Incredible to contemplate the fury of a “mere lake.”
“mere lake.” ??
The Great Lakes are indeed huge.
Inland Ocean?
MN is the land of 10,000 lakes.
I recall watching an interview with a US Coast Guard captain (if that is the appropriate title) who went out on the lake that night as part of the search and rescue effort. He had served on the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic for that number of years earlier during his service, but he had never, ever seen seas as rough as what he saw on Lake Superior on that occasion.
I have sailed on Great Lakes freighters in November.
I was in a storm on Lake Superior in November 1976; not as bad as the one on 11/11/1975 but our Captain moved the ship into a bay until the storm was over.
One big difference between the Great Lakes and the oceans is that given the shape and depth of the Great Lakes-wave pound a ship on the oceans the waves are farther apart and the ship rolls. One world-renowed sailboat sailor who has sailed all over the world said the worst place he had been in a storm was on Lake Erie.