#littlesablepoint

Shipwreck!

My brother-in-law, took me out onto the inland sea for a look at a shipwreck the other day. Hopefully this series of images gives one an idea of our experience, bobbing and weaving over it.

The SS Novadoc broke in half on Armistice Day, November 11th 1940. [Those "gales of November" predate the ones that would doom the Edmund Fitzgerald thirty-five years and a day later. We are visiting the Novadoc site nearly eighty-four years after the fateful day.]

Two other ships went down that same day with total loss of crews. The result was better for the Novadoc with seventeen men rescued—by a local fisherman. Unfortunately, two were lost, cooks of the ship, who were washed overboard. For the history of this event, and some better pictures, please go here.

The location is about five miles north of the Little Sable Point Lighthouse, near the Silver Lake Sand Dunes. Thanks to my guide for finding the wreck and maneuvering the two-person kayak while I tried to photograph with a little underwater camera.

Waiting for the Green Flash

This is the sun setting over Lake Michigan from a spot on the west coast of the lower peninsula—between Pentwater and the Little Sable Point Lighthouse.

I've heard about, and was anticipating, the green flash, which appears just as the sun ducks behind the horizon.

I did see a green blob appear, but (having done no research on it) believe it simply to be an afterimage of the sun when it finally dips below the horizon. The rods and cones in one's eyes become fatigued with prolonged viewing; when one shifts focus (or removes the sun here), an afterimage appears—which shows in the opposite color, green in this case.

Update: @skylobster tells me that the green flash is real, that they have witnessed it. With just a little digging I did find some photographs of it, such as on this site.

That site also directly addresses, and debunks, my hypothesis...

"Another common misconception is that a green flash is an afterimage, a result of the saturation of the red cones in the human retina or that it was an enduring image that remained after the sun had set. But sightings of the green flash at sunrise made both of these ideas implausible."

Petite Pointe Au Sable Lighthouse

Since 1910 this has been called Little Sable Point Lighthouse; we're on the west coast of the lower peninsula of Michigan here. Thanks to an on-line resource, here is the text of an historical marker...

Here the Petite Pointe Au Sable (little point of sand) juts into Lake Michigan. Increased shipping on the lake started after the Civil War, largely due to the expanding lumber industry. Consequently, this isolated point became the site of several shipwrecks, including the April 1871 beaching of the schooner Pride. To aid in navigation around the hazard, the United States Congress approved funding in 1872 for the erection of a lighthouse. The location's inaccessibility by road delayed the completion of the lighthouse until 1874. A house was constructed to board the keeper, his assistant, and their families. The first keeper was James Davenport of Mackinac Island.

This site has more information on this elegant structure.

I was able to get this shot during mid-afternoon thanks to Captain David Buday. We also viewed a shipwreck in the vicinity, but I will have to return with the proper equipment to bag that prize.

Undaunted

Here’s the tug, Undaunted, shoving a load a while after sunset. The craft is moving northward on Lake Michigan as seen from a point between Pentwater (to the north) and Little Sable Point (to the south). One can find out some information on the tug here.

Sailing Under a Starry Sky

A ship can be seen moving northward on Lake Michigan during this twenty second exposure. The sun has set quite a while ago, but its faint glow is still evident. This spot lies between Pentwater and Little Sable Point, Michigan, not far from Silver Lake.