45th Anniversary this weekend of the S.S. Cedarville sinking

by Angie Asam, Staff Writer

Friday is the 45th anniversary of the sinking of the S.S. Cedarville. Many seamen who called Presque Isle County home sailed on the ship during its years of service, and the day it went down it took ten men with it. As part of the Mackinaw Maritime Festival, a special S.S. Cedarville memorial service will be held onboard the historic icebreaker Mackinaw Maritime Museum Friday. The ceremony will begin at 10 a.m. with the flyover of a Coast Guard helicopter and the entrance of the Coast Guard Color Guard.

Following a few other opening remarks and presentations, Bill Shepler will present ?the day the S.S. Cedarville went down? and the icebreaker Mackinaw WLBB-30 will fire a flare over the wreck of the Cedarville. Leonard Gabrysiak, a survivor of the tragedy, will then read the names of those who perished and toll the bells for them. The icebreaker Mackinaw Bell and the echo of the Conkling Heritage Park bell will echo that bell. The ceremony will then continue to the blessing of the fleet and will conclude with ?Amazing Grace? on the bagpipes as the color guard retires. The ceremony is scheduled to wra

p up at 11 a.m.

Many events are planned after the ceremony up until 9 p.m. One of the most notable will be boat rides to the Cedarville wreck site by Shepler?s Ferry beginning at 1 p.m. For more on the events of the Mackinaw Maritime Festival visit www.mackinawmaritimefestival.com. All events are open to the public. ON MAY 7, 1965 the Cedarville departed from Calcite quarry in Rogers City in the early morning hours after loading with limestone. The ship was headed for Gary, Indiana. Heading up Lake Huron towards the Straits of Mackinac in a dense fog the ship heard many foghorns and had low visibility.

In the Straits a Norwegian freighter M.V. Topdalsfjord struck the vessel putting a 10-by-20 foot hole in the Cedarville at hatch No. 7 and causing it to sink. The ship now lies about three miles east of the Mackinac Bridge in approximately 110 feet of water. Ten lives were lost that day as wheelsman William B. Asam, steward Wilbert Bredow, third mate Charles H. Cook, deck watchman Arthur J. Fuhrman, wheelsman Stanley Haske, stokerman Eugene F. Jones, watchman Edward Jungman, chief engineer Donald Lamp, 3rd assistant engineer Reinhold F. Radtke and oiler Hugh Wingo lost their lives. IN ADDITION TO FRIDAY?S ceremony in Mackinaw, a bell tolling ceremony will be held at the Great Lakes Lore Maritime Museum in Rogers City on Saturday beginning at 2 p.m.

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