Kiss of the Devil Wind : The Sinking of the Steamship Gerken

On August 20, 1926 a ferocious gale suddenly struck central Lake Erie placing several commercial ships and sailing yachts in peril. Such a storm might have been expected in March or November. But the unexpected nature of this particular summer storm, coupled with its incredible ferocity wreaked such havoc that locals referred to it as "The August Gale" for decades thereafter. In the pre-dawn hours of Saturday, August 21st, a number of sailors were left fighting for their lives as eighty-mile-per-hour winds and breaking twenty-five-foot waves totally devastated two vessels. By dawn the 241-foot steamship Gerken was gone with only two of her three lifebosts recovered and the sailing yacht Pterodactyl had broken up and foundered. Six men were left swimming in the maelstrom of breaking waves that night as a railroad-car ferry, two U.S. Coast Guard vessels and a luxury passenger liner searched for them. This is the story of the two vessels that were lost and of the men and women who struggled in that storm.On August 20, 1926 a ferocious gale suddenly struck central Lake Erie placing several commercial ships and sailing yachts in peril. Such a storm might have been expected in March or November. But the unexpected nature of this particular summer storm, coupled with its incredible ferocity wreaked such havoc that locals referred to it as "The August Gale" for decades thereafter. In the pre-dawn hours of Saturday, August 21st, a number of sailors were left fighting for their lives as eighty-mile-per-hour winds and breaking twenty-five-foot waves totally devastated two vessels. By dawn the 241-foot steamship Gerken was gone with only two of her three lifebosts recovered and the sailing yacht Pterodactyl had broken up and foundered. Six men were left swimming in the maelstrom of breaking waves that night as a railroad-car ferry, two U.S. Coast Guard vessels and a luxury passenger liner searched for them. This is the story of the two vessels that were lost and of the men and women who struggled in that storm.