For what its worth our family lost a relative on the Morrell that night. His name was Phillip Kapets age 51 of Ironwood, Michigan. He is buried in Ironwood.
David pallin I'm sorry for your loss and to anymore living relatives of the men who perished I'm sorry for your loss the ship was a beautiful ship may there souls be at peace
I hope Larry Coplin received an award for this excellent presentation. The lady's haunting recitation is outstanding as is the rest of the video. Thank you for it.
Larry Coplin and Associates won a Bronze Award at the International Film and TV Festival of New York. It was definitely a team effort- I was simply the glue that brought it all together.
Thank you for the kind comment. The film did win a Bronze Award for documentaries at the International Film Festival& TV Festival of New York. It took a dedicated team of divers, writers, musicians and editors over three years to produce.
Excellent Short film. The womans narration is so good I was captivated from the start to the finish. God bless the men that lost there lives and others that have perished on other vessels that has slipped under the watery depths.
This is the best eulogy to them who sailed and lost and hopefully gives some closure to the loved ones who are left to remember them. A very well done tribute.
I am so glad I found this. Gave me chills to hear more of Dennis' experience. What a great voice for the ship. She really set the mood perfectly. Excellent writing! Thank you!
This is amazing. It was strange to hear Dennis' story from a different voice than his own. Agree with other comments that the women's narrative as the ship is haunting. The written dialog is brilliant. It's amazing to see the Morrell not covered in muscles ! Brilliant film.
Thank you Steve. We didn't talk with Dennis while making the film. He had become something of a recluse due to mistreatment by the press so we didn't want to bring up old wounds. He was invited to the Premier in Sault Ste Marie - and came with his wife. He said our telling of his story was accurate - and felt it was time to come out of his shell. We did a number of presentations together and stayed in touch until his death.
Visibility much improved by the Zebra Mussels however. I was impressed with the video in this article by John Janzen in 2018 www.mlive.com/entertainment/erry-2018/04/6584b3a8243241/daniel_j_morrell.html
A very moving tribute to to the big ship and crew. I will personally always remember that terrible gale. I was among a group of airmen from the Port Austin Air Force station that searched along that cold Lake Huron shoreline for any sign of the crew we all assumed had perished in the lake. It was unbelievable that Mr. Hale could have survived that terrible ordeal!
I believe Dennis suffered PTSD as he shunned media coverage - until coming to the premier of this film. After that he participated in a number of our presentations - and went on to write a book about his experience.
@@leftseat30 www.usafunithistory.com/PDF/0700/754%20RADAR%20SQ.pdf I was stationed there from 1966 to 1970. During that time we were a radar site with a long range search radar as well as 2 height finder radars. We were part of the NORAD network of air defense. I was a radar maintenance tech.
Thank you - it was a time of poor visibility and cumbersome film cameras. It took a team of creative minds to come up with the script and make the footage into something interesting. Would love have had todays digital cameras.
Poignant, haunting, and raw. What a horrific tragedy to befall the ship and her crew and having it be told from the perspective of the ship, the sadness is palpable and you can really feel the loss of the souls on board. Thank you for sharing this.
I met Dennis at the metro Beach boat boat show in 2011. I bought his book and he signed with very nice note to me. Couldn't find a nicer more humble man. We talked over an hour and I really value that experience.
After the sinking Dennis felt the news media treated him unfairly and became a recluse. It wasn't until the premier of this film that he felt ready to talk to the public. It seemed to bring him to terms with what happened.
My dad took me to Grand Rapids to see this film and Mr. Hale gave a talk with some Q and A. I was 13 or so and fascinated. He seemed quite sad to me. He had good reason to be.
This is one of the most bizarre sinkings of a ship ever recorded. Her shattered aft section, still under the power of the engines, steamed off into the darkness "like a great wounded beast with its head shot off" until it sank 5 miles away. Also of note is that her sister SS Edward Y. Townsend was written off after being damaged in the same storm, severe cracks being found in her hull. She was laid up for two years before she was sold for scrapping in Europe. While under tow, she encountered a harsh storm and sank in the vicinity of the infamous RMS Titanic.
The stern was located by the Coast Guard early on. They placed a buoy on her - but didn't count on two hundred feet of chain pulling it under. They did place a chart note for her - which gave us a starting point for our search. The buoy made a good sonar target when we found it in July (not a great time for sonar work due to the thermocline). It was a couple years later when we calculated where she might have broken up along the shipping lane - some five miles from the stern.
I just finished listening to William Kent Krueger's book "Purgatory Ridge". Excellent book! At the end I learned the ship featured in the story actually sunk in 1966 & I had to learn more. My son thinks it's beyond boring to listen to a book then watch a dozen documentaries related to it (world wars, skirmishes, wrecks, conspiracies, etc). I tell him "that's when the getting is getting good". The narration to this documentary is spot on!
Thank you @Kat Ferguson - our writer tried to be historically accurate while giving the film a theatrical flair. I think he succeeded - as we won the Bronze Award for documentaries at the International Film & TV Festival of New York in 1982.
It’s amazing what one notices has already gone missing in the different views the dive videos show. Not sure how long of a time frame was between visits but you can see the running lights, both pilot house wheels, clocks, and other small removable items have vanished. Even the steering pole tip is gone. I wonder how much ended up in museums vs hidden away in private collections. Great film!
Thank you Steven - it was a collaborative endeavor making the film, and it won a Bronze Award at the International Film & TV Festival of New York when completed (1982)
I often wonder why my fascination with ship wrecks continues to this day, It all started back in 68, when we had a history lesson about the sinking of the RMS Titanic, Then undiscovered, I have been hooked ever since, Great sadness, yet powerful in its story.
I suspect she's completely covered in zebra muscles now, its cool to see her without the muscles obscuring everything. I find the wrecks of the Bradley and the Morrell to be just as fascinating as the Fitzgerald. Undoubtedly just as tragic as the Fitzgerald (maybe not quite as mysterious) its nice to see the Bradley and Morrell get some well deserved attention being that in my opinion they're just as important as the Fitz just not nearly as well known.
A model of the Morrell is now on display at the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point, MI along with display. The Morrell model took 500 hrs and over $500 in parts. Dive footage was used to get many details correct. Larry Nast, Green Bay, Wl.
They found some of Her contents (fishing buoys, etc.) at Sable Island, but in multiple 100 ft. waves, it's believed she broke up. They haven't found any pieces of the hull that I know of. Also, she's not a large Sword boat, even by industry standards.
Unfortunately most wrecks in the Great Lakes are now covered in Zebra Mussels. Visibility is greatly improved by that however - so it’s a double edged sword.
She was an unseaworthy garbage ship that killed all but one of her Crewmen. Companies got away with murder by sending men to sea in ships that were decrepit, unmaintained and unrepaired wrecks that were utterly unseaworthy! Whilst these garbage ships deserved to be on the seabed, the men that Crewed them did not! There men were simply doing a job to earn a living, and as such they deserved to be given well designed, well built vessels constructed from good quality materials, and which were well maintained and repaired, and always seaworthy! But in so many instances this was intentionally not done, putting the Crews in grave danger. Had the company directors had to sail on board their ships they would have been perfectly maintained and repaired, but as that wasn't the case the ships were neglected as a ship in the yard cost he company money instead of earning them income from being at sea delivering cargos. For a vessel to simply split in two as it sails gives the Crewmembers virtually no chance of survival, as was the case here. Because company directors were never prosecuted, there was no reason for them to change.
I really have to say, every voice actor on this did fantastic, but Paula Tucker did an unbelievable job in her narration. Haunting, captivating, eerie, and mystifying all at once. Makes me wonder if she's been on other documentaries. Really had me gripped.😁👌👍
Visibility much improved since the Zebra Mussels however. I was impressed with the video in this article by John Janzen in 2018: www.mlive.com/entertainment/erry-2018/04/6584b3a8243241/daniel_j_morrell.html
@@Madhouse_Media Yes. He felt the press had treated him unfairly after the sinking and was reluctant to speak with anyone for a long time - including us. When the film was completed we held a private showing for him and his family. He was so moved that he began speaking at our presentations. It proved to be cathartic and led to his book and doing his own presentations.
Great narrative. So many had 29 souls aboard. RIP those that braved. ❤
For what its worth our family lost a relative on the Morrell that night. His name was Phillip Kapets age 51 of Ironwood, Michigan. He is buried in Ironwood.
GOD HAS THRM BOYS RIP
Damn they found his body?wow rip to mariners without whom our lives wouldn't be the same
David pallin I'm sorry for your loss and to anymore living relatives of the men who perished I'm sorry for your loss the ship was a beautiful ship may there souls be at peace
@@ajbaumgart4774 Thank you, it is my understanding that Phillip had serious misgivings of working on the Great Lakes that late in the year.
Thanks for sharing-just down the road in Ashland. What cemetary. Maybe I can pay my respects. God bless
I hope Larry Coplin received an award for this excellent presentation. The lady's haunting recitation is outstanding as is the rest of the video. Thank you for it.
Larry Coplin and Associates won a Bronze Award at the International Film and TV Festival of New York. It was definitely a team effort- I was simply the glue that brought it all together.
Thank you for the kind comment. The film did win a Bronze Award for documentaries at the International Film Festival& TV Festival of New York. It took a dedicated team of divers, writers, musicians and editors over three years to produce.
Excellent Short film. The womans narration is so good I was captivated from the start to the finish. God bless the men that lost there lives and others that have perished on other vessels that has slipped under the watery depths.
Thank you for the kind words. This film won a Bronze Award in the Documentary Category at the International Film & TV Festival of New York.
This is the best eulogy to them who sailed and lost and hopefully gives some closure to the loved ones who are left to remember them. A very well done tribute.
Learning to Dive in the shadow of these guys was a real blessing. Certainly shaped my diving career.
I am so glad I found this. Gave me chills to hear more of Dennis' experience. What a great voice for the ship. She really set the mood perfectly. Excellent writing! Thank you!
Thank you - good to know that it still resonates.
This is amazing. It was strange to hear Dennis' story from a different voice than his own. Agree with other comments that the women's narrative as the ship is haunting. The written dialog is brilliant. It's amazing to see the Morrell not covered in muscles ! Brilliant film.
Thank you Steve. We didn't talk with Dennis while making the film. He had become something of a recluse due to mistreatment by the press so we didn't want to bring up old wounds. He was invited to the Premier in Sault Ste Marie - and came with his wife. He said our telling of his story was accurate - and felt it was time to come out of his shell. We did a number of presentations together and stayed in touch until his death.
Visibility much improved by the Zebra Mussels however. I was impressed with the video in this article by John Janzen in 2018
www.mlive.com/entertainment/erry-2018/04/6584b3a8243241/daniel_j_morrell.html
Shes old,her voice cracks.
A very moving tribute to to the big ship and crew. I will personally always remember that terrible gale. I was among a group of airmen from the Port Austin Air Force station that searched along that cold Lake Huron shoreline for any sign of the crew we all assumed had perished in the lake. It was unbelievable that Mr. Hale could have survived that terrible ordeal!
I believe Dennis suffered PTSD as he shunned media coverage - until coming to the premier of this film. After that he participated in a number of our presentations - and went on to write a book about his experience.
What's the story/history with your Air Force station at Port Austin?? Thanks😊
@@leftseat30 www.usafunithistory.com/PDF/0700/754%20RADAR%20SQ.pdf I was stationed there from 1966 to 1970. During that time we were a radar site with a long range search radar as well as 2 height finder radars. We were part of the NORAD network of air defense. I was a radar maintenance tech.
Wow! Such a beautiful and artistic telling of a tragic event!!!
Thank you☺️ - it took a village of talented artists.
The finest documentary of the Morrell I've seen, well done. Very chilling.
Thank you very much - it was a three year project and won a Bronze Award for Documentaries at the International Film & TV Festival of New York.
This is a fantastically beautiful and haunting tribute to the men and the ship Daniel J Morrell. God bless their families and memory.
Thank you. We worked on it for three years and won a Bronze Award in the documentary category at the International TV & Film Festival in 1984.
While an older video, it was beautifully done. The narrator’s voice and well done music added to the tragic story of the Morrell.
Thank you - it was a time of poor visibility and cumbersome film cameras. It took a team of creative minds to come up with the script and make the footage into something interesting. Would love have had todays digital cameras.
Shes too old,and needs a spit screen on the microphone.Also,her overbite causes a bucktooth hint.
Great video!
Glad you enjoyed it
Wow I really liked that opening of the woman's voice speaking for the ship. That is beautiful
Thank you
Poignant, haunting, and raw. What a horrific tragedy to befall the ship and her crew and having it be told from the perspective of the ship, the sadness is palpable and you can really feel the loss of the souls on board. Thank you for sharing this.
Thank you for the kind words.
I'm a diver but that diver ringing the bell at those depths under those conditions was just awwwwww wow!
Loved this 3rd person account. She indeed had a soul. Rest now
Thanks for the kind words Dave. We didn't want to make it a dry documentary - so struggled for awhile before coming up with this concept.
Love Ur voice comentry about the ship keep up the good work x
Thank you for the kind words - it took a talented team of creatives three years to put this little story together.
I met Dennis at the metro Beach boat boat show in 2011. I bought his book and he signed with very nice note to me. Couldn't find a nicer more humble man. We talked over an hour and I really value that experience.
After the sinking Dennis felt the news media treated him unfairly and became a recluse. It wasn't until the premier of this film that he felt ready to talk to the public. It seemed to bring him to terms with what happened.
My dad took me to Grand Rapids to see this film and Mr. Hale gave a talk with some Q and A. I was 13 or so and fascinated. He seemed quite sad to me. He had good reason to be.
That was probably the 1982 presentation we did at Grand Valley Community College.
Paula Tucker you did a wonderful job of relaying the tragedy 😢
Thank you Betty. We spent three years filming - and another year trying to get the story right.
This is one of the most bizarre sinkings of a ship ever recorded. Her shattered aft section, still under the power of the engines, steamed off into the darkness "like a great wounded beast with its head shot off" until it sank 5 miles away.
Also of note is that her sister SS Edward Y. Townsend was written off after being damaged in the same storm, severe cracks being found in her hull. She was laid up for two years before she was sold for scrapping in Europe. While under tow, she encountered a harsh storm and sank in the vicinity of the infamous RMS Titanic.
The stern was located by the Coast Guard early on. They placed a buoy on her - but didn't count on two hundred feet of chain pulling it under. They did place a chart note for her - which gave us a starting point for our search. The buoy made a good sonar target when we found it in July (not a great time for sonar work due to the thermocline). It was a couple years later when we calculated where she might have broken up along the shipping lane - some five miles from the stern.
@@CoplinJointProductions wow
Is there any video like this for Edmund Fitzgerald
@@jamesmccarthy5086 Thank you - it was a three year project with a dedicated team.
@@CoplinJointProductions very cool on how all that worked out. I wonder why or how the stern was found first, and not the bow later on! Thank you.
I just finished listening to William Kent Krueger's book "Purgatory Ridge". Excellent book! At the end I learned the ship featured in the story actually sunk in 1966 & I had to learn more. My son thinks it's beyond boring to listen to a book then watch a dozen documentaries related to it (world wars, skirmishes, wrecks, conspiracies, etc). I tell him "that's when the getting is getting good". The narration to this documentary is spot on!
Thank you @Kat Ferguson - our writer tried to be historically accurate while giving the film a theatrical flair. I think he succeeded - as we won the Bronze Award for documentaries at the International Film & TV Festival of New York in 1982.
It’s amazing what one notices has already gone missing in the different views the dive videos show. Not sure how long of a time frame was between visits but you can see the running lights, both pilot house wheels, clocks, and other small removable items have vanished. Even the steering pole tip is gone. I wonder how much ended up in museums vs hidden away in private collections. Great film!
Thank you Steven - it was a collaborative endeavor making the film, and it won a Bronze Award at the International Film & TV Festival of New York when completed (1982)
Hey Larry, That brought back some memories!
Ah yes - those were the days my friend…….
a-practical-discussion-of-the-sos-decompression-meter
We were ahead of the curve when it came to decompression. Meters are much more sophisticated these days.
I often wonder why my fascination with ship wrecks continues to this day, It all started back in 68, when we had a history lesson about the sinking of the RMS Titanic, Then undiscovered, I have been hooked ever since, Great sadness, yet powerful in its story.
Wow, another excellent video! By far one of the better ones on this subject matter, your Isle Royale vid being the same way. Consider me sub'd. 👍
I suspect she's completely covered in zebra muscles now, its cool to see her without the muscles obscuring everything. I find the wrecks of the Bradley and the Morrell to be just as fascinating as the Fitzgerald. Undoubtedly just as tragic as the Fitzgerald (maybe not quite as mysterious) its nice to see the Bradley and Morrell get some well deserved attention being that in my opinion they're just as important as the Fitz just not nearly as well known.
This 2015 video shows just how she has changed: ruclips.net/video/JQ5gQcl6dfI/видео.html
@@CoplinJointProductions I wish the mussells could be removed
@@Peter.w Good luck with that!
I was just going to say this video must be older
Makes me wonder the condition of the Carruthers, and she’s been at the bottom of Huron for close to 110 years.
The lady's narration was fire.
Very sad !
But absolutely
A excellent job
Excellent !!
Thank you Annette. We attempted to make it about more than just what you can see by diving on her wreckage.
Well done.
I am obsessed with ship wrecks.
It can become an obsession - I spent thirty years researching and looking for wrecks.
Great clip
Thank you.
Thank you for making this video. Do you have anything new?
We are no longer making films - but you can access many hours of footage at: oceanarchives.com
@@CoplinJointProductions Thank you for your reply. And thank you for the link. Godspeed
The laughter of the wreck was creepy
A model of the Morrell is now on display at the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point, MI along with display. The Morrell model took 500 hrs and over $500 in parts. Dive footage was used to get many details correct. Larry Nast, Green Bay, Wl.
Congratulations Larry - as they used to say on The A Team (old TV show) “I love it when a plan comes together”
Anyone found the Andrea gail? The ship famous for the perfect storm? If not why?!
They found some of Her contents (fishing buoys, etc.) at Sable Island, but in multiple 100 ft. waves, it's believed she broke up. They haven't found any pieces of the hull that I know of. Also, she's not a large Sword boat, even by industry standards.
Wow, that looks like it sank a few weeks before the video was shot. The lakes preserve them well.
Unfortunately most wrecks in the Great Lakes are now covered in Zebra Mussels. Visibility is greatly improved by that however - so it’s a double edged sword.
May our Lord God grant everlasting life. 🙏
We shall not forget.🇺🇸🌷
Dennis Hale passed away, he was the only surviver.
She was an unseaworthy garbage ship that killed all but one of her Crewmen.
Companies got away with murder by sending men to sea in ships that were decrepit, unmaintained and unrepaired wrecks that were utterly unseaworthy!
Whilst these garbage ships deserved to be on the seabed, the men that Crewed them did not!
There men were simply doing a job to earn a living, and as such they deserved to be given well designed, well built vessels constructed from good quality materials, and which were well maintained and repaired, and always seaworthy!
But in so many instances this was intentionally not done, putting the Crews in grave danger.
Had the company directors had to sail on board their ships they would have been perfectly maintained and repaired, but as that wasn't the case the ships were neglected as a ship in the yard cost he company money instead of earning them income from being at sea delivering cargos.
For a vessel to simply split in two as it sails gives the Crewmembers virtually no chance of survival, as was the case here.
Because company directors were never prosecuted, there was no reason for them to change.
Was the bell saved like the Edmund Fitzgeralds was
The bell was recovered and donated to Michigan State Museum authority in Lansing.
that narration from the woman is Eerie and haunting..I wouldn't want to dive on her..or go down on her either..kinda creepy.. eh ?
Thanks for the comment - we were going for hauntingly eerie as the ghost voice of a sunken ship.
I really have to say, every voice actor on this did fantastic, but Paula Tucker did an unbelievable job in her narration. Haunting, captivating, eerie, and mystifying all at once. Makes me wonder if she's been on other documentaries. Really had me gripped.😁👌👍
Nice to look at the wreck without the zebra mussels.
Yes. Those things are disturbing.
It's covered now but they did not affect the interior.
@@danalarose846 oddly enough, the zebras will help preserve the wreck by covering it and eating whatever would eat the wood.
@@maxideas9393 it's a steel ship
Visibility much improved since the Zebra Mussels however. I was impressed with the video in this article by John Janzen in 2018:
www.mlive.com/entertainment/erry-2018/04/6584b3a8243241/daniel_j_morrell.html
Yes bell was save on ship
The bell was recovered and donated to the State of Michigan.
I cannot imagine the terror of a sinking ship. My father survived the sinking of his ship the Block Island in the Atlantic.
How old is this video? What year is it from?
It was completed in 1982
@@CoplinJointProductions Thank you.
@@CoplinJointProductions Was this the documentary that convinced Mr. Hale to come out with his story?
@@CoplinJointProductions Was this the documentary that convinced Mr. Hale to come out with his story?
@@Madhouse_Media Yes. He felt the press had treated him unfairly after the sinking and was reluctant to speak with anyone for a long time - including us. When the film was completed we held a private showing for him and his family. He was so moved that he began speaking at our presentations. It proved to be cathartic and led to his book and doing his own presentations.
This feels wrong. As someone who's 3× great uncle went down on the Regina
Could the Edmund Fitzgerald also have experienced a stress fracture similar to the Daniel J. Morrell?
northernwilds.com/what-sank-the-edmund-fitzgerald/
I say that the lake took some brAve men
This documentary is creepy as fuck
This woman sounds like a smoker.
That made her voice more believable.
Not even