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Page 144 The MORRELL was one of the standard 600-foot vessels of the period and would sail for sixty years. cables snapped and arcing electricity illuminated the entire midship section. Steam roared out of a broken pipe, adding to the noise and confusion. With a loud bang, the starboard bull plating gave way and the 600-foot ship was completely tom in two! Shock waves ran through both sections as the force of the waves started slamming them together! One of the men sleeping in the crew's quarters was awakened by the noise. Then he heard the general alarm. Half asleep, he grabbed his life-jacket and ran bare-footed out into a passageway. After feeling the bone chilling air, he went into his room to put on more clothes on, but in the darkness, could find only a peacoat. He then joined several others, also in various stages of dress, gathered around the liferaft by the number three hatch. They climbed into the raft and waited for the bow to sink beneath them. According to the survivor, as both sections started to sink, the stem continued ramming the bow until both were at right angles to each other. They clung to the raft as waves crashed across the rapidly sinking vessel. As the ship sank beneath them, a huge wave washed the raft off the deck and into the icy water. It was impossible to hold on! Only four regained the relative safety of the raft. They watched the forward section and saw someone standing on deck in front of the forward house. The ship continued to settle until the bow was lifted out of the water and then plunged to the bottom. They looked for the after section, but couldn't see it. A sistership of the Morrell, the Edward Townsend, was in the area, as well as other ships, but apparently the electric cables had severed so quickly, that power to the radio was lost. The men in the raft had no way of knowing if a distress call had gone out. Two of the men died four hours after the. Morrell went down and the third man died about ten hours later. Finally, the raft drifted onto shore near Harbor Beach, Michigaa The one man still alive was too weak to climb out. It wasn't until 4:00 p.m., November 30th, or thirty-six hours after the ordeal began, that a Coast Guard helicopter spotted the raft. The sole survivor, still wearing only his shorts and a peacoat, was flown to a hospital where he was treated for exposure, minor injuries and frost-bitten feet. The rescue forces recovered twenty-two bodies, including the three on the raft. Six men were never found and it was presumed they went down with the ship. The Coast Guard located the stem almost immediately. But the bow remained hidden for the next thirteen years. On May 13, 1979, several S.H.I.PS. members began search operations for the Morrell. Massman Photo/Dossin Museum Coll.