Sundew Docks Wednesday in Rogers City, Bradley's Bell Ready

Sixty-seven years after the Carl D. Bradley went to the bottom of Lake Michigan in a November gale, the vessel that pulled its only two survivors from the water is scheduled to make port in Rogers City on Wednesday.

The former U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Sundew, now privately owned and sailing as SUNDEW WLB 404 LLC, will tie up at Lakeside Park for a public ceremony. Her owner is former Minnesota trucking executive Jeff Foster. The cutter is 82 years old.

The Bradley sank in November 1958, taking 33 men down with her. Sundew recovered Frank Mays and Elmer Fleming, the storm's only survivors. At Wednesday's service, Rogers City Mayor Scott McClennan will deliver a proclamation. The Bradley's bell, recovered from the wreck site in 2007, will be rung once for each sailor lost. The Presque Isle County Historical Museum and the Great Lakes Lore Maritime Museum partnered to bring Sundew north. For the Rogers City community, it is the first chance to stand alongside the vessel that answered that night's distress call.

Harbor Notes

Algoma Harvester is the freshest entry in the Soo downbound queue this Sunday morning, last reported at 23:37 Saturday on the Keweenaw track, with an ETA of 11:04 a.m. at the locks. Running the opposite direction at the same chokepoint, Mesabi Miner is upbound from Detour, last reported at 3:40 a.m. Sunday, with an ETA of 6:53 a.m. at the Soo.

The Sam Laud, the downbounder this desk tracked through the St. Clair bend Thursday, is back on the river this morning. Last reported off Harbor Beach, she is projected past Vantage Point at Port Huron around 8:16 a.m. Florence Spirit and Algoma Guardian are both pushing upbound from the Detroit River Light, with Florence Spirit due at Port Huron around 11:47 a.m.

In Toledo, John J. Boland arrived at Ironville on August 16, and the vessels Defiance/Ashtabula and Baie Comeau both put in at CSX. In Marblehead, Joyce L. VanEnkevort/Great Lakes Trader returned to load at Amrize on August 16.

The Levels Ledger

Lake Ontario leads the five lakes at 3.53 feet above Low Water Datum at Rochester. Lake Erie follows at 3.05 feet at Cleveland, giving Welland-bound traffic a workable margin. Lake Michigan reads 2.27 feet at Chicago, Huron 1.92 feet at Harbor Beach, and Superior 1.90 feet at the Sault. The two upper-lake readings are the tightest of the set; masters loading heavy on Superior will feel those numbers at the river bars heading south.

Weather on the Water

A cold front is dragging across Lake Michigan through today, with southeast winds building ahead of it. Lake Erie draws its own cold front late tonight into early Monday morning, with wave heights around 2 feet on Erie and 1 foot elsewhere. High pressure at 30.20 inches is pushing over the Northeast, which should quiet Lake Huron by Monday. Watchers on Saginaw Bay can expect a freshening afternoon before the front clears.

Looking Astern

The Carl D. Bradley sank November 18, 1958, in a Lake Michigan storm of exceptional violence. Of the 33 men lost, most were from Rogers City, a port town whose identity has been bound to the Great Lakes limestone trade for more than a century. Sundew, then an active USCG buoy tender, located Mays and Fleming clinging to a life raft in frigid water and brought them aboard. The Bradley's bell was not recovered until 2007, when divers reached the wreck in 350 feet of water. It has been rung at memorial services ever since.

Tomorrow's Watch Algoma Harvester's 11:04 a.m. ETA at the Soo puts her through the locks and into Lake Huron by early afternoon Sunday; check Monday's edition to confirm her transit and her next port call downbound.

Vessel Spotlight: Algoma Harvester is the most current vessel in the Soo downbound queue, last reported at 23:37 Saturday on the Keweenaw approach with an 11:04 a.m. Sunday ETA at the locks. She is running toward Lake Huron as Mesabi Miner pushes upbound through the same passage, the two boats crossing paths at the busiest lock on the lakes.