DULUTH, Minn. – Rescuers in inflatable boats rescued people fishing on Lake Superior after ice broke away from the Minnesota shoreline. Some anglers in shanties, accustomed to the cracking and banging of ice, hadn’t even realized they were in danger until they heard sirens and yelling as rescuers arrived on shore. Firefighters got a call at mid-morning that shanties were seen floating away and heading up the North Shore. Some fishers ran toward the shore—until stopped by gaps of open water as the ice kept shifting. Most rescuers, some from the U.S. Coast Guard, floated Zodiacs and powered their way through moving ice chunks and picked op fishers a few at a time. No one was lost. A lot of gear, however, was left behind, not to mention the shanties. Rescuers took down information about abandoned gear and said they would run down what they could. No promises: You’ve heard of Davy Jones Locker.
CAPTION Zodiac rush. Rescuers shove off to reach ice-fishers floating away from the Duluth shore. Image: Duluth Fire Department
The ice of 2021
With a warmer than usual winter until recently, Lake Superior has been only 10% covered, well below average. Shore ice has been especially vulnerable to sudden drifts into open water. Lake Superior is the world’s freshwater lake by surface area. At 1,300 feet deep in places it is the world’s largest freshwater lake by volume. The lake has 2,600 miles of shoreline.