Thank you for watching! This is one of the most emotionally intense stories I've ever covered on this channel. I'm glad to be able to share it with all of you.

The last run of the season was so often the last run period, really shows how violent these November gales can be. And yet every year more had to sail off again late on the season, for a last run ordered by men in suits safe in their offices. Tragic.

I only live a few miles from the wreck and when the water is clear enough, if you drive your boat over it you can see the ere shadow from the surface, kinda bone chilling.

Excellent Job, I was fortunate enough to hear the story from Mr Hale when he was curator at the Ashtabula Maritime and Surface Transportation Museum. Truly sad and inspirational.

I cannot emphasize enough how flawless the presentation of this story is: the footage, music, narration and transitions create the eeriest vibe and elevates the feelings of dread and loss in a way that I've seen few achieve on this platform. Incredible work

Really glad to see the great lakes shipwrecks getting their time in the spotlight. I grew up in a family of divers who spent lots of time searching Lake Huron for undiscovered wrecks in the 80's and early 90's. I met Dennis several times and can attest to his harrowing story. I believe he wrote a book called "Sole Survivor" that is a very good read. My Mother was pregnant with me while diving the bow of the Morrell. So I guess I've been there too. Great video!

I cannot imagine the horror Dennis Hale went through. And having to live the rest of his life knowing all his other shipmates didn’t make it as well. Between this and the Carl D. Bradley, these Great Lakes cargo ships seemed like they had a major design flaw.

The Daniel J Morrell is something straight out of my nightmares. One of my biggest (and most irrational fears) is to be on a large vessel that is breaking up in deep water. I don’t know why, but the larger the vessel the more it fills me with dread. It would scare the absolute bejesus out of me to wake up to see such a large vessel torn in half. I can only imagine the horror of seeing the stern still travelling on to its doom like a ghost ship. I was half expecting to hear that he saw his crew mates staring back at him in silent horror.

I was a young sailor, serving aboard the USCGC Mackinaw at the time. We were removing stranded crewmen from the grounded German freighter “NORDMEER” in Thunder Bay (off Alpena, Michigan) when ordered to assist in the search for the Morrell. I manned a searchlight for part of the night and can tell you, the seas were horrendous… black, windblown, raging… with blankets of fog. Rest in Peace, mariners.

I couldn't imagine being on a ship & having it snap in two and sink. then jumping into freezing water not knowing if help would come in time.

I have seen that photo of Daniel J. Morrell (the guy) a few times. Never noticed the neckbeard until you pointed it out. Good Lord. 🤣

I get so sad when a "big old boat" is sold for scrap. I smiled when you said she broke away and sank. I thought it was a more fitting end for her. Great video, please keep up the excellent work.

I was lucky enough hear Mr. Hale tell his story in person at the Minnesota History Center in the mid-1990s. He was quite a character.

So sad. The greed. Bigger bigger, longer. More more more. One glance at that thing and one could see that it was going to break in two. Those poor man......

I cry every time I hear Dennis’ telling of what the afterlife might have been like. So much love, all timeless, lost people you know all together… But then to come back to reality… What a gut punch.

OMG, BOB! I am a mess after watching this! I had prepared a smart ass comment when I saw your ad for your sponsor, but there's no way I can leave it now. Tears are still in my eyes. This is possibly your best vid yet! Thank you so much for this and for all you do!

I have been a subscriber since the start of your big boat documentary content and the start of you making KZfaq a serious career, and I feel like this is one of the best pieces of work you have created. I never comment on anything, but I feel you should really be proud of yourself. I hope you continue making great documentaries far into the future!

Very well done. I almost feel guilty watching these mini-docs of tragedies, but I do like the stories of survival and overcoming odds.

Great narration and information. You put so much into the backstories of the people involved in the story, many videos just give facts and figures without even showing the faces of the people involved. Thanks for your fine work in keeping the memories and history alive.

Another excellent video, thank you for telling their story so well and keeping the memory of Dennis Hale and the men who lost their lives on the Daniel J. Morrell alive. God bless all their souls. May they rest in peace. May perpetual light shine upon them. May their souls and the souls of the faithful departed through the Mercy of God rest in peace, Amen.

This is such sad story. The dangers these men lived with just to make a living is unspeakable. Thank you for honouring and memorializing them in this way. Wonderful video and I am totally captivated by the footage you include. Great job!

I was born 60 miles from where this ship sunk. Heard this story 1000 times, you sir told it perfectly.

Spectacular storytelling man bravo!

The lifeboats weren't _entirely_ useless. If that lifeboat hadn't been there, Dennis Hale wouldn't have survived. But yeah, they definitely needed some cold weather gear stored on them and other stuff like that.

Few stories I've heard are as painfully heartbreaking as Dennis Hale's. You told it so well in this video. I was hoping you'd do a video on the Morrell and you exceeded my expectations !

You've done a wonderful job telling a sad story, thank you once again. Take care, keep safe.

Great presentation. Thank you for posting.

Your research and presentation are consistently thorough/in depth and well presented. I was delighted to see a new one this morning (the Easter Bunny came!) Many thanks for all your great content.

A truly harrowing story, but beautifully told. Amazing production!

As a Michigander who grew up within spitting distance of ore boats, I love your channel.

Incredible. Amazing story. I grew up in Michigan but know so little about shipping on the Great Lakes. You have an amazing narrative voice. I wish you the best and hope your channel continues to grow.

Always excellent, detailed and compassionate. I can't afford to support the channel financially, but I hope that my supportive words go some way to compensate.

Excellent, and I do mean EXCELLENT presentation, with great video footage that hasn't been used over and over again. Not knocking the work of others, and unique footage can be hard to come by. Your in-depth presentation gave me a different perspective than the one I have developed over the years. Thank you for your hard work!

I am grateful to have met Dennis Hale at a museum in Ashtabula Ohio in the early 2000s. He recounted his story to us firsthand . Afterward, we bought his book Sole Survivor. It was amazing to hear of his ordeal from the person who experienced it.

Well done once again, and thanks as always.

Thanks for sharing this with us @BigOldBoats. Wonderful video

It’s about 3 am, I’m At work alone, I watch your videos All the time while working, I’m finishing up , and the ending of the video, where the guy goes to heaven just made me Almost burst into Tears..but religious and spiritual myaelf I just almost couldn’t take It..bravo dude, bravo

Great work BoB. RIP to all those brave souls and condolences to their families.

Another amazing job, thank you!!

Thank you , this was brilliantly put together and very moving Good to see a brief shot of the Hulets in action I hope the two remaining ones in pieces don’t just end up been scraped best wishes from the UK

Your gift at story telling is impeccable. This is a fascinating one. The desperation and loneliness of Hale, cursing God for his horrific situation...so raw, so real...you really did an amazing job on this. I almost cried. 🌹⚓

That neck beard needs its own video

Such a tragic, but beautiful survival story. You're absolutely one of my favorite KZfaq channels. Thank you for your dedication. 💯

That footage of split house and superior though...... I've been to that exact spot and I can tell you that the lake seems as if it is unsurvivable in a boat,ship, whatever! When lake superior gets angry, I wouldn't want to be out there. The great lakes are really something

wow, that out of body experience he went through was just incredible!

Thanks for the video, it was great!

Thank you for another great video. Just discovered your channel and loving it!

Incredible, I was in tears by the end of the video, very well done !!!

Beautiful video - thank you!

Long time fan of the channel and just want to say you have the perfect voice for these fascinating documentaries. Love learning so much from your videos!

How do you build something so long not expecting it to hog or sag??

Very nice production/presentation. Good to see so much original historic footage rather than the usual cgi that many others use. Thanks.

What a story so sad to watch what a bloke to survive those conditions rip 🙏

Wow!! I am blown away! that was one of the most emotional videos I have seen, spent 30 years in Coast Guard, although I was an aviator my heart goes out to those who serve at sea!! Thank you for sharing this emotional tale

Excellent work, yet again!

RIP❤ your survival was a miracle🎉 think of love❤

A very good rendition of this story.

Fantastic watch and very insightful. Thanks for the upload from Scotland ❤

His story of his count of seeing his dead relatives and seeing heaven or the after life was surreal. Thank you for sharing this

Great show as usual

Hello. I really love your channel. Love the history and incredible stories. This one in particular really got to me. What an experience for that man. I'm am so glad to know of it. Thank you so much. Bless you.

I’m amazed at the pictures from the turn of the century. Clothing styles have completely changed, but the basic shape of the freighters has remained unchanged (mostly)

Superb as usual. Thanks.

A beautiful presentation!

Great video Thank You

I love these shows! Well done🎉

Amazing story. Loved the vintage footage and your soundtrack

Well done. Thanks

Outstanding job!

I appreciate the work you put into telling the stories of these sailors. The story of Dennis Hale and the horror he lived through sticks in my head a lot and I could not even begin to imagine what it felt like for the rest of the crew, especially those trapped on the stern as it galloped off into the night. It's a story that deserves to be told, and something that should not have been allowed to happen in the first place if the companies would just let their ships stay in port until the weather calmed down... I'm not sure what happened but the subtitles from 2:50 to about 4:00, and again at 6:55 through 11:25 do not match the audio - it looks like the subtitles for the chapters got mixed up and they kind of went all over the place, like they glitched in the upload process or something. Even with that aside - I really do appreciate that you include subtitles for your videos and they read so much nicer than the auto-generated ones! Thank you for all the work you do!

You…..are one HECK of a storyteller. I’m glad I subscribed sone time ago.

Oh my goodness! This one made me cry. So sad😢 May they all rest in peace

Great job, Brad.

You bring history to light and to life.

great story telling! awesome

I actually met him at the Cleveland boat show one year! It was a one on one conversation he told me the whole story! At the time I didn’t know who he was! But after I thanked him for sharing his life story he was a great person god rest his soul

outstanding episode one of your best😊

Interesting account of Dennis Hale's near-death experience. Thank you for telling his story.

very good video. Thank you for sharing. I live south of Sandusky, the great lakes are in my blood.

Thank you for sharing. Ever since i first heard about Dennis’ story I’ve wanted to read more. What a terrible time he had to endure. But yet his story inspires me that no matter how bad things can be you can always come out on top. Recently I got his book and cannot wait to read it! Are you going to do a video on the Henry Steinbrenner?

This is one of the best you’ve done.

I have to say that I welled up with tears when you recalled Dennis Hale's time on the raft, Truly an amazing story of Human Resolve and fortitude against all odds.

Wow . Great video

Beautifully done⚓️

The section at 27:50 was so beautifully done

Great video. Love the dolphin surfacing in the waves. Lol.

With compliments, I lost time watching this very excellent presentation. Subscribed, liked (obviously), and shared. After hearing that a ship had broken in two and the stern was missing...but then, it rose up again, with the lights still on, above the bow for a moment...that had me hooked. I could almost imagine that. Terrifying stuff. I admit to a certain degree of thalassophobia. It likely has something to do with the fact that I joined the Army, from a family of bubble-head sailors.

Happy Easter, great job as always putting everything together. I agree that people need to be kind to one another. I'm 53, and when i was growing up, people respected one another, i blame technology for distancing people from life. That crew member Hall, i can relate to the near death thing, twice as a kid i nearly died from anaphylactic shock, and i was blue both time's my mom raced me to the ER, the dr. said i was lucky, but i say it was the grace of G-d. I nearly died 12 year's ago, and it was a miracle that i am here, and a lot goes through your mind, especially when it's you that is trying to end it. G-d bless.

Survivor guilt is a huge part of stress in the psychologically assaulted. I interviewed an uncle who had spent time as a prisoner of war for assignments. About the last thing he said was “how come I got to live when so many of my mates died”? That was 50 years after the event.

Rest easy Dennis. Hope your soul found peace after all the hell you lived with. Your crew was glad you made it.

Late that night the Coast Guard icebreaker Mackinaw out of Cheboygan Michigan, was recalled to rescue the German ship Nordmeer, which had gone aground a week before. We had gone down there to take off the crew, but left a salvage crew of 8 so no one could claim it as abandon. The storm that blasted across Lake Huron was pounding it, and had broken it in half - there was a 6-8 foot break on the deck forward of the bridge - and the crew was in great danger of ending up being swept off the shoal it was grounded on. I was the quartermaster of the mid watch (12am - 4am), and we were taking huge rolls. We had to tack going down as the troughs were parallel to the shore. The Mackinaw was 75 feet wide - like a football cut in half length wise - and could take tremendous rolls that would capsize narrower ships, but the CO, Capt George Winstein, knew that trying to stay in the troughs all the way there was too dangerous even for us. When we changed course we took 45 degree rolls (NOT a sea story). Sometime during the watch we heard someone begin repeatedly calling for the Morrell, but got no responses. Then the call was for anyone who might have seen it. Again, no response. Our goal was to get to the Nordmeer to rescue the salvage crew, and as the calls continued with no response, we on the bridge just looked at each other, pretty much knowing what that meant. With the last minute help from a CG helicopter we got the 8 men off and took them to shore. We then immediately pulled out to go look for the Morrell. Eventually we heard the Mr Hale had been found, and our orders were to begin looking for any others or debris, of which we found none. Eventually we were cut loose and sailed back to Cheboygan. The next week we were sent out again to search the lake floor for wreckage using our depth finder. Eventually it was found. After I got out of the CG I spent ten years as a long haul trucker, a really adventurous life in those days before regulations tightened up and way before electronic surveillance of trucks, but that night of the Nordmeer and Morrell 58 years ago still sits in my memory like it just happened. Many thanks to this site for telling the story.

The wreck of the Townsend lies very near the wreck of the Titanic on the bottom of the Atlantic as she broke in two while being towed to Spain for scrapping.

It’s always the last run…

Well done. 👍

What a story! God bless them all!

Weird hearing my city name dropped so many times. Greetings from Windsor!

Almost every one of these tragedies involving Great Lakes freighters involves having to do one more run at the end of the shipping season. This is a recurring theme. No wonder so many are lost in late November.

Any ship that’s 60 years old and lasted the lakes that long was a great design.

Ashtabula Harbor just had the Cyahoga catch on fire while it was docked up for repairs. It's been there for awhile. My son and I look at from point park with binoculars while eating burgers. After-school routine 😊

An incredible story and a great video - there's a feature film in this. I wonder if anyone would make it?