The Great Lakes: North America's amazing and sometimes dangerous inland seas
Visitors to the Great Lakes quickly come to appreciate them. They need only to get up close and take some time to go for a boat ride, hike on their shorelines, climb their sandy dunes, enjoy the wildlife, fish their waters or roam on some rocky and high bluffs. It is no wonder that over the years the lakes have become known as the inland seas.
Long ago, the first European explorers were astounded that the water was drinkable in the lakes compared to the ocean saltwater. They called them the "Sweetwater Seas." What surprised most sailors was that the lakes contained a large portion of the fury of the world's oceans.
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A few years ago, an out-of-town visitor at the Erie Yacht Club looked out over Presque Isle Bay and asked if that land across the water was Canada. He had little perception as to the size of Lake Erie. A group of us explained to him the size of the lake and that it was the second smallest of the Great Lakes by area, and went on to tell him about all the Great Lakes. We told him how to remember the lakes: Think of the acronym H.O.M.E.S.: Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie and Superior.
Like on all bodies of water, ship and boat accidents always occur, and this is true for the Great Lakes. Much has been written about these events and the many lives lost due to sudden changes in the weather. The lakes have become the final resting place for hundreds of ships, or more. Most lakes send waves in small ripples under one foot in height. Some produce 2- to 4-foot waves.
The Great Lakes have been known to generate waves of more than 25 feet. They can sink lake freighters over 500 feet long when this happens. Lake Erie is booby-trapped with reefs, numerous sand bars and a wide range of waves and shallows. Some mariners have called it the world's most temperamental lake.
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Water enters Lake Erie at its western end, where the water depth is about 30 feet. Lake Erie has an average depth of 62 feet. Winds usually run on an almost perfect west-to-east track right down the lake, which is nearly the same axis. This current allows large waves to be an everyday event. Because of all these factors, Lake Erie acts much like a river and has a west-to-east natural current. These factors contribute to Presque Isle's continuous movement east which allows Gull Point to expand each year.
The deepest part of Lake Erie is about 210 feet. Lake Superior's deepest water is 1,332 feet, which is more than six times the depth of Lake Erie. An item relating to the lake's shallowness is it's known for its furious storms that come up quickly and usually with little warning. It has been shown that over 100 miles of ocean, a 40-knot wind can kick up waves of 30 feet. The same wind and distance over Lake Erie can produce much larger waves, most of which will be closer together.
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More: Before we went fishing for fun, it was a major industry in Erie from 1850 to the mid-1920s
Ironically, Lake Erie's shallowness and stormy seas turn out to be both the fishermen's worst enemy and best friend. Its reefs and sand bars make it the perfect place for fishing. At one point it was the freshwater fishing capital of the world, with a huge fleet of commercial fishing boats working out of Erie's protected harbor.
In a future column, I will cover Erie's early 1800s harbor and waterfront. Until then, see you at the park!
Gene Ware is the author of 10 books. He serves on the board of the Presque Isle Light Station and is past chairman of the boards of the Tom Ridge Center Foundation and the Presque Isle Partnership. Email him at ware906@gmail.com.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: The Great Lakes: North America's sometimes dangerous inland seas
