- Rig
- Steamship
- Dates
- to 1958-11-18
- Official no.
- 226776
- Eras
- Modern era
- Concepts
- maritimeshippingdisastershipwrecks
- Media
- Beaver Island History Map, 1978 revision
Summary
The steamship Carl D. Bradley, official number 226776, foundered in Lake Michigan on 18 November 1958. The Coast Guard’s 1959 Commandant’s Action gives the distress position as twelve miles southwest of Gull Island Light and says 35 people were aboard: two survived, eighteen bodies were recovered, and fifteen remained missing.
The 1978 History Map correctly connects the casualty with the waters southwest of Gull Island and gives the same complement and survivor count. It also calls the ship 638 feet long and the largest Great Lakes vessel to sink before the Edmund Fitzgerald. Those comparative and dimensional statements do not appear in the Commandant’s Action passage inspected and remain separately unverified here.
Evidence limits
The Coast Guard’s twelve-mile reference is a distress position, not treated as a surveyed wreck coordinate. This article therefore publishes no point for the ship or wreck. It also keeps the official casualty record distinct from later Beaver Island search, relief, investigation, memorial, and dive accounts.
See also
Sources
- Official primary source identifies the vessel by name and official number 226776 and records the casualty date, distress position, complement, two survivors, eighteen recovered bodies, and fifteen missing. It does not establish the History Map's 638-foot or comparative-largest claims in the Commandant's Action text inspected.
- Described in this archive: Beaver Island History Map, 1978 revision.Places the sinking southwest of Gull Island, gives 638 feet, calls it the largest Great Lakes ship to sink until the Edmund Fitzgerald, and says two of 35 were saved. The Coast Guard source supports the date, broad location, complement, and survivors but not the size comparison in the passage inspected.
Added 7 August 2026. Recent changes
Cite this article
Beaver Island Archive, “Carl D. Bradley”, https://beaverislandarchive.org/vessels/carl-d-bradley/, accessed [date], citing U.S. Coast Guard, Commandant's Action on the Marine Board investigation of the Carl D. Bradley, July 7, 1959, Proceedings of the Merchant Marine Council, September 1959, pp. 178–179. (and 1 further source listed on the page).
Last revised 2026-08-07. Fill in [date] with the date you read it — this page is static and cannot know that.