On the evening of September 24, 1965, a young man by the name of Tache Everett, age 23, was aboard the lake freighter Suzanne-E as it navigated the waters of Lake Winnipeg, just north of Hecla Island in Manitoba, Canada. The vessel, carrying nine crew members and one passenger, was caught in a sudden and violent storm that battered the ship with ferocious winds and tumultuous waves. In the midst of the tempest, the 70-tonne freighter tragically capsized and sank into the cold, dark depths of the lake, in an area off Grindstone Point. The chaos and violence of the storm made any rescue efforts exceedingly difficult, and for ten souls aboard, it was a fight for survival against the unforgiving power of the lake.
In the aftermath of the storm, a search and rescue operation was launched in the hopes of finding survivors. Miraculously, one man, Clifford Everett, was found alive.
He had managed to cling to a piece of the wreckage and float to safety, the lone survivor of the terrible incident. The relief of finding a survivor was tempered by the grim task of recovering those who did not survive. Over the following days, the bodies of seven other victims were recovered from the lake. Autopsies would later confirm that they had succumbed to either drowning or exposure in the frigid waters. However, the search for two individuals, Allan Clemens and Tache Everett, would prove to be tragically unsuccessful. Despite extensive efforts, their bodies were never located, and they were lost to the vast expanse of Lake Winnipeg.
The sinking of the Suzanne-E remains one of the most tragic maritime incidents in the history of Lake Winnipeg. The official investigation into the disaster concluded that the sudden and severe storm was the primary cause of the vessel's capsizing. For the families of the victims, the event left an indelible mark of grief and loss. The fact that the bodies of Tache Everett and Allan Clemens were never recovered has meant that their families were left without the closure of a final resting place. The two men are presumed to have drowned in the turbulent waters of the lake on that fateful September day. The story of the Suzanne-E serves as a somber reminder of the unpredictable and often perilous nature of the great lake, and the lives that were tragically cut short in one of its most violent storms.Last Seen: Sep 24, 1965
