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Legend yields to truth with Lake Superior shipwreck discovery
Star Tribune ^ | July 20, 2005 | Larry Oakes

Posted on 07/20/2005 7:44:23 AM PDT by wallcrawlr

DULUTH -- For more than 90 years it was a secret Lake Superior wouldn't tell: the deep, dark place where it had entombed the 239-foot Great Lakes freighter Benjamin Noble and its crew of 20 men.

Its captain, 31-year-old John Eisenhardt of Milwaukee, worried in a letter to his sister that the vessel was overloaded, making it unstable, according to "Lake Superior Shipwrecks" by Julius F. Wolff. The trip was Eisenhardt's first as captain. It became his last.

As the vessel crossed Lake Superior, one of the worst spring storms ever to strike the big lake was gathering -- with winds of at least 64 miles per hour. From a distance, the captain of another vessel saw a smaller ship's lights disappear at about 3 a.m. By that afternoon, hatch covers, oars and other flotsam from the Noble were washing up on Minnesota Point in Duluth.

Last Halloween, wreck hunters Jerry Eliason and Randy Beebe of Duluth, Ken Merryman of Fridley and Kraig Smith of Rice Lake, Wis., were scanning the bottom about 10 miles off the shore near Two Harbors.

They were looking for the Robert Wallace, a wooden steamer that went down in 1902. They thought the structure their side-scan sonar detected half-buried in the muddy bottom more than 300 feet down was the Wallace.

But when they lowered an underwater camera, they discovered a hull made of steel, not wood. Then they caught glimpses of the cargo: steel rails.

In western Lake Superior, only one missing steel vessel was loaded with rails when it went down: the Benjamin Noble. Eliason considered the Noble the Holy Grail or Loch Ness monster of wrecks, half history, half legend, a hidden crypt for 20 men.

(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...


TOPICS: Canada; Culture/Society; Miscellaneous; US: Michigan; US: Minnesota; US: Ohio; US: Wisconsin
KEYWORDS: archaeology; benjaminnoble; clivecussler; godsgravesglyphs; history; johneisenhardt; lakesuperior; robertwallace
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To: wallcrawlr

He has a valid point. If you make any changes to an article in posting, even an excerpt, those should be indicated.


21 posted on 07/20/2005 8:24:53 AM PDT by dirtboy (Drool overflowed my buffer...)
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To: wallcrawlr

Amazing...


22 posted on 07/20/2005 8:27:02 AM PDT by hershey
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To: markman46

Stop by the 10,000 records and books store in downtown Duluth. See if the big redhead ex-exotic dancer still works there.


23 posted on 07/20/2005 8:27:07 AM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks (Scratch a Liberal. Uncover a Fascist)
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To: Eric in the Ozarks

Oh so that is what she was.. I always wondered, have not been in there sense I left, I'll be sure and it it again.


24 posted on 07/20/2005 8:30:42 AM PDT by markman46
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To: wallcrawlr

it's even cooler to drive across.Dang I wish I could post a pic.


25 posted on 07/20/2005 8:31:46 AM PDT by markman46
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To: Eric in the Ozarks
Are you talking about Carlson's book store? Last I heard from my Dad, they were closed down, I think he said they went bankrupt. I don't know what is going to happen to the books in the building. I was never really impressed when I went in there. I didn't really care for the anti-Reagan posters hanging up on the walls, and the book prices seemed to be as high as the owners.
26 posted on 07/20/2005 8:35:38 AM PDT by dbehsman (NRA Life member and loving every minute of it!)
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To: wallcrawlr

I was asking for a simple courtesy. You need not get snotty.


27 posted on 07/20/2005 8:36:26 AM PDT by Junior (Just because the voices in your head tell you to do things doesn't mean you have to listen to them)
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To: markman46

Sadly, the effects of gravity had done their worst.


28 posted on 07/20/2005 8:43:39 AM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks (Scratch a Liberal. Uncover a Fascist)
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To: dbehsman

Don't think it was Carlson's. They sold used LPs, magazines and a lot of dusty old stuff. Yeah, the place was freaky and you could catch a whiff of pachouli from time to time...


29 posted on 07/20/2005 8:47:24 AM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks (Scratch a Liberal. Uncover a Fascist)
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To: Eric in the Ozarks

too bad ;(..


30 posted on 07/20/2005 8:49:25 AM PDT by markman46
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To: markman46

She still wears her hair in a very tight bun, tho.


31 posted on 07/20/2005 8:53:24 AM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks (Scratch a Liberal. Uncover a Fascist)
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To: Junior
Not used to courtesy from you...its very confusing when youre used to sarcasm and namecalling.
Life is so tough ....you needed little < snip > markers to read an "excerpted" article properly.

I'm so sorry.


32 posted on 07/20/2005 8:54:15 AM PDT by wallcrawlr (http://www.bionicear.com)
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To: dirtboy

we got history.


33 posted on 07/20/2005 8:57:20 AM PDT by wallcrawlr (http://www.bionicear.com)
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To: markman46
how about these.


34 posted on 07/20/2005 9:00:07 AM PDT by wallcrawlr (http://www.bionicear.com)
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To: markman46

i'll freepmail you how to do it...its really not tough


35 posted on 07/20/2005 9:00:50 AM PDT by wallcrawlr (http://www.bionicear.com)
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To: Eric in the Ozarks
You're not talking about the "Electric Fetus" are you? I know they sold records, but I'm not so sure about used records. That is also the only place in Duluth where a person could find "paraphernalia" sold out in the open. I remember going in there only once in my life. I had to ask my buddy what the weird little wood boxes with a brass tube coming out the top were for. After he told me, that was the last time I went in there.
36 posted on 07/20/2005 9:04:37 AM PDT by dbehsman (NRA Life member and loving every minute of it!)
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To: randog
Does anyone know where the love of God goes when the gales of November come early?

My first thought exactly!
37 posted on 07/20/2005 9:08:28 AM PDT by DarkSavant (I touch myself at thoughts of flames)
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To: dbehsman
Same side of the street as the Fetus, but down the next block. Much larger store with the word "10,000" in red paint prominently displayed. Its close to the casino if you recall where that is.
Its very dusty inside but I've found some excellent old LPs in their record racks.
38 posted on 07/20/2005 9:20:31 AM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks (Scratch a Liberal. Uncover a Fascist)
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To: wallcrawlr

that's the place..


39 posted on 07/20/2005 9:36:18 AM PDT by markman46
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To: wallcrawlr

got it thanks again


40 posted on 07/20/2005 9:37:20 AM PDT by markman46
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