Great Lakes Shipwrecks - The Edmund Fitzgerald

Growing up in Michigan in the 1970s and with my parents being rock and folk music lovers, I couldn't escape the famous song, The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, by the Canadian singer/songwriter, Gordon Lightfoot. Not that I would want to escape. It's a beautiful, haunting tune that made famous a shipwreck that would have otherwise gone unnoticed by much of the world with lyrics such as these:

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee
Superior they said never gives up her dead
when the gales of November come early

This is the story of the Edmund Fitzgerald, the steamer that went down on November 10, 1975, with all hands lost.

The Edmund Fitzgerald, or the Fitz as the ship came to be called, was built in 1958 in River Rouge, Michigan, at the Great Lakes Engineering Works. It was named after an executive of the Northwest Mutual Life Insurance Company that owned it. The Fitzgerald carried the label 'Pride of the American Flag' and was one of the two largest carriers on the Great Lakes at the time it was built.

Below are some of the ship's statistics:

• It had a length of 729 feet and tonnage of 13,632.
• It cost $8.4 million to build.
• The Fitz became the first ship to carry more than 1 million gross tons of ore through the Soo Locks.
• The ship was also equipped to carry passengers that were guests of the insurance company.

The Fitz took its last voyage in November of 1975. The course planned was from Superior, Wisconsin, to Detroit, Michigan. The 29 men of the crew went about their business as usual loading the cargo for departure. By all accounts, there were no unusual problems with the ship before it left dock. The men were seasoned seamen. Captain Ernest McSorley himself had 44 years of maritime experience beginning at age 18 on ocean-going liners.

While en route, the Fitz was in sight of another steamer, the Arthur M. Anderson, which was proceeding along a similar route. A storm began on November 8th in Oklahoma that was originally classified by the National Weather Service as typical for the time of year. It proceeded north becoming increasingly worrisome. By November 10th, gale winds had become storm winds, and the Fitzgerald reported it would be delayed reaching the Soo Locks because of the weather. The ship's course was even changed for safety's sake.

For several hours, the Anderson and Fitz stayed on similar courses and in contact. The Anderson changed course at 2:45 p.m. and lost sight of the Fitz when heavy snow began to fall. They were still in radio contact, however, and the captain of the Fitz kept Captain Cooper of the Anderson apprised of the ship's status. The Fitz reported minor damage, but at the time, there appeared to be no cause for alarm.

After 4 p.m., the Fitz told the Anderson that she had lost her radar and needed navigational help. Later that evening, the Fitz reported she was holding her own heading towards Whitefish Pointe, Michigan. That was the last anyone heard from the Edmund Fitzgerald.

The search for the Fitz began when the captain of the Anderson called the Coast Guard expressing his concern that he hadn't heard from or seen the ship. American and Canadian rescue organizations as well as commercial vessels became involved in the effort to find the ship. The active search stopped on November 13th, but planes still searched the area weekly.

Earlier, on November 11th, the Anderson came upon a piece of a lifeboat from the Fitz. Another ship later found an entire lifeboat that had been badly damaged (see pictures below). It's believed that as the ship sank the lifeboats struck it as they floated upward to the surface of the lake.

Several underwater searches were conducted to find the ship which was finally identified on a search made between November 14th and 16th. No bodies were found at that time. The wreck lies in two pieces 17 miles northwest of Whitefish Point, Michigan, in Canadian waters.

November is part of the big storm season on the Great Lakes. Superior is the largest lake in the world and known for its deadly waves and strong winds. The waves are measured by significant wave height. This is calculated as the average height of the one-third highest waves which is about 26 feet. But on rare occasions peak waves can be nearly twice that height.

The storm on November 10th started slowly but became increasingly intense. Wind speeds of up to 50 knots (nearly 60 mph) were reported on the eastern shore of the lake. The ship's crew reported waves of between 16-18 feet with the possible peak waves of twice that.

During the storm that took the Fitz, the Lock Master at the Soo Locks reported gusts of wind up to 90 mph. Ships near the locks were even reporting gusts of up to 96 mph. The winds were so bad that Mackinac Bridge had to shut down.

Yes, Superior is a lake, but a mighty and temperamental one when combined with freezing cold, strong winds and high waves. You can see from the photo of the crushed buoy and the explanation below that it isn't just the mighty oceans that have the power of destruction.

As with many tragedies, there are theories and controversies that spring up immediately afterward. But there were legitimate questions as to what happened to the Fitz. It was the job of investigators from the Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation to sort fact from fiction.

Extensive evidence including videotape of the wreckage, testimony from crew aboard other vessels near the Fitzgerald that night and other personnel was painstakingly examined. One controversy surrounded an inspection of the Fitz in October of that year. There was damage to four hatches, but it was not considered dangerous.

The Board did not feel that the flooding that happened on the ship was enough to cause it to sink. They eventually came to the conclusion that the cause of the wreck couldn't be completely determined, but it was probable that the ship took on too much water by getting through poorly sealed hatches. They said this probably happened early on in the storm, and the more water the Fitz took, the less buoyancy she had to keep her afloat.

There have been other accounts. Noted maritime historian, Frederick Stonehouse, explored these in his book The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Some were fanciful, others less so, and included:

• The Great Lakes Triangle (similar to the Bermuda Triangle).
• Shoaling which is a shallow section of water that causes problems for navigation.
• The three-sisters theory in which three unusually high waves overtook the Fitz causing her to submarine.
• That the wreck did not capsize but sank due to sudden massive flooding of the cargo hold after the collapse of one or more hatch covers.
  

Mr. Stonehouse is an excellent source of information on Great Lakes maritime history. Visit his site linked below to learn more.

PJDeneen ©2009 http://hubpages.com/hub/Great-Lakes-Shipwrecks-Edmund-Fitzgerald

References:

• Stonehouse, Frederick. The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Avery Color Studios, Inc., 1977.
• Storm Warning: Advancements in Marine Forecasting Since the Edmund Fitzgerald, The Fall Storm Season and The Storm of November 9-10, 1975. National Weather Service Weather Forcast Office, Marquette, MI. November 2005. Accessed November 2009.