On November 27, 1905, sailors on Lake Superior faced heavy snowfall, sustained winds up to seventy miles per hour, massive waves, and subzero wind chill temperatures. The Mataafa storm, named after a steamship wrecked near Duluth, was one of the most costly in Lake Superior’s history, and resulted in new navigational aids and safety practices on the lake.
A large storm delayed fifteen loaded vessels in Duluth harbor on Friday, November 24. Winds at sixty miles per hour swept the lake, and the few boats that ventured out were severely damaged. Three days later, when Duluth weather forecaster Herbert Richardson ordered storm flags raised in the harbor again, many captains ignored the warning, arguing from experience that a large storm on Lake Superior was always followed by a week or more of calm weather. US Steel’s 430-foot freighter Mataafa, along with several other boats, left port on the afternoon of Monday, November 27.
At 6:00 p.m. that evening, heavy, wet snow began to fall in Duluth and continued overnight and throughout the following day. The wind picked up to forty miles per hour on the evening of November 27, and by early morning on Tuesday, November 28, sustained gales had reached sixty-eight miles per hour. Late in the evening on Tuesday, the wind shifted to the northwest. This caused temperatures to plummet, resulting in subzero windchill temperatures overnight. Although the winds remained strong, the shift in direction slowed the storm, and by the afternoon of November 29, the gale had abated.
The storm’s intense snowfall hampered transportation both on the lake and on land. The Duluth Street Railway Company reported that streetcars were inoperable by 11:00 p.m. on Monday. Fast snow accumulation and downed electric lines made it nearly impossible to run the streetcars on Tuesday, except for a few in West Duluth. Railroad traffic was paralyzed by the storm. Freight trains were impossible to move after a few hours of heavy snow, and most passenger trains got stuck on the tracks. Winds blew down telegraph and telephone wires in Duluth, making it impossible for station operators to locate trains outside of town. Near the harbor, flooding submerged railway tracks in as much as three feet of water.
On Lake Superior, all of the boats that left Duluth on the evening of November 27 were forced to turn around or find shelter just a few hours into the storm. From late morning to early afternoon on November 28, five vessels made it back to the head of the lake and attempted to enter Duluth harbor. The Arizona, the Isaac B. Ellwood, and the E. C. Pope all suffered serious damage but managed to enter the relative safety of the harbor. At noon, the R. W. England missed the entrance canal and beached at Park Point. The single lighthouse on the south pier was an insufficient guide in the low visibility caused by the blowing snow.
Two hours later, the Mataafa attempted to enter. It struck the north pier, damaging seams amidships, and was pushed north of the entrance canal. The vessel grounded just 150 yards from shore, where the constant pounding of waves eventually broke the ship in half, dividing the crew between the bow and the stern. Spectators watched from the beach as crew members attempted to cross the break in the boat from stern to bow. Only three succeeded. Life-saving personnel made several attempts to rescue the crew late in the day, but falling darkness and rough seas made the endeavor impossible until the morning of November 29. Fifteen men were rescued from the bow of the ship, but nine stuck at the stern perished from exposure during the night. The horrific wreck was witnessed by thousands of Duluthians and became the namesake of the storm.
Overall, twenty-nine vessels were damaged or destroyed on Lake Superior during the Mataafa storm. The storm claimed thirty-six lives and caused $3.1 million of damage on the lake. These heavy losses prompted decisive action to bolster safe shipping. Two lighthouses were built in 1910 as a direct result of the storm—one at Split Rock and one on the north pier of the Duluth harbor entrance. Additionally, both piers at the Duluth shipping canal were stocked with life boats and flotation devices to improve accessibility to life-saving devices. Freighters installed cables from bow to stern on deck to aid sailors in the event of a ship splitting in two, as the Mataafa had done.
Editor’s note: Definitions of “boat” and “ship” vary by location and naming authority. In line with the most common definition of "ship" (a watercraft intended for travel across deep water, especially seas) and "boat" (a smaller, open vessel without decks, intended for use in sheltered water), this article refers to the Mataafa as a ship. On the Great Lakes, however, "ship" or “salty” usually refers to a vessel that can sail on both the lakes and the ocean. "Boat" or “laker,” meanwhile, refers to a vessel that is lake-locked, or not fit for ocean voyaging. Freight vessels like the Mataafa and modern thousand-footers that can't leave the Great Lakes are therefore referred to as “boats" within the trade.