The Great War between the Allied and Axis forces wreaked havoc across European soil, with naval battles fought furiously in the Atlantic Ocean and wartime materials being built swiftly worldwide. In the final year of the war, the November 11th armistice was signed, ending the First World War, but manufacturing contracts still existed, and nations expected their outputs to arrive on time. One of those contracts was between the French Navy and the Canadian Car and Foundry, located in the Lakehead’s south end, Fort William, nicknamed “Can Car.”
Can Car had been contracted to build 12 Navarin-Class minesweeper ships for the French Navy, primarily in Fort William in a makeshift shipyard on the Kaministiquia River, with the ships sailing out of the harbour through the Great Lakes to Montreal for final assembly and inspection, and then out to the Atlantic. These 12 ships were to be built quickly in a six-month timeframe, which Can Car dutifully fulfilled, sending the last three ships off on November 23rd, 1918: the Cerisoles, Inkerman, and Sebastopol. On board these ships were approximately 35 French Navy personnel per ship, and four Canadian captains—two on board the Sebastopol and one each on the Cerisoles and Inkerman. These captains were to help navigate the ships through the Great Lakes to Montreal, as the French sailors were unacquainted with the inland sea.
At about noon on November 23rd, 1918, the three ships set sail out of Fort William harbour and into Lake Superior. It is said that the ships sailed over a calm lake and took a direct course for Sault Ste. Marie. At about 7 p.m., the lake stirred up with strong southwest winds. On board the Sebastopol, after hours of battling the waves, the helmsman lost control, struggling to regain it. During this time, the Sebastopol could still see the lights of the Cerisoles and Inkerman until about 1 a.m., when the dim lights disappeared in the dark near Keweenaw Point.
The Sebastopol reached Sault Ste. Marie on November 26th, 1918, with no sign that the Cerisoles or Inkerman had arrived through the Canadian lock. The Sebastopol carried on her voyage alone to Montreal, assuming the other two ships would arrive in their own time. As she sailed through Lake Ontario's eastern end, they received word that Inkerman and Cerisoles were still nowhere to be found, and all communications had been lost since the November 23rd storm.
Various tugboats searched Lake Superior for the missing minesweepers, combing areas around Isle Royale, Michipicoten, and Caribou Islands. Lake Superior was searched and patrolled, all without luck, as hope for the Cerisoles and Inkerman dwindled. Some clues pointed to the missing ships: pieces of wreckage were found off Grand Marais, Michigan, an unpainted lifeboat, and small pieces of matching lumber were found by the Coast Guard. Though the boats were deemed seaworthy before they left the harbour of Fort William, citizens still doubted their sturdiness. Conspiracy theories emerged, suggesting the ships were manned by a ghost crew and scuttled for insurance money, as the war had already been won.
In the end, we are left wondering, what happened to the missing minesweepers? What is their story through the perilous November Gale of 1918? We will never know, as there were no known survivors, and the ships have never been recovered, still waiting to be found somewhere along the bed of Lake Superior.
If you would like to learn more about this mystery or anything else related to Thunder Bay and District, contact us at research@tbpl.ca.
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