Nathan Drew Halverson was born, along with his twin brother Arthur, on 7 September 1950 in Duluth, MN, the fourth & fifth of seven children born to Gene Wells Halverson (1920-2006) and Betty May Dahlberg Halverson (1921-2011). He was 16-years old and a junior at Duluth East High School when he and his twin brother Arthur and older brother Eric tragically drowned off Canal Park when they were swept away by huge waves and gale force winds on 30 April 1967. Their bodies were never recovered. A team of three Coast Guardsmen attempted to rescue them, and one of them was swept away by a huge wave and also drowned in the rescue effort. He was Boatswain Mate 1st Class Edgar Allen Culbertson (1935-1967), FaG #56911968.
SEARCH CONTINUES FOR 3 BROTHERS
The search continued Monday night for the bodies of three Duluth brothers who apparently drowned Sunday night when they were swept from the pier at the Duluth Ship Canal by high waves.
The St. Louis County Sheriff’s department rescue squad, Coast Guard personnel and Duluth police combed the beaches in the area Monday but found nothing.
No attempts to begin dragging operations were made Monday because breakers on Lake Superior were too high. Lt. Commander Robert Farmer, area group commander for the Coast Guard, said Monday night that dragging operations would begin at 2:00 a.m. today if seas abated significantly.
The county rescue squad also is expected to join in dragging operations this morning.
Presumed drowned are Eric Halverson, 17, and his twin brothers, Arthur and Nathan, 16, sons of Mr. and Mrs. Gene W. Halverson, 912 Chester Park Drive.
Coast Guard Boatswain Mate 1st Class Edgar A. Culbertson, 32, Ferndale, Michigan, who was stationed at the Coast Guard base in Duluth, lost his life in an attempt to locate the youths after he and other Coast Guard personnel were called to the scene by the Duluth Police department.
Hundreds of persons converged on Canal Park Monday night to look at the scene where 24 hours earlier, mammoth breakers driven by gale force winds swept the beach and poured all over the top of the piers of the Duluth ship canal.
It was during the height of this storm that the Halverson brothers apparently attempted to walk out on the north pier to the elevated lighthouse at the end.
Witnesses told police they saw two of the boys make it to the end, but a third became stranded at a light standard near the end, and while clinging to hit, a huge wave swept him into the water. The other two youths reportedly ran back to help their brother when a second wave swept them into the high seas.
It has not definitely been established which side of the north pier the boys were lost on. Conflicting accounts by witnesses reported that they were swept into the ship canal or into Lake Superior on the north side of the pier. The light standards are on the canal side of the pier.
Ken Slatten, captain of the county rescue squad, said dragging operations will be conducted on both sides.
While the storm raged, it was not known whether the boys had been swept away from the pier or stranded in the walkway. Police notified the Coast Guard about 8:30 p.m. and Culbertson, Boatswain Mate 3rd Class Richard R. Callahan, 21, Chicago, Illinois, and Fireman Ronald C. Prel, 21, Frances, Wisconsin, responded.
The three Coast Guardsmen were linked together by a tether about 25 feet apart. Theoretically, this would allow the other two to pull a man back if he were washed away from the pier.
The trio made its way to the end of the pier but found no trace of the boys. They were about halfway back when a huge wave carried Culbertson over the breakwater on the lake side.
Commander Farmer said that the other two Coast Guardsmen were unable to pull Culbertson to safety because the tether had broken Callahan’s wrists. Callahan and Prel fought their way back to the beach where Culbertson was found washed ashore.
A Coast Guard board of investigation will be organized to collect reports of witnesses and establish exact circumstances of Culbertson’s death, Commander Farmer said.
Eric Halverson was a senior at East High School. Arthur and Nathan were juniors. All three were active in school activities and considered good students. They had two older brothers, Philip, 19, and Paul, 20, both students at Macalester College, and two younger sisters, Mary, 14, and Patricia, 10.
The three brothers also were active members of First Methodist Church youth groups. They had attended church Sunday evening before going to Canal Park
(Duluth News-Tribune, Duluth, MN, Tuesday, 2 May 1967)
SEARCH CONTINUES FOR 3 BROTHERS
The search continued Monday night for the bodies of three Duluth brothers who apparently drowned Sunday night when they were swept from the pier at the Duluth Ship Canal by high waves.
The St. Louis County Sheriff’s department rescue squad, Coast Guard personnel and Duluth police combed the beaches in the area Monday but found nothing.
No attempts to begin dragging operations were made Monday because breakers on Lake Superior were too high. Lt. Commander Robert Farmer, area group commander for the Coast Guard, said Monday night that dragging operations would begin at 2:00 a.m. today if seas abated significantly.
The county rescue squad also is expected to join in dragging operations this morning.
Presumed drowned are Eric Halverson, 17, and his twin brothers, Arthur and Nathan, 16, sons of Mr. and Mrs. Gene W. Halverson, 912 Chester Park Drive.
Coast Guard Boatswain Mate 1st Class Edgar A. Culbertson, 32, Ferndale, Michigan, who was stationed at the Coast Guard base in Duluth, lost his life in an attempt to locate the youths after he and other Coast Guard personnel were called to the scene by the Duluth Police department.
Hundreds of persons converged on Canal Park Monday night to look at the scene where 24 hours earlier, mammoth breakers driven by gale force winds swept the beach and poured all over the top of the piers of the Duluth ship canal.
It was during the height of this storm that the Halverson brothers apparently attempted to walk out on the north pier to the elevated lighthouse at the end.
Witnesses told police they saw two of the boys make it to the end, but a third became stranded at a light standard near the end, and while clinging to hit, a huge wave swept him into the water. The other two youths reportedly ran back to help their brother when a second wave swept them into the high seas.
It has not definitely been established which side of the north pier the boys were lost on. Conflicting accounts by witnesses reported that they were swept into the ship canal or into Lake Superior on the north side of the pier. The light standards are on the canal side of the pier.
Ken Slatten, captain of the county rescue squad, said dragging operations will be conducted on both sides.
While the storm raged, it was not known whether the boys had been swept away from the pier or stranded in the walkway. Police notified the Coast Guard about 8:30 p.m. and Culbertson, Boatswain Mate 3rd Class Richard R. Callahan, 21, Chicago, Illinois, and Fireman Ronald C. Prel, 21, Frances, Wisconsin, responded.
The three Coast Guardsmen were linked together by a tether about 25 feet apart. Theoretically, this would allow the other two to pull a man back if he were washed away from the pier.
The trio made its way to the end of the pier but found no trace of the boys. They were about halfway back when a huge wave carried Culbertson over the breakwater on the lake side.
Commander Farmer said that the other two Coast Guardsmen were unable to pull Culbertson to safety because the tether had broken Callahan’s wrists. Callahan and Prel fought their way back to the beach where Culbertson was found washed ashore.
A Coast Guard board of investigation will be organized to collect reports of witnesses and establish exact circumstances of Culbertson’s death, Commander Farmer said.
Eric Halverson was a senior at East High School. Arthur and Nathan were juniors. All three were active in school activities and considered good students. They had two older brothers, Philip, 19, and Paul, 20, both students at Macalester College, and two younger sisters, Mary, 14, and Patricia, 10.
The three brothers also were active members of First Methodist Church youth groups. They had attended church Sunday evening before going to Canal Park
(Duluth News-Tribune, Duluth, MN, Tuesday, 2 May 1967)
Nathan Drew Halverson was born, along with his twin brother Arthur, on 7 September 1950 in Duluth, MN, the fourth & fifth of seven children born to Gene Wells Halverson (1920-2006) and Betty May Dahlberg Halverson (1921-2011). He was 16-years old and a junior at Duluth East High School when he and his twin brother Arthur and older brother Eric tragically drowned off Canal Park when they were swept away by huge waves and gale force winds on 30 April 1967. Their bodies were never recovered. A team of three Coast Guardsmen attempted to rescue them, and one of them was swept away by a huge wave and also drowned in the rescue effort. He was Boatswain Mate 1st Class Edgar Allen Culbertson (1935-1967), FaG #56911968.
SEARCH CONTINUES FOR 3 BROTHERS
The search continued Monday night for the bodies of three Duluth brothers who apparently drowned Sunday night when they were swept from the pier at the Duluth Ship Canal by high waves.
The St. Louis County Sheriff’s department rescue squad, Coast Guard personnel and Duluth police combed the beaches in the area Monday but found nothing.
No attempts to begin dragging operations were made Monday because breakers on Lake Superior were too high. Lt. Commander Robert Farmer, area group commander for the Coast Guard, said Monday night that dragging operations would begin at 2:00 a.m. today if seas abated significantly.
The county rescue squad also is expected to join in dragging operations this morning.
Presumed drowned are Eric Halverson, 17, and his twin brothers, Arthur and Nathan, 16, sons of Mr. and Mrs. Gene W. Halverson, 912 Chester Park Drive.
Coast Guard Boatswain Mate 1st Class Edgar A. Culbertson, 32, Ferndale, Michigan, who was stationed at the Coast Guard base in Duluth, lost his life in an attempt to locate the youths after he and other Coast Guard personnel were called to the scene by the Duluth Police department.
Hundreds of persons converged on Canal Park Monday night to look at the scene where 24 hours earlier, mammoth breakers driven by gale force winds swept the beach and poured all over the top of the piers of the Duluth ship canal.
It was during the height of this storm that the Halverson brothers apparently attempted to walk out on the north pier to the elevated lighthouse at the end.
Witnesses told police they saw two of the boys make it to the end, but a third became stranded at a light standard near the end, and while clinging to hit, a huge wave swept him into the water. The other two youths reportedly ran back to help their brother when a second wave swept them into the high seas.
It has not definitely been established which side of the north pier the boys were lost on. Conflicting accounts by witnesses reported that they were swept into the ship canal or into Lake Superior on the north side of the pier. The light standards are on the canal side of the pier.
Ken Slatten, captain of the county rescue squad, said dragging operations will be conducted on both sides.
While the storm raged, it was not known whether the boys had been swept away from the pier or stranded in the walkway. Police notified the Coast Guard about 8:30 p.m. and Culbertson, Boatswain Mate 3rd Class Richard R. Callahan, 21, Chicago, Illinois, and Fireman Ronald C. Prel, 21, Frances, Wisconsin, responded.
The three Coast Guardsmen were linked together by a tether about 25 feet apart. Theoretically, this would allow the other two to pull a man back if he were washed away from the pier.
The trio made its way to the end of the pier but found no trace of the boys. They were about halfway back when a huge wave carried Culbertson over the breakwater on the lake side.
Commander Farmer said that the other two Coast Guardsmen were unable to pull Culbertson to safety because the tether had broken Callahan’s wrists. Callahan and Prel fought their way back to the beach where Culbertson was found washed ashore.
A Coast Guard board of investigation will be organized to collect reports of witnesses and establish exact circumstances of Culbertson’s death, Commander Farmer said.
Eric Halverson was a senior at East High School. Arthur and Nathan were juniors. All three were active in school activities and considered good students. They had two older brothers, Philip, 19, and Paul, 20, both students at Macalester College, and two younger sisters, Mary, 14, and Patricia, 10.
The three brothers also were active members of First Methodist Church youth groups. They had attended church Sunday evening before going to Canal Park
(Duluth News-Tribune, Duluth, MN, Tuesday, 2 May 1967)
SEARCH CONTINUES FOR 3 BROTHERS
The search continued Monday night for the bodies of three Duluth brothers who apparently drowned Sunday night when they were swept from the pier at the Duluth Ship Canal by high waves.
The St. Louis County Sheriff’s department rescue squad, Coast Guard personnel and Duluth police combed the beaches in the area Monday but found nothing.
No attempts to begin dragging operations were made Monday because breakers on Lake Superior were too high. Lt. Commander Robert Farmer, area group commander for the Coast Guard, said Monday night that dragging operations would begin at 2:00 a.m. today if seas abated significantly.
The county rescue squad also is expected to join in dragging operations this morning.
Presumed drowned are Eric Halverson, 17, and his twin brothers, Arthur and Nathan, 16, sons of Mr. and Mrs. Gene W. Halverson, 912 Chester Park Drive.
Coast Guard Boatswain Mate 1st Class Edgar A. Culbertson, 32, Ferndale, Michigan, who was stationed at the Coast Guard base in Duluth, lost his life in an attempt to locate the youths after he and other Coast Guard personnel were called to the scene by the Duluth Police department.
Hundreds of persons converged on Canal Park Monday night to look at the scene where 24 hours earlier, mammoth breakers driven by gale force winds swept the beach and poured all over the top of the piers of the Duluth ship canal.
It was during the height of this storm that the Halverson brothers apparently attempted to walk out on the north pier to the elevated lighthouse at the end.
Witnesses told police they saw two of the boys make it to the end, but a third became stranded at a light standard near the end, and while clinging to hit, a huge wave swept him into the water. The other two youths reportedly ran back to help their brother when a second wave swept them into the high seas.
It has not definitely been established which side of the north pier the boys were lost on. Conflicting accounts by witnesses reported that they were swept into the ship canal or into Lake Superior on the north side of the pier. The light standards are on the canal side of the pier.
Ken Slatten, captain of the county rescue squad, said dragging operations will be conducted on both sides.
While the storm raged, it was not known whether the boys had been swept away from the pier or stranded in the walkway. Police notified the Coast Guard about 8:30 p.m. and Culbertson, Boatswain Mate 3rd Class Richard R. Callahan, 21, Chicago, Illinois, and Fireman Ronald C. Prel, 21, Frances, Wisconsin, responded.
The three Coast Guardsmen were linked together by a tether about 25 feet apart. Theoretically, this would allow the other two to pull a man back if he were washed away from the pier.
The trio made its way to the end of the pier but found no trace of the boys. They were about halfway back when a huge wave carried Culbertson over the breakwater on the lake side.
Commander Farmer said that the other two Coast Guardsmen were unable to pull Culbertson to safety because the tether had broken Callahan’s wrists. Callahan and Prel fought their way back to the beach where Culbertson was found washed ashore.
A Coast Guard board of investigation will be organized to collect reports of witnesses and establish exact circumstances of Culbertson’s death, Commander Farmer said.
Eric Halverson was a senior at East High School. Arthur and Nathan were juniors. All three were active in school activities and considered good students. They had two older brothers, Philip, 19, and Paul, 20, both students at Macalester College, and two younger sisters, Mary, 14, and Patricia, 10.
The three brothers also were active members of First Methodist Church youth groups. They had attended church Sunday evening before going to Canal Park
(Duluth News-Tribune, Duluth, MN, Tuesday, 2 May 1967)
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