In December 1966, a ship called the SS Daniel J. Morrell was hauling steel across Lake Huron when it became caught in a severe storm. The ship broke apart and sank, and only a few of the 28 members of the crew onboard made it to a life raft. Dennis Hale was the only one of them who survived.

At StoryCorps, Dennis tells his wife, Barbara, about the 38-hour ordeal he went through, and the difficulty and pain of being the sole survivor of this tragedy.

Originally aired December 6, 2013, on NPR’s Morning Edition.