Freighter, 28 crewmen vanished during fierce White Hurricane of 1913

ALPENA, MI – This 504-foot freighter and its 28 crewmen vanished during the fiercest storm to ever be unleashed on the Great Lakes.

The White Hurricane of 1913 went on for four days, packing blizzard conditions with hurricane-force winds that resulted in up to 30-foot waves.

"No lake master can recall in all his experience a storm of such unprecedented violence with such rapid changes in the direction of the wind and its gusts of such fearful speed," the Lake Carriers Association said in a 1913 statement about the storm.

More than a century later, the devastation is still staggering: At least 250 sailors lost, a dozen ships sunk, and 30 vessels stranded or smashed against rocky shorelines from Lake Superior to Lake Erie.

The Great Storm of 1913 is easily the region's largest natural disaster ever.

The storm included a "pre-storm" Nov. 7-8 primarily on Lake Michigan and Lake Superior. The White Hurricane phase followed on Nov. 9 and 10, and brought deadly conditions primarily to Lake Huron where eight ships sank and 187 lives were lost.

Among them is the 504-foot freighter Isaac M. Scott , which rests within the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary .

With a cargo hold full of coal, Isaac M. Scott entered Lake Huron on its way to Milwaukee on Nov. 9 as the White Hurricane began, according to records kept by the marine sanctuary. Due to the gale warning system of that time, the sailors likely had no idea how bad the storm would get.

The ship left Port Huron, where it had sought refuge from the storm, and sailed north into the White Hurricane's full fury, records say. On Nov. 10, just east of Thunder Bay, the ship was broadsided by a huge wave, rolled over and sank. All 28 crew members were lost.

Today, the ship rests upside down and intact in about 175 feet of water at GPS coordinates N45° 03.920' W83° 02.353', records say.

Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary, designated in 2000, is a 4,300-square-mile preserve that protects more than 100 historic shipwrecks in Lake Huron off the Michigan coast. It was the first marine sanctuary in the Great Lakes. Shipwrecks are available for recreation, including diving, snorkeling and paddling.