Posted by Dan on August 02, 19100 at 17:15:59:
In Reply to: Re: Wrecks of 1913 storm and Anna C Minch posted by Craig on July 09, 19100 at 11:37:09:
Craig, The Anna C. Minch sits in 45 feet of water anout 1.5
miles due south of Pentwater's South Breakwall. She is broken into
two pieces with the stern about 50 yards from the rest of the ship.
I have been down to this ship about 50 times as my parents own a beach home
near the wreck. I will give you my unprofessional opinion and the general
concensious about the Minch's last moments. I think about the men who
were aboard her on those last moments every time I am on the wreck and
it is a humbeling experince. So don't think I am being harsh in the
following description of the wreck
The storm must have been unlike anything you or I could imagine as
it took down many large ships that day/night. The crew of the Minch
were only 1.5 miles from the harbor at Pentwater however the channel
is very small and it would be almost impossible for a ship of the inch's
size to enter even on a dead calm day, with this in mind most of us believe
that the crew knew that the ship was going to founder and the only choice was to
get as close to the harbor as possible and hope for a rescue launch. The visiblity
was zero and it's doubtful that anyone on shore knew the ship was going down so close
to the harbor. The ship sits in a tangled mess upright on the bottom, her wheel house is gone, probably
due to the ice flows of the winter, although a theory of the boilers exploding as the ship sank
is written often, I don't believe that was the case as the main enginering space can be penatrated
if the sand shifts in the right direction. It appears that the ship broke in two and the stern drifted
a short distance and sank leading me to believe that they had no power when the ship sank, explaining why the boilers
didn't blow apart ( they were already cooling down ). I bet that your great uncle had some sort of problem and was heading the
ship towards the closest harbor ( pentwater ) in hope of atempting to beach the vessel and attemp a shore rescue, only to founder before
getting close enough. Sorry
Hope this helps some, email me for more.