posted 11-11-2013 03:18 PM ET (US)        

http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=great+storm+of+1913& ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8#q=great+storm+of+1913&rls=en&tbm=nws

for links to many articles. I also recall attending a lecture many years ago, probably more than 20 years ago now, given by a meteorologist from the Weather Bureau--I think that was what we used to call the federal department that handled weather forecasting before it became NOAA. This fellow had done research on ships that sank due to storms on the Great Lakes, and found there was a good correlation between sinking ships and the difference in average temperature between the air and water. When cold air moves over water that is warmer, a storm picks up energy from the heat of the water. Don't ask me the meteorological science behind it, but that is what the scientists affirm. The differential in average temperature between water and air on Lake Superior, as I recall, was found to be greatest in a five or six day period in early November, roughly from November 7 to 12. Significantly, some enormous percentage of the total tonnage sunk on the Great Lakes went down in this same period.

The Great Storm of 1913 was a big contributor to his correlation. It lasted from November 7 to 10, and caused 19 ships to sink. Also lost in this same time frame was the EDMUND FITZGERALD, sunk on November 10, 1975. Adding to the congruence is the Armistice Day Storm of November 11 and 12, 1940. Three large freighters sank in that storm, as well several other smaller ships. About a week past this window, on November 18, 1958, the CARL D BRADLEY sank in Lake Michigan.

posted 11-11-2013 04:01 PM ET (US)            

http://www.mlive.com/entertainment/muskegon/index.ssf/2013/10/annual_shipwrecks_and_technolo.html