Grand Marais ~ The Mouse that Roars!
Saving Grand Marais Bay as a Harbor of Refuge

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2007 - Energy and Water Appropriations Committee included another $1.5 mil in the 2008 Energy and Water Appropriations Bill but it was removed before ever going to Congress!

2007 - Congress included another $1.5 mil in the 2007 Energy and Water Appropriations Bill but that budget was never approved.

2006 - Congress approved $1.5 mil in the 2006 Energy and Water Appropriations Bill to the US Corps of Engineers for construction of the breakwall. A few more studies were done, depth soundings and core samples were taken along the proposed 55° break water line.

Boats and the Marina have been damaged due to increasing wave action in the bay, one boat even sunk while it was tied up at the Marina. This wave action is bringing in more and more sand clogging the bay and the boat launch. In the last several years, we've spent over $60,000 dredging the Marina to keep the launch area from fillling in completely. In the fall of 2006 we lost 3 people to Lake Superior that might have been saved. Rescue boats could not launch from our Marina in our "Harbor of Refuge" due to it being filled in with sand. Coast Guard boats were put in from Munising, 45 miiles away, and Sault Ste Marie, over a hundred miles away, to assist in the search costing hours of valuable time while our friends were fighting for their lives in frigid waters. What kind of Refuge are we able to offer here when we can't even launch a boat!? How many more must suffer the same fates before our designated "Harbor of Refuge" is restored?

One excuse we are given is that there is no commercial value to spend the millions of dollars required. Well, when the tug, Susan Hoey, was forced to take refuge during an early December squall she lost the boat she was towing, the Seneca, to Lake Superior's wrath. The Seneca ended up beached for several weeks before she was able to be pulled from the shore by the US Coast Guard and a salvage company, not to mention EPA and DEQ involvement due to the fuel and oil on board. This cost us all several hundred thousand in tax dollars. The Seneca had just been newly fitted and certainly cost the owner thousands of dollars. After being towed away in the wee hours of the morning on December 23rd, 2006, she is now going to be used as a reef somewhere which will cost even more money to prepare her to be sunk!! NO Commercial Value? Hmm.... Are our tax dollars, private and corporate interests, and lives not valuable enough?

The island is now so much sand in the bottom of the bay. Kahle Park and other private lots and homes have been washed away. Now, Lonesome Point is gone costing a loss of even more taxable property. All that sand and soil has filled in the East Bay to at least half it's former size. The sand bar that is growing dynamically is forcing the river further and further west. Take a good look at the pictures on "The Mouse" link above - it's plainly visible that if something isn't done soon, Grand Marais Bay and the Harbor of Refuge will be lost forever!

Please, click "Help" above to find out what you can do to Save our Deep Harbor of Refuge before it's too late!

Past Articles

Safe Harbor
12/3/2006 from Lee Durrwachter

Last night after losing their towed vessel, the 94 foot tugboat Seneca under perilous seas, the 88 foot tugboat Susan Hoey, under its Captain Franz VonRiedel managed to outrun a terrifying and perilous race of ice build up and snow squalls in the sudden storm that blew up on Lake Superior. He was greatly relieved making port at the Grand Marais Harbor of Refuge at midnight.

Auxiliarist Howard Baker guided The Susan Hoey the last "mile" through Grand Marais' harbor due to the poor visibility of an ice encased shroud of the captain's pilot house. VonRiedel in his Duluth bound Susan Hoey was extremely grateful at this midnight welcome.

First-mate Ted Wagner offered further gratitude as he recalled the terrifying pounding their vessel took as almost an inch of ice continued to build up on both vessels before the Seneca broke free. They rode 14 and 16 foot waves; as the Susan Hoey crested a wave, the Seneca's bow plunged almost completely submerging its tow line. Then the Susan Hoey's bow would plunge below the waves, as the Seneca would bob up. "I took so many sea sick pills, I got a stomach ache," First Mate Wagner recounted. "I was afraid the windows were going to break. I thought were going to capsize. I've never been so terrified in my life."

Enclosed are some pictures of the Susan Hoey tied up to the Grand Marais Dock waiting for calmer seas to go back out and retrieve the Seneca. At this time, 12 hours later, the Seneca is drifting towards Crisp Point.

The Susan Hoey is an 88 foot tug.

Update 12/5/06 - follows are pictures of the Seneca, the second tug - found washed ashore near Crisp Point Lighthouse.

Boating Tragedy in Grand Marais

A number of website visitors have written asking about the tragic boating accident that claimed three lives on October 6. We are reprinting the AP wire story with the information on what happened, and also links to the Mining Journal Stories by John Pepin. Our deepest condolences go out to the Handrich family. Grand Marais shares in your grief.

GRAND MARAIS, Mich. A 90-year-old man and his son and daughter-in-law were missing after their fishing boat capsized in heavy seas on Lake Superior, officials said. A fourth person was rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard on Saturday after spending nearly 14 hours in 55-degree water.

The boat capsized about noon Friday, the Coast Guard said. About 1:45 a.m. Saturday, the Coast Guard rescued passenger Robert Nyman, 62, of Grand Marais, who was clinging to the overturned boat. A Coast Guard helicopter crew spotted Nyman, and a rescue swimmer was lowered to help him into the helicopter's basket.

Still missing were the boat's owner Willard Handrich, 90, of Grand Marais, his son Eldon Handrich, 59, and Eldon's wife, Maggie, 60, both of Laramie, Wyo., the Coast Guard said. After searching Friday and into Saturday afternoon, the Coast Guard suspended an active search for the boaters.

"The survivor reported that he saw them go under," Brett Gary, assistant duty officer at the Coast Guard's District 9 command center, said Sunday.

The search began after the National Parks Service at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore reported that the "Blue Heron" left Grand Marais Marina on Friday morning but failed to return as scheduled in the afternoon.

Nyman was taken to Marquette General Hospital, which said he was discharged Sunday.

The next two stories are reprinted with permission from John Pepin, Mining Journal Munising Bureau

Survivor Tells Tale

The boat ramp at Grand Marais Harbor has been a concern for boaters for years because of sand flushed into the harbor from Lake Superior. With the harbor's depth more shallow than in previous decades, sand chokes the marina and ramp more easily. A Grand Marais woman whose husband survived a boating disaster Oct. 6 wants the harbor improved to allow bigger boats easier access. (Journal file photo by John Pepin)

By JOHN PEPIN, Journal Munising Bureau

GRAND MARAIS - On a sunny day in Grand Marais, it was ironic that a raincoat would be the thing that saved Robert Nyman's life.

The 62-year-old Grand Marais man who clung to an overturned fishing boat for nearly 14 hours before being rescued on Saturday, October 7th said cinching the jacket with a belt around his waist kept him from sharing the fate of three companions whose bodies are still missing in Lake Superior.

"I just happened to be dressed for the conditions," Robert said.

A U.S. Coast Guard search for the boat's owner, Willard Handrich, 90, of Grand Marais, his son Eldon Handrich, 59, and Eldon's wife Maggie, 60, both of Laramie, Wyo., was suspended on Oct. 7.

What turned out to be a grim ordeal endured by each of the four boaters began pleasantly as an autumn lake trout fishing trip to a place five miles from shore, frequented almost daily by Nyman and his local fishing buddies.

The excursion began at about 9:30 a.m. Oct. 6 when the elder Handrich - founder of the Mennonite Church in Grand Marais - his doctor and buffalo ranch owner son Willard, Willard's wife Maggie and Nyman boarded a 17-foot aluminum fishing boat called the Blue Heron.

The group had planned to quit fishing at about noon, but a series of problems occurred before that time, beginning when Eldon Handrich got some downrigging line caught in the propeller of the larger of two motors aboard the boat.

With the wind picking up, the boat turned back out to deeper water while Eldon worked to free the propeller.

"Then a wave came in the back of the boat," Nyman said. "We decided we were going to quit right there."

Then the smaller motor the boaters had been using quit running.

"I got on the radio and I was calling for help," Nyman said.

No one answered the radio distress calls. There were no other boats in the area that day. The boat was riding lower than usual in the water, possibly because a live well was filled with water.

But with the line now untangled from the propeller, the bigger of the two boat motors was started and the Blue Heron headed for shore. Nyman had hooked a fish that was being dragged along as the boat moved.

Then the second motor also quit running.

"I don't know if it was over-choked or what," he said.

The fishing boat rose and fell over 4-foot swells on the water.

"They were getting life jackets out and another wave hit the boat," Nyman said. "The back end (of the boat) dropped and it flipped right over. It rolled over so fast, I don't remember anything other than climbing up the side of the boat."

Nyman had fishing line and rope tangled around his leg as he climbed. He was wearing a life jacket that was adjusted to fit a much smaller person.

From the top of the capsized boat, he saw Maggie Handrich drifting away, wearing a life vest.

"I'd seen her on the water," Nyman said. "She looked like she was floating on her back and I could hear her moaning."

Nyman spotted a life vest floating nearby and though he hadn't been swimming for 30 years, he dove in to retrieve the jacket for Eldon Handrich, who had hoped to reach his wife.

"I couldn't keep my head up. I was choking on waves," Nyman said. "I was choking on water. My lungs were burning and I couldn't hardly breathe."

The life jacket drifted out of Nyman's reach as he struggled in the 55-degree water, heavy boots working to weigh him down.

"I just made it back to the boat," he said. "Lucky is all."

During Nyman's absence, Eldon Handrich had jumped into the water without a jacket and tried to reach Maggie.

"He was athletic and an emergency room doctor," Nyman said. "He should have been able to get to his wife and bring her back, I thought."

But that wasn't the case.

Willard Handrich had watched from the boat as his son sunk beneath the waves.

"His dad saw him drown," Nyman said. "He said, 'I lost my son' when I got back to the boat. I think that did him in right there. After a while, he said, 'Bob, I don't think we're going to make it.'"

Nyman replied, "Not unless somebody comes by here pretty soon."

With the lined raincoat cinched tight around his waist, Nyman had zipped the coat up as high as it would go. He had a hood on and was exhaling warm air into the jacket to keep himself warm.

His legs were very cold. He positioned himself on the boat so he could exercise them occasionally. He prayed for help.

Willard Handrich stopped answering Nyman's questions.

"His hearing aid give out and he couldn't hear me," he said. "He laid on the boat across the keel and he got real quiet. He must have had a heart attack or something."

In 90 feet of water, the lake claimed Willard's body.

"A wave took him right off the boat," Nyman said. "He didn't move a muscle. He floated there for a little while and then he just sunk."

Back on shore, Nyman's wife Stephanie had called the U.S. Coast Guard and a local man and National Park Service rangers put boats in the lake, but couldn't find the Blue Heron.

"I just knew, I could feel there was something wrong or they would have been back in," Stephanie Nyman said. "I was sitting on a bench at the marina until 10 o'clock. I finally came home. I couldn't stand to sit there and look at that water."

While he fought to stay awake and on the boat, Nyman said he watched a C-130 plane, a freighter and helicopter all pass him without seeing him. He watched other aircraft searching an area far beyond him.

Then, when he had drifted to a little more than 11 miles from shore, he saw a helicopter pass over. A crewman would never see the boat, but only catch a glimpse of Nyman's hands waving for help.

"I thought only by the grace of God I'd be saved," he said. "That last helicopter it went right to me. Then the lights shone on me and I knew they had me then."

It was 1:45 a.m.

Nyman jumped into the lake and a rescue swimmer helped him into a basket. He was lifted up and flown to Sawyer International Airport and then taken to Marquette General Hospital. He was discharged the following day.

He said he wanted to live to see his wife and to tell the surviving Handrich family members what had happened.

With the menominee now biting, Nyman said he'd like to return to Lake Superior for more fishing, but a badly-shaken Stephanie said she won't let that happen until next year.

"I can't handle that. This is too soon," she said. "I almost lost my husband and it's a shock to me. I'm thawing out now, but I've been numb this whole time.

"I'm just thankful that my husband is alive. I just feel sorrowful and grief that our friends didn't (make it). It's so overwhelming. People do not know how this feels.

"Lake Superior is not respectful of people or anything. It's cold and it doesn't always give up what it takes. It's not like the other Great Lakes."

Shallow harbor blamed in tragedy
By JOHN PEPIN, Journal Munising Bureau

GRAND MARAIS - A Grand Marais woman whose husband survived a Lake Superior boating disaster that claimed three lives the weekend of Oct. 6 said she's now on a mission to get improvements made to the village's harbor.

Stephanie Nyman, whose husband Robert survived the capsizing of a friend's fishing boat by clinging to the vessel for 14 hours, said if the harbor had been dredged deeper near the boat ramp and marina that day, the fishing party would have taken a 24-foot boat instead of the 17-foot aluminum craft that was boarded.

Still missing are Willard Handrich, 90, of Grand Marais, his son Eldon Handrich, 59, and Eldon's wife Maggie, 60, both of Laramie, Wyo.

"Willard's was a lighter boat and that's why they took it," Stephanie Nyman said.

Both of the Nymans said the shallow waters of the harbor also prevented friends with larger boats from going out fishing that day, as they typically would.

This became a problem when Robert Nyman and his ill-fated fishing party sent marine radio distress calls to any ships in the area. There were no other boats out there that day.

"Three people who were dear friends might not have had to die if there was other people out there," Stephanie Nyman said.

While not pointing fingers at any particular person or entity, Nyman said when she thinks of things that could have been done to possibly prevent the tragedy, she wants the harbor improved.

"I'm very passionate about something being done. I feel like a woman on a mission now," she said.

For decades, activists have been fighting to have a former breakwater rebuilt that kept the Grand Marais Harbor a deep water port and harbor of refuge for boaters traveling between Munising and Whitefish Point.

Some federal funding has been allocated for improvements, but no work to rebuild a breakwater has been started.

Typically, the boat ramp is dredged in the springtime. But locals contend with the harbor much more shallow than in previous decades, the marina and boat ramp fill in with sand more quickly.

Burt Township officials did have someone working late Oct. 6 to help dig out the boat ramp after the fishing party was reported missing.

Stephanie Nyman concedes the boating fatalities might have happened even if the harbor was deeper, but she wants anyone who can help to do so, hoping the word of the harbor's plight reaches a wide audience.

She said she thinks the Handrich family deaths should inspire officials to make something good happen out of the tragedy.

"These three people, it would just be a tribute to them if something was done," she said.