November, 1958: The 11,000-ton freighter is making its final voyage from Gary, Indiana, to Manitowoc, Wisconsin, on Lake Michigan.
It was only a few hours from the city when the crew received an order to make one more delivery of stone.
A storm was brewing, with gales of 65 mph. The Coast Guard reported that the ship “was riding comfortably with a heavy following sea…” about 12 miles southwest of Gull Island.
Frank Mays, one of two survivors, shared his story with the Beaver Island Historical Society.
“All of the sudden there was a big bang and the ship started to shake and then another big bang," Mays said in the recorded interview. "We raced up the ladder and I looked back aft at the stern, it wasn’t there. Then it was. Then it wasn’t. She broke underneath like a hinge.”
Mays and others could see the ship breaking apart. He made his way to a life raft when the rocking of the ship bucked him and others off the boat.
“When we tipped it washed us off into the water," Mays said. "I went up to swim and hit the life raft with my arm.”
They climbed into the raft and battled waves until they tipped over. Mays and Elmer Fleming made it back into the raft and launched the sea anchor to help it stay afloat.
Thirty-three people died in the sinking of the Carl D. Bradley.
Mays and Elmer Fleming were the only survivors, found by the Coast Guard covered in ice some 15 hours after the Bradley sank.
Mays died in 2021. Fleming died in 1969.
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