What is the story of the Storm Warriors?

In the 1870's the U.S. Government established the United States Life Saving Service as an official organization to help mariners in distress. Stations were established along the shores of the Atlantic and Pacific, as well as the Great Lakes.

Five of the first on Lake Superior were placed on what was already called "The Shipwreck Coast".

While most Lifesaving Stations were placed near harbor entrances, the five stations of the Shipwreck Coast were remote and lonely outposts, 50 to 60 miles from any civilization, and even today, the coast remains a remote and lonely shore.

This sixty mile stretch of land runs approximately from Sault Ste. Marie Canada/USA in the east, to Munising, Michigan, USA on the west.

Storms and dense fogs drove ships to its low, deceptive shoreline. It's shifting sand bars and shoals caught ships like flies in a web.

Between the 1850's and the 1930's this coast has claimed over 100 ships in it's 60 miles, but even as late as 1975, it took down the 700 foot long Edmund Fitzgerald.

Superior was only opened to navigation in the early 1800's due to the lack of proper access through the St. Mary's river.

Shipping exploded on to the lake with the opening of the locks at Sault Ste. Marie in the 1850's and the lake became as vital to Canada and the United States as her 4 other sisters.

Compared to some of the sea coast's most infamous wreck sites, which were known for centuries, the Shipwreck Coast of Superior claimed more ships per year than almost any other portion of coastline in the United States.

The men living at the remote stations along the coast (one was called the "Alcatraz" of the Life Saving Service) battled Superiors notoriously cold waters and fickle weather to save stranded ships and sailors.

Largely unheralded, as were many of the Lifesavers who worked the Inland Seas, they saved thousands and yet are now but an obscure memory of America's past.

Storm Warriors is a one hour documentary that attempts to tell some of their tales and also those of the people who lived with and sailed over these waters.

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"Storm Warriors: Heroes of the Shipwreck Coast"

57 minutes

$24.95 VHS $29.95 DVD (U.S.)

plus shipping and handling

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All of the above are still images from

"Storm Warriors: Heroes of the Shipwreck Coast"

© 2004, Seiche Entertainment Ltd.