Andrew Kantar

Andrew Kantar is Professor of English and Director of the Writing Center at Ferris State University. His first book, 29 Missing: The True and Tragic Story of the Disappearance of the S.S. Edmun...

Black November
The Carl D. Bradley Tragedy

Andrew Kantar

November Requiem - Carl D Bradley Shipwreck, a documentary film based on Andrew Kantar's BLACK NOVEMBER about the Great Lake sinking of the ship Carl D. Bradley will premier in Rogers City, Michigan, on November 18, 2008. A trailer for the film may be seen on YOU TUBE, at November Requiem - Carl D Bradley Shipwreck

Michigan’s "storms of November" are famous in song, lore, and legend and have taken a tragic toll, breaking the hulls of many ships and sending them to cold, dark, and silent graves on the bottoms of the Great Lakes. On November 18, 1958, when the limestone carrier Carl D. Bradley broke up during a raging storm on Lake Michigan, it became the largest ship in Great Lakes' history to vanish beneath storm-tossed waves. Along with the Bradley, thirty-three crew members perished. Most of the casualties hailed from the little harbor town of Rogers City, Michigan, a community that was stung with grief when, in an instant, twenty-three women became widows and fifty- three children were left fatherless. Nevertheless, this is also a story of survival, as it recounts the tale of two of the ship’s crew, whose fifteen-hour ordeal on a life raft, in gale-force winds and 25 foot waves, is a remarkable story of endurance and tenacity.

Written in a style that is equally appealing to young adults and adult readers, Black November is a tale of adventure, courage, heroism, and tragedy. Kantar, the author of 29 Missing, a book about the loss of the great lakes freighter the Edmund Fitzgerald, has once again crafted a dramatic narrative that is both informative and compelling. Although the Carl D. Bradley has been called "the ship that time forgot," Black November recalls that tragic day nearly fifty years ago and is a moving tribute to the ship and its crew.


ALSO OF INTEREST•
29 Missing: The True and Tragic Story of the Disappearance of the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald

Reviews

"Andrew Kantar's riveting account of shipwreck, tragedy and survival captures the real life-and-death struggle of sailors caught in a classic Great Lakes November gale. Kantar takes you on an emotional journey into the minds of the dying, the survivors and the unbearable sorrow borne by a small Michigan community who suffered the loss of so many of their own brothers, husbands, fathers, and sons. A story of tragedy and triumph detailed through meticulous research and personal interviews that makes your heart ache and your spirit soar for those who survived in spite of Lake Michigan’s dark side." — Thomas Farnquist, Executive Director, Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society

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