Cedarville

In May, the 604-foot Cedarville left near Rogers City on Lake Huron carrying 14,400 tons of limestone for the steel mills in Gary, Indiana, with Captain Joppich at the helm early in his first season as captain of a freighter. Warm breezes and cold water brought early morning fog in the Straits, slowing traffic and creating a traffic jam. Using VHF radio, the Cedarville spoke with an approaching ship and made passing arrangements, but the crew did not know that an intervening eastbound freighter was not communicating and was not making passing arrangements. That silent ship struck the Cedarville in the midsection. Though fatally damaged, the Cedarville still had time to head for shore, go aground, and let the crew walk into Mackinaw City, but disorientation caused the freighter to miss land and continue on until it sank with the loss of 10 lives. A new technological system, AIS, implemented in 2002, identifies by name all ships showing on radar and eliminates the potential for the kind of miscommunication that destroyed the Cedarville.

Mackinaw City, Michigan · United States