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Lake Huron’s Forgotten Ghost Ship: SS Clifton

Big Old Boats

83,745 views

Sometime between September 21st and 22nd, 1924, the whaleback freighter SS Clifton vanished during a storm on Lake Superior. Not one of the 30 people on board were ever found. While largely forgotten today, the disappearance was one of Lake Huron's most mysterious ghost ships, inspiring stories, legends, and numerous folk songs.

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Music & Sound Effects:
The Heart Collectors: Shenandoah. 2024. Video. https://www.loc.gov/item/video-10902/
General: Sung by Captain Richard Maitland at Sailor's Snug Harbor, Staten Island, NY. Recorded in 1939 by Alan Lomax for the Archive of Folksong https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200031132/

Epidemic Sound: https://www.epidemicsound.com/referra...
SoundSnap: https://www.soundsnap.com/

Sources:
Ghost Ships of the Great Lakes by Dwight Boyer
Windjammers: Songs of the Great Lakes Sailors by Ivan H. Walton and Joe Grimm
https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/2021/0...
https://3dshipwrecks.org/shipwreck-cl...

Chapters:
00:00 SS Clifton
2:14 Chapter 1: Pig Boats
6:04 Chapter 2: Reckless Efficiency
9:-02 Chapter 3: Short Handed
13:23 Chapter 4: 40 Mile Point
16:58 Chapter 5: The Seaman's Lament

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20 Comments

@SarahJackson-qy2fl 5 months ago (edited)

Your ability to humanise these tragedies which would otherwise be remote statistics is made more effective by your lack of drama and your solid research. ❤

@C4Michigan 5 months ago

I'm sad for all the lives lost, but especially the mom filling in as assistant cook and her 9yr old daughter.

@taxirob2248 5 months ago

1:20 I love seeing footage of Duluth before the goddamned freeway destroyed the waterfront

@Warcry_ttv 5 months ago

Please never stop making videos best YouTube channel I’ve ever discovered

@williamdunklin 5 months ago

Beautifully produced as always, but that ending is just devastating. Many thanks for your commitment to being the best of the best.

@WildThing2 5 months ago

Knowing Lake Superior as well as I do, there is no way I would sail on a ship with that little freeboard let alone work on it. Very brave individuals.

@armphidiic2609 5 months ago

A very intruiging story, full of sadness and the spirit of chance. I liked that the new equipment didn't take the ship down, just the Lakes being the Lakes. Nothing any man can do in that situation.

@Necron-ez2cc 5 months ago

Whaleback Freighters should have been called Floating Fisk Coffins.

@augustosolari7721 5 months ago

Sonically speaking, this is your masterpiece.

@michaelmclaren7373 5 months ago

Macdougal’s Whalebacks fascinated me as a kid growing up sailing on the Great Lakes. They made a kind of sense if you’ve ever experienced a storm on Superior or Erie; reducing the freeboard to that of submarine on the surface, letting the green water roll over you instead of smashing into you. Pity only the Meteor, out of the 40 steamers and barges built, survives (if you don’t count the wreck of the Thomas Wilson just off the Duluth harbor entrance).

@Flt.Hawkeye 5 months ago (edited)

It's absolutely incredible that there are Lakes in the world were you can drive your ship over the horizon and still don't hit the other shore.

@stevenr5534 5 months ago

Another great video! Thank you for the video and thank you for saving another ship and crew from being relegated to a footnote in the records!

@maryeckel9682 5 months ago

Wow. You couldn't pay me enough to sail on something like this. What a crazy design.

Thank you for Captain Maitland's singing! The Lomax recordings are a treasure of old songs and tales.

@racketyjack 5 months ago

Excellent video. Us kids were taught this song in school back in the early '60's. Thank you for reminding us of this important piece of Lake lore.

@Qrocket68 5 months ago

At 4:03 that ship would later be known as the ss meteor the last whaleback freighter in existence today. It sits as a museum ship in Superior Wisconsin, would recommend the tour.

@hughwalker5628 5 months ago

These just get better and better. Emotional stuff - brilliantly done. Thank you!

@danielscottrussell3365 5 months ago

You had me at that ghostly recording of “Shenandoah”! Well-done as always! 👏🏼

@TurboMcAwesome 5 months ago

Great to hear that Alan Lomax recording, he was a remarkable man who along with his father made one of- if not the greatest contribution to the preservation of American history and culture.

@greggrauscher34 5 months ago

A really well done video. I especially like the detail in which the crew was described, particularly Capt. Gallagher. Also, the old lake boat footage was so cool. As someone that has worked as a deckhand, after seeing the old footage in this video, I can tell you the job hasn't changed much in the past century or so, when it comes to using the landing boom (bosun's chair) and mooring the boat.