Summary
The Armistice Day Storm struck Beaver Island on November 11, 1940, according to a later Beaver Beacon account. Island fishermen were lifting nets near Gull Island when the storm approached. The Estonia, Evelyn, and mail boat Mary Margaret are named in the account, along with Frank Left, Andy Gallagher, Roland McCann, Arthur “Big Art” Larsen, and “Shing” Martin.
The rising water broke lines, pushed seas over the harbor docks, and forced boats to run out the storm or beach themselves. The report says the Estonia ultimately came safely ashore at the northeastern end of the harbor and that the Evelyn was run onto the beach. The fishing fleet lost many boxes of nets; the account calls the storm a turning point in Great Lakes fishing.
Evidence and limits
This is a source-bounded local retrospective, not a contemporaneous weather log, casualty list, or complete fleet record. It supports the date, harbor sequence, named boats and people, and reported net losses. It does not establish the storm’s meteorological measurements, the identity of the two “ancient shipwrecks,” the complete list of affected boats, or a single proven ecological cause for the later fishery decline. The later account’s lamprey explanation is preserved as local speculation rather than a demonstrated causal finding.
Open questions
- Which contemporary weather, Coast Guard, harbor, or fishing records document the storm?
- What became of the named vessels and the other boats that ran out the harbor?
- Can the reported net loss be reconciled with a surviving fishing or insurance ledger?
See also
- Commercial fishing
- Saint James Harbor
- Gull Island
- Estonia (Arthur Larsen fishing tug)
- Evelyn (1940 Armistice Day storm fishing tug)
- Mary Margaret (1940 Armistice Day storm mail boat)
- Martin Arthur “Big Art” Larsen (1898–1964)
- “Shing” Martin (1940 Armistice Day storm account)
Sources
- Beaver Beacon, November 1968, “Beaver Tales.”Retrospectively dates the storm to November 11, 1940 and recounts the Estonia, Evelyn, and Mary Margaret in and around St. James Harbor, named local skippers, rising water, beaching, and the loss of fishing nets.
- Beaver Beacon, June 1964, “Big Art.”Retrospective obituary/profile for Martin Arthur “Big Art” Larsen independently remembers the 1940 storm, his nearly $7,000 net loss, and the Estonia breaking its moorings and going high and dry on the beach.
- Beaver Beacon, September 1964, “Beaver Island Memories.”Helen Hoffman Collar’s retrospective describes the 1915 harbor fishery and identifies Big Art Larsen’s Estonia as the Island’s first diesel-powered outfit; it is contextual evidence, not a complete fleet register.