping honeymoon. Imagine diving down there and having the body scream underwater at you. Althought there might not have been fish to munch old Whitey away, but what about the microscopic bactieria that I would think after neary 100 years would have made a bit of damage over time. There are bottom feeders in all lakes, unless the pollution has killed them off, and at the time of the sinking, there would not have been the pollution in the Lake that there is now. They attempted to assist him but were forced to send him to the surface alone after he became unconscious. sounds interesting. Highway, who wrote about his sub-Arctic childhood in last years Permanent Astonishment, told The Post that he credits his years spent at Guy Hill for his success in life. Some cargo remains in the holds, while other cargo is strewn around the wreck site. more information on current conditions explore the source materials that contributed to the. News of the discovery was relayed to the port cities from Isle Royale by the captain of Winyah. The steamship Kamloops was built by Furness Shipbuilding Co. Ltd.[3] in Haverton Hill, Stockton-on-Tees, Durham, England, United Kingdom, for Steamships Ltd. of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Very few divers are skilled enough to deal with the extreme conditions. Its a little bit like makeing Ox tail stew, no matter what the temperatures the meat is still gunna fall of the bone at some stage. Nothing was found until May 1928 when some fishermen recovered the remains of several crew members on Isle Royale. Photo: Four Kamloops children who died at the residential school are buried in this cemetery that of the Kamloops Aboriginal community (Credit: Ken Vavrhodt, Kamloops This Week, Nov. 17, 2020).). chief duty was carrying manufactured goods from Montreal up the lakes to Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. [3] There are still human remains aboard the ship, including the remains of a crew member floating throughout the engine room, nicknamed "Old Whitey". The body of one of the ships crew members floats around in the Kamloops engine room. Beaulieu said that remote sensors picked up anomalies and what are called reflections that indicate the remains of children may be buried at the site. The body is known to have been preserved by the cold temperatures of the water, in addition to adipocire. 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved, with the help of ground-penetrating radar, all flags on federal buildings fly at half-mast, being murdered and buried in what some past school attendees say was an apple orchard. The Neptune Memorial, also known as the Atlantis Memorial Reef, is an underwater cemetery located three miles off the coast of Key Biscayne, Florida. He gave the following account: The QUEDOC passed upbound December 4. On the night of December 6th, 1927, Lake Superior was in the grips of a violent winter storm, and the SS Kamloops was struggling to make its way through the waves, accompanied by the steamer ship Quedoc. Pixelation, no. We had a knowing in our community that we were able to verify. The real proof, he [Ken Merryman] said, came after the second dive when pictures, on close inspection, showed the ship's name peeking out through the years of accumulated rust and underwater debris on the freighter's stern Later dives by those and other divers add to what is known of the last moments of KAMLOOPS. The Quedoc made it to Fort William safe and sound, but the Kamloops would never arrive. SS Kamloops was a Canadian lake freighter that was part of the fleet of Canada Steamship Lines from its launching in 1924 until it sank with all hands in Lake Superior off Isle Royale, Michigan, United States, on or about 7 December 1927. A canaller, she carried diversified `` package '' freight between Canadian ports up that one located. 215 bodies were discovered degrees F. below zero reported discovered Kamloops still on the unreported list thanks for info. A member in order to leave a comment '' freight between Canadian ports imagine diving down and... 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