Correction: Corrected September 17, 2026: the water-level paragraph now reports the archived NOAA station observations and their limits. Unsupported navigation implications were withdrawn. NOAA measurement context.
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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.
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.
Archived NOAA station observations: Lake Superior, Sault Ste. Marie (NOAA station 9076027): 1.9 feet relative to local Low Water Datum, observed 2026-08-15 23:54 local standard time. Lake Michigan, Chicago (NOAA station 9087031): 2.267 feet relative to local Low Water Datum, observed 2026-08-15 23:54 local standard time. Lake Huron, Harbor Beach, MI (NOAA station 9075002): 1.919 feet relative to local Low Water Datum, observed 2026-08-15 23:54 local standard time. Lake Erie, Cleveland (NOAA station 9063053): 3.048 feet relative to local Low Water Datum, observed 2026-08-15 23:54 local standard time. Lake Ontario, Rochester, NY (NOAA station 9052030): 3.527 feet relative to local Low Water Datum, observed 2026-08-15 23:54 local standard time. These are individual gauge readings, not lake-wide averages or channel depths. They do not establish vessel clearance, cargo limits or comparative navigability.
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.
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.