The Sinking of the Carl D. Bradley!

Just so you know, “Queen of the Lakes” is a title given to the current longest ship in Great Lakes service. The Edmund Fitzgerald was a Queen of the Lakes when she was launched, usurping the title from the Bradley. The current Queen of the Lakes is the MV Paul R. Tregurtha at 1,013 and a half feet.

Many years ago I met 1 of the survivors from the Bradley at a museum in Rogers City. It was awesome to hear his story and after all the years from the sinking he still missed and thought of his ship mates often.

Really enjoyed teaming up for this one! A great video indeed!

I absolutely love the music and animations used in this video. This video was very well presented. Keep up the great work. RIP to all those who went down with Carl D. Bradley on November 18, 1958. May They Never Be Forgotten.

As someone who lives in Indiana and works in Michigan, I forget how some people don't know just how crazy of an environment the Great Lakes are. whenever I hear a video explain things like the crazy winter weather or the fact that the lakes fully freeze over I have to stop myself from going, "well yeah, of course they do". Great Video

Big old boats did a great video on this disaster but your more upbeat video and the animations made this a must see, even already knowing about this incident! Keep up the great work Sam!

Freighters of that era suffered from a bad mixture of the metals that wrte used that made them weaker in the extreme cold. From some of the information that i have read videos i have watched. Good video! Thanks

Love these great lakes documentaries they never get old!!the Bradley ,Morrell, and the mighty Fitz!

Excellent video Sam! You should do one on the Daniel J Morrell from 1966 - not only did she break in two, but her stern section - deck lights lit & all - steamed past the bow and sailed on its own another 4-5 miles...... that's got to be the wildest Great Lakes freighter story, next to the famous "Big Fitz" Edmund Fitzgerald

The Daniel J. Morrell is another insane story like this one. I can’t get enough of Great Lakes freighter videos.

I have been so excited for this one. I live on Beaver Island, the largest island in the archipelago Gull Island is in. We had the pleasure of Frank Mays coming here multiple times to tell his story. The Beaver Island Historical Society produced a filmed interview with him, and I'm so glad they've recorded this harrowing piece of Great Lakes history.

My great uncle was one of the Original survivors that made it to the raft Gary Strzelecki. he jumped off most likely due to hysteria he thought he could swim to shore he was also the one pulled onto the ship later only to pass away to hypothermia a tragic story. I loved the video and I’d recommend the museum in Rogers City you can see the original bell and artifacts pulled from the wreck and also a brief description from everyone on board the ship that night.

To everyone who was wondering what the names of the survivors were. They were Frank Mayes and Elmmer Flemming

Native of Rogers City here. My Nana's brother died on that ship and her cousin was one of the two survivors. I've heard about the Bradley since I was a small child.

As a native Michigander, I've definitely have heard of the Carl D Bradley. Although I live closer to Lake Huron than Lake Michigan. I'm surprised that not many people know about this ship. If you're from Michigan or from one of the states surrounding the Great Lakes, the name Carl D Bradley will sound familiar. RIP to all the lives lost on the Carl D Bradley and on many others vessels that have sank into the depths of the Great Lakes! It is up to us as a community to keep their memories alive. Where would the maritime history community be if we hadn't done that?!

The Bradley, like many of the Great Lakes vessels that sank, were just "beaten on" with heavy loads and plenty of storms i my opinion. Also in common with most Great Lakes sinkings, this wreck of this vessel was found and looks very good (since no salt-water is involved)...

I’m a big weather nerd, so this also happen with the Edmund Fitzgerald, on occasion, the Great Lakes can produce “Mini Hurricanes” were basically storms on the Great Lakes have the ability to gain Winds, hail, and even Tornadoes (And tornadoes have happened there called waterspouts) So the Great Lakes are basically just Sea’s something like the MS Estonia it gets caught it storms and sunk.

I well remember the spooky story that occurred that night. There is a legend on the upper Lakes (Superior, Michigan, Huron, in areas where the Chippewa were the prominent tribe) that an Indian drum will be heard when a ship goes down, beating out the number of lives lost. Rogers City was the home port of the Bradley, and people there claimed they heard the drum repeatedly beat 33 times that night, long before the actual number of deaths was known. The story was not repeated when the Fitz was lost--one might say that perhaps this was because the home port of the Fitz wasn't in Chippewa lands. I was 16 at the time (I grew up in Lansing MI) and I remember this story on radio news the night of the sinking.--Jerry Pinkepank

Bean man here. Thank you Sam for providing this fantastic video!

No worries on the pronunciation of 'Manitowoc'. You got it. Milwaukee though, tripped you up. ;) Very good video Sam!