Morrell remembered with ceremony at Lore Museum

by Angie Asam– Staff Writer

Dennis Hale, lone survivor of the S.S. Daniel J. Morrell, which sank in Lake Huron on November 29, 1966, was at the Great Lakes Lore Maritime Museum Saturday to join in honoring those who died in the tragedy. Hale recounted the events of the sinking and his 38-hour battle to survive on a life raft wearing only a life jacket, a pea coat and a pair of undershorts. For a long time Hale couldn?t talk about what happened and this has been extremely hard to deal with, and still is.

The night the ship sank Hale was in bed sleeping and was awakened around 2 a.m. by a loud bang. Thinking it was just the anchor hitting the bow of the ship, he rolled over and fell back asleep. Hearing the noise again, he got out of his bed and headed to the deck of the ship. He tried to turn on the lights in his room but they wouldn?t work, so he knew something was wrong. Upon arriving on the deck he heard the general alarm and saw many of his shipmates gathering around the life raft. Thinking he needed to find some additional clothing, he retreated to his room but was unable to locate anything but a pea coat.

As he and many of his shipmates climbed aboard the raft, the main deck tore slowly in two. The men sat on the raft waiting for the ship to sink and allow them to float freely. Afraid of being swept overboard, Hale closed his eyes and held on. The next thing he knew he was in the water. Upon rising to the surface, he saw the raft and swam toward it. Two other men had already climbed on board and a fourth followed. Once aboard the raft, some of the men began tying themselves down to the raft, but Hale did not. Hale worked to get into the safety compartment on the raft to find flares and anything else that would be helpful in the journey toward survival. He fired two flares and looked up to see a glimmer of light reflecting from the light on the raft to the top of a 30-foot wave they were about to hit.

He closed the hatch and got ready to get pushed around by the enormous wave, but instead the raft went through the wave. ?It felt like we were in the water forever, my lungs hurt, and then coming out of the wave we were met by the icy cold wind,? said Hale. The light on the front of the raft no longer worked so it was impossible to see the waves coming. The waves were estimated at between 30 and 35 feet and the wind was gusting at 60 to 65 m.p.h. the water was 44 degrees and the air was only 33 degrees. By daybreak on the 29th, two of the men on the raft had died, and by 4 p.m. the third had passed leaving Hale alone on the journey to survival.

Hale did a lot to keep his mind busy while he was on the raft; he did math problems and spent many hours in prayer. There was many times that Dennis tried to give up, going through a wave he would just let go and hope to be washed overboard so he wouldn?t have to fight anymore. Dennis Hale had to keep his hands in his mouth most of the time to keep them warm. Hale was not familiar with death, he had never lost someone close to him so to be surrounded by his dead shipmates was something very strange to him. After a grueling 38-hour journey on the lifeboat, Hale was found by the U.S. Coast Guard and was taken to the Harbor Beach Community Hospital. He was embarrassed as he was in only his undershorts but was in better c

ondition then they would ever have thought they would find him.

The hospital staff was advised to warm him up very slowly and watch for blood clotting. They were told that he shouldn?t have even been alive at the low body temperature he had, but he kept himself going and warm through talking; he was just happy to be alive. Maybe it was the prayers, or having the lifejacket next to his skin with a pea coat over it and no clothing on the lower body that would have further lowered his body temperature when wet and cold. Hale?s injuries were minor and frostbite was minimal, mostly on his feet, which were bare.

Pastor Kevin Jones from Peace Lutheran Church gave the invocation before the bell tolling ceremony began. Rogers City Mayor Beach Hall also thanked the guests for coming and honoring what our sailors have gone through and continue to go through, as tragedy can strike at any time, especially in the rough weather we experience this time of year. The bell tolled 28 times for the men who were lost that night on the Morrell.