Kiss of the Devil Wind : The Sinking of the Steamship Gerken

by David R. Frew

On August 20, 1926 a ferocious gale suddenly struck central Lake Erie placing several commercial ships and sailing yachts in peril. Such a storm might have been expected in March or November. But the unexpected nature of this particular summer storm, coupled with its incredible ferocity wreaked such havoc that locals referred to it as "The August Gale" for decades thereafter. In the pre-dawn hours of Saturday, August 21st, a number of sailors were left fighting for their lives as eighty-mile-per-hour winds and breaking twenty-five-foot waves totally devastated two vessels. By dawn the 241-foot steamship Gerken was gone with only two of her three lifebosts recovered and the sailing yacht Pterodactyl had broken up and foundered. Six men were left swimming in the maelstrom of breaking waves that night as a railroad-car ferry, two U.S. Coast Guard vessels and a luxury passenger liner searched for them. This is the story of the two vessels that were lost and of the men and women who struggled in that storm.

290 pages, Paperback

Published November 7, 2000

About the author

David Frew is a visiting professor at Mercyhurst University in Erie, PA in the Graduate Organizational Leadership program. He is professor emeritus at Gannnon University.

Dr. Frew has authored or coauthored 35 books including several on Great Lakes history.

Reviews

[Jeff Bobin]

The sinking of the Gerken, a sand dredge, in Lake Erie in a freak summer storm along with a private sailboat, Pterodactyl, are the center of this story of risk, reward and danger. Two craft would sink in the storm and they are connected in an interesting way.

Told from different perspectives and a bit of jumping in timelines but a well told story.

[Aidan Y]

The book Kiss Of The Devil Wind is a story about workers on a ship in Lake Erie. The story is about their ship sinking, and having to fight for their lives. My favorite character was Bill Logan because he was very funny, brave, and smart. The characters feelings were very relatable and felt real to me. The story always had me guessing what would happen to the crew next, it was very suspenseful and exciting. Some scenes of the book were frightening and written very well to create mystery and suspense. The book was boring at some parts but the exciting scenes kept my reading. My favorite part of the book as when the crew was in the crash and they had to use all different tactics to try to escape the freezing lake with their lives.
Some parts of the book I did not like. In my opinion the book was all over the place, one minute they would be in a crash, and then they would be listening to stories from Captain Gerken. I also did not like how they would have part of the actual story and the next chapter would be a diary entry from a crew member. I didn't like how it was in third person omniscient and all the feelings from all the characters were revealed.
I would recommend this book to a reader who enjoys suspenseful, frightening, and adventurous books. The Kiss Of The Devil Wind is action packed and very exciting.