(Image via nbcnews.com)
Volunteer Writer: Emma Bowser
Email: ebowser@umassd.edu
“The captain goes down with the ship” is a phrase most people are familiar with. The captain is responsible for ensuring that all passengers and crew members reach safety before the captain evacuates.
On May 1st, 1940, Captain Frederick “Tatey Bug” Burke of the SS Arlington literally went down with his ship.
Survivors said, “Burke was last seen near the ship’s pilothouse and waving at the Collingwood before the Arlington went under.”
While it is considered a captain’s responsibility to save as many lives as possible in an emergency, it’s not a black-and-white rule. If the captain has run out of ways to save people, his final responsibility is his life.
In the Navy, the captain is not required to stay on the ship. There are no laws or guidelines in the US that encourage the scenario.
The reason why Captain Burke stayed is debated among those familiar with the historical event. Some claim there was no way for him to evacuate safely, and others merely chalk it up to his personality, claiming him to be “a real sailor type, rough and ready and never was the type who would desert a sinking ship.”
Captain Burke was the only casualty from the accident. The crew had sixteen members, and all of them were safely evacuated in lifeboats despite the fact that no S.O.S. call was sent out.
The crew could use the lifeboats to reach the HMS Collingwood, where they were rescued despite not sending out an S.O.S signal.
The Arlington was discovered in 2024 by Dan Fountain with the assistance of The Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society (TGLSHS).
Fountain initially contacted TGLSHS in 2023 when he realized the remote sensing data he was studying confirmed a shipwreck approximately 35 miles north of Keweenaw Peninsula, Michigan, USA.
According to GLSHS:
“GLSHS Director of Marine Operations, Darryl Ertel, Mr. Fountain and crew of the R/V David Boyd, towed a Marine Sonic Technology side-scan sonar over the anomaly and soon realized it was in-fact a shipwreck. Later ROV dives positively identified the submerged hulk the Arlington.”
To this day, Lake Superior is considered a dangerous place to sail.
The Department of Natural Resources claims:
“Veteran users of the lake will tell you that when the weather turns for the worse, Lake Superior can become extremely hazardous for vessels of any size.”
The weather tends to change suddenly, with little to no warning. It can quickly become a dangerous situation for anyone, regardless of the type of boat that they’re sailing. Lake Superior can be as hazardous as the ocean for this reason.
The Minnesota Historical Society estimates that ~10,000 shipwrecks are in the Great Lakes, but only about 350 are in Lake Superior. Ships dating as far back as 1891 have been discovered.
Notable shipwrecks include Samuel P. Ely (1896), Thomas Wilson (1902), and the SS Edmund Fitzgerald (1975).
People who want to sail on Lake Superior are advised to bring a portable AM radio because “if you can’t receive a station, the static that comes with an approaching storm will serve as a warning.”
TGLSHS is currently open to requests for interviews, photos, videos, and more general information on the discovery and history of the Arlington.