The Great Lakes are basically freshwater seas. But because they are called lakes, do people tend to underestimate how dangerous they are?


45 comments

  2. The lake it is said, never gives up her dead.

    Idk. I certainly don’t underestimate them or water in general.

  5. Yep. There have been a LOT of shipwrecks on Superior alone, even with preparation and with full awareness for what the lake would do. It’s just such a large and unpredictable lake that even preparedness isn’t enough. So to say that some people are blindsided and underprepare is an understatement.

  6. I wouldn’t say many people underestimate them.

    But people who aren’t familiar with them are generally shocked at their true scope when they first see them.

  7. They definitely do. I’ve taken many folks who are visiting Michigan to one of the lakes and they genuinely have no concept of their size before going.

    A lot of people just imagine the biggest lake they’ve seen and then think of something slightly bigger. They don’t realize that, at least from the coasts, the lakes are basically indistinguishable from the ocean.

    People also don’t know how dangerous they can be for shipping. They’re generally safer for swimming, but the weather patterns in the Great Lakes region can make ship travel incredibly dangerous.

  8. I’ll be honest, I spend very little time doing any estimation of the great lakes.

    also, here’s a fun drinking game!

    1. Take a shot every time someone brings up that fucking song

    2. die of alcohol posioning.

  11. I don’t have my figures in front of me but last month’s estimates seemed reasonable. There’s still five, right? 

  13. The Great Lakes surface area totals 94,250 square miles. The surface area of England is 50,301 square miles.

  14. Yes. Constantly. I think people fail to realize that because they are so big, filled with fresh water, and often kind of shallow (relative to Oceans) that they are actually a bit deadlier than Open Oceans. 

    For one the fluid dynamics of fresh water make anything floating on it less boyant than in salt water, so you sink faster. 

    Also, its fairly infrequent for a big ship to “bottom out on the sea floor” in heavy seas. On the great lakes its caused many sinkings. Cause you can get massive waves just like the Oceans, but the sea bed is only like 60-100 feet below you, so a large enough wave can pick up a freight ship and slam it down on the bottom, never to return like its nothing. 

    On top of this, US frieght ships arent known for their stellar safety record. Three ships have kind of changed that – the Edmund Fitzgerald, the Marine Electric, and the El Faro. But they all sank, very famously. Killing all or most of their crew (the Marine Electric had 3 survivors). All of them sank largely due to over-tight schedules and too infrequent maintenance. Which is exactly the worst combination for braving the seas.

  15. Probably anyone who has never seen them in person. Calling them lakes, while obviously the correct terminology, immediately makes them seem smaller than they are. I’ve found them humbling in person. From the shore, some could just as easily be an ocean

  16. two different thoughts on this. and the answer to both of them is yes.

    1) people who think of the great lakes as a vacation spot to go and swim/fish/beach. i think yes, they underestimate just how massive they are – at least the first time they go. this is actually a cool, awe inspiring thing.

    2) people who boat them – yes. they are truly deadly if you don’t know what you’re doing. this is a not cool, you will die if you think you can rent a boat and go out in chop.

  17. Visitors we have had from other countries struggled to accept that Lake Michigan is a lake since you can’t see across it well and the waves lap on the shore like they do at the ocean.

  18. Yeah people do all the time even in the US.

    I was told an east coast friend who lived near the coast that on a really windy day in Chicago if the wind is right you could surf the waves.

    She was like “bullshit, you can’t surf on a lake where you can see the other side.”

    I had to take a picture from the lakeshore trail to show her you really couldn’t.

    And many, many people do not know how bad the weather can get, especially on superior.

  19. Wisconsinite here, 100% yes. Those lakes will kill you just as dead as any ocean, and get some very nasty storms on them. Lots of stories of shipwrecks on the lakes, ESPECIALLY Superior and Michigan. Look up the Edmund Fitzgerald or the Carl Bradley as examples.

  20. Yes. When I lived in upper Michigan someone (non-local) would think it’s a good idea to go take pictures or go for a walk on the coast or the breakwall during an autumn storm. They say that the lake never gives up her dead, and it’s true. They’re very rarely found when they get swept in. Seemed like it happened every year when I was a kid.

  21. Not me, I’m a lifer. I just reeled in a couple of fat Lake Michigan king salmon last week. I love this state and our amazing Great Lakes.

  23. Given the almost daily news reports of people drowning or capsizing in Lake Michigan, I would say yes, people very much underestimate them.

  24. Yes, as a member of the Coast Guard Aux (though a new member) I will tell you immediately: people do NOT practice even the most basic boater safety.

    Remember, at minimum, this: Use common sense. If you cannot swim, ALWAYS wear a life jacket, if you CAN swim, continue to ALWAYS wear a life jacket. Just because you can swim in calm waters near people doesn’t mean you’re going to keep that composure when shit hits the fan.

    Do not under any circumstances drink or do drugs on the open water. You can easily kill yourself on the land by doing these things when driving so why the hell would you do it when you’re out on the water? Too often our search and rescue missions only involve the searching.

    Always, always, always have spare fuel, an anchor at least 5x the depth of the water, fire extinguishers and signalling devices. [There’s a lot more](https://www.boatus.org/study-guide/equipment/required) too but I don’t want to overcrowd.

    Lastly: Just because we live by a lake doesn’t make the water any less dangerous. Even a small stream of water can knock you on your feet and result in a cracked head. Lake Michigan is cold, it has rip currents, the weather can and will suddenly change. When it comes to your life and safety, a lake is no more dangerous than an ocean.

  26. I grew up in Michigan, and when I moved to North Carolina in high school, my classmates couldn’t believe I had never seen the ocean before – we didn’t need to drive to the beach when we had the Lakes right there! They also couldn’t believe when I said they are so big you can’t see the other shore, that you can go deep-sea fishing, etc. They all picture the little ponds you see everywhere else. I love the Lakes 🙂

  27. Yes, in every way. The number of times Ive had to explain to a salt coaster that they should imagine it more as a sea.

  28. Even fellow Americans do, my friend thought Okeechobee was bigger than lake Michigan, then I told him about the 30ft waves, 1k feet depth and dozens of shipwrecks 😂

  30. “But I told that kid a hundred times, ‘Don’t take the Lakes for granted’,

    They go from calm to a hundred knots so fast they seem enchanted,

    But tonight some red-eyed Wiarton girl lies staring at the wall,

    And her lover’s gone into a white squall.”

    -from White Squall, by legendary Canadian folk singer Stan Rogers. Give it a listen here: https://youtu.be/O_kW9HsQM1Y?si=UyWRmxeP1Fp7KsqY

  31. As someone who grew up in Michigan, I didn’t see what the big deal about the ocean was when I saw I the first time.

  32. Yes.

    A ton of people drown in them every year.

    They don’t behave like oceans at all. Don’t trust them. Shit I don’t even go in them past my knees.

    The Great Lake crave the souls of men, and they’ll take it every chance they get. They’re dicks.

  34. Yes. There is a thing called the Great Loop where you transit the Great Lakes , the Illinois river, the Mississippi down to the golf of Mexico, around Florida, then up the east coast. It’s pretty widely held that the Great Lakes is one of the most dangerous parts of the trip. Unfortunately many people who haven’t spent time on the lakes don’t always understand that.

  35. I have had to explain more than once that no, a bridge from Wisconsin to Michigan across Lake Michigan is not really an option. Always to people who have seen the ocean but underestimate how big the Great Lakes can be.

  37. In my neck of the woods (NYC), anyone I know who has even a vague understanding of the shipping industry knows that the Great Lakes are treated with a great amount of respect.

  39. Some people do, but a lot of people will try and point you in the right direction.
    My buddies and I kayak the Au Sable, but none of us want to kayak Lake Superior. A friend moved up from Kentucky and wanted to go solo. We shut that down real quick.

    It’s easy to underestimate what you don’t know.

  41. I can only speak of Lake Michigan, but yes, they do *seriously* underestimate how dangerous an inland lake can be. We’ve had ten fatalities since Memorial Day, a number which includes both swimmers and boat passengers.

    There are many reasons why swimmers drown: sometimes they underestimate their ability, go too far out, and become fatigued; in other cases, they can be caught in an ‘undertow’, a natural underwater current that moves in the opposite direction of waves approaching the shore.

    Boat passengers sometimes choose not to wear life vests, despite being poor swimmers or not even knowing how to swim at all, making it extremely dangerous when they accidentally fall overboard; also, when there’s partying aboard, intoxication can hamper rescue attempts.

    Another, much rarer, cause of fatalities is a ‘seiche’, an event that occurs when strong winds and rapid changes in atmospheric pressure push water from one end of a body of water to the other. When the wind stops, the water rebounds to the other side of the enclosed area in the form of a giant wave that can wash people off piers and docks. This famously happened in Chicago 70 years ago, when a 10-ft. seiche swept the shore from Wilmette to the Chicago River, killing eight, seven of whom were enjoying a day of fishing on the Montrose rocks and one who was leaving the beach at North Avenue.

  42. Yes. All the damn time. They’re cold, they’re unpredictable, and I don’t think people understand that. I love those lakes but am always *very* cautious whenever I go (which is often, since I’m close to Lake Superior).

  43. Yes. It seems like tourists get swept out into Lake Superior and die because of rip-tides every year.

  44. I went to Chicago for the first time the last week of June this year.

    Hell no I did not know we basically had an inland sea.

  45. I’m an old guy who grew up close enough to Lake Michigan that I could hear the waves at night from my bedroom window. My high school swim team swam double sessions all summer. When there were gale warnings and they closed the public beaches, my friends and I used to cut practice and body surf. I haven’t been back to my old home town in over 45 years but I still dream of those waves.

    Edit- a few words for clarity

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