Ss Michelle -

Her fate seemed sealed on November 12, 1952. En route from Galway to Reykjavik with a cargo of dried fish and industrial lubricants, she sailed into a ferocious gale. The last radio transmission was garbled: "Hull breached... pumps not... God save..."

A three-week search found nothing. No lifeboats. No debris. The six crewmen were declared dead. The SS Michelle was officially stricken from the registry. On a foggy August morning, a lobster fisherman named Ewan MacTavish was hauling his pots off the coast of St. Kilda. According to his logbook (which I was allowed to view at the Inverness Archives), he saw a vessel emerge from the mist. ss michelle

I don't have the answer. But next time you look out at a grey, choppy sea, remember: the ocean gives up its dead reluctantly. And sometimes, it gives up its ships one piece at a time. Her fate seemed sealed on November 12, 1952