Many years ago, I stood on the deck of a ship in Superior, listening to an old sailor telling
me a story about a particularly bad winter storm that his ship had been in. As the story progressed
more and more members of the deck crew gathered around, listening and nodding in agreement.
It was some thirty minutes later, with the ship narrowly reaching port, saved by a large northern
pike - found frozen and wedged in a crack in the hull, that the group burst into laughter,
and I knew I had been totally suckered. It was much too funny to feel embarrassed over. Not
everyone has a story to be told. The Inland Mariners oral history series was started to capture
the history and careers of people that sail, or have sailed the Great Lakes,
spoken and delivered in their own words.