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Date 9-5-06
- Gitche Gumee translates
roughly to "Shining Big-Sea-Water".
- The reason so few bodies
are recovered from off shore drownings
in Lake Superior is because the bodies first tend to sink (or are
still on board a vessel) but because of the depth and frigid temperatures,
the victims do not naturally decompose. Because of the lack of oxygen
producing organisms, the bodies remain on the bottom.
- When empty, the Fitzgerald
weighed 8,686 net tons. The hold was filled with 26,116 tons of iron
ore pellets called taconite, used mainly for automobile production.
- Lake superior is on average
533 feet deep with an extreme depth of 1333 feet. It is 400 miles
long which, when the wind blows across it's length, the waves can
build to greater heights than found on less dense sea water, even
in hurricane and winds. (Rogue Waves).
- The Fitz was named after
a Milwaukee banker and was launched into the River Rouge basin in
June 1958. The owner was Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company
of Milwaukee and operated by the Columbia Transportation Company.
- The ship was 729 feet
long, 75 feet wide, 39 feet deep. She was the largest Great Lakes
steamer when launched in 1958, its size limited only by the largest
lock on Sault St, Marie. Larger 1000 ft. boats were possible after
the construction of the Poe lock in 1969.
- Captain Ernest R. McSorley,
62 years old, started sailing as a deckhand on ocean vessels when
he was 18 years old. After transferring to freshwater freighters,
he made his way through the ranks, eventually becoming the youngest
to make captain.
- The Fitzgerald was "downbound"
to unload its cargo in Detroit and then continue on to Cleveland to
dock for the winter months.
- The Fitzgerald and the
Anderson, a second freighter following close behind, knew of the gale
warnings posted by the National Weather Service. They decided to alter
their course and head towards the North shore of Superior for shelter
against the heart of the storm.
- The two boats (great lake
sailors prefer "boat" to "ship"), followed the
Canadian shore to the Caribou Island near "Six Fathom Shoals."
The Anderson's captain Jesse "Bernie" Cooper, remarks how
close the Fitz is to the shoals. Crossing the lake in an attempt to
harbor the storm, the two make a course for Whitefish Bay Michigan.
In heavy seas, the Fitzgerald sustains topside damage and radios the
Anderson, "Anderson, this is the Fitzgerald. I have sustained
some topside damage. I have a fence rail laid down, two vents lost
or damaged, and a list. I'm checking down. Will you stay by me till
I get to Whitefish?"
- The Fitzgerald has two
radar sets but both use it's own antenna. The Fitzgerald calls on
the radio to the Arthur M. Anderson. "Anderson, this is the Fitzgerald.
I have lost both radars. Can you provide me with radar plots till
we reach Whitefish Bay?"
- Winds were 40 to 45 knots
with waves to 20 ft.
- The Sault St, Marie Locks
report winds of seventy knots, gusts up to eighty-two, about ninety-five
mph!
- Ironically, the "old"
cook was suffering from bleeding ulcers and was unable to make the
last voyage. He is considered by some as "the sole survivor of
the Fitzgerald".
- The Anderson reports
being hit by two huge waves which go over the pilot house, 35 feet
above the water line.
- Although McSorley told
the Anderson he had developed a list and was, infact, taking on water,
his main concern was that because of the loss of radar and new reports
of the Whitefish Bay Lighthouse being broken down, the Fitzgerald
was sailing blind and due to the list, the Fitzgerald was pulling
to the left. They had to rely on the Anderson for guidance. When the
Anderson radioed back later to ask how they were doing with their
problem, McSorley replied "We are holding our own". That
was the last thing heard from the Fitzgerald.
- The tremendous waves
on Lake Superior kept interfering with the Anderson's radar, showing
the Fitzgerald some 10 miles ahead of her. As the Anderson would dip
with a large wave, the Fitzgerald and all other boats in the area
would disappear, showing up again as the Anderson would crest. At
7:10 the Anderson rose above a wave and the radar showed three blips,
saltwater ships, the Navafors, the Avafors, and the Benfri about 20
miles downbound. But no Fitzgerald. In the span of just a few seconds,
with no distress call, the Fitzgerald was gone.
- The Anderson contacted
the Coast Guard in Sault St. Marie. "Soo Control, this is the
Anderson. I am very concerned about the welfare of the steamer Edmund
Fitzgerald. He was right in front of us, experiencing a little difficulty.
He was taking on a small amount of water and none of the upbound ships
have passed him. I can see no lights as before and I don't have him
on radar. I just hope he didn't take a nose dive!" The air temperature
at the time was 49 degrees and the water temperature was 40 degrees.
Under these conditions a man would go into shock in 30 minutes.
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A floating debris field
was found the next morning and a 1000 yard long oil slick about
13 miles from Whitefish Point. On later days, small objects were
found near the Canadian shore, lifevests and rings, bottles, splintered
wood, the largest object being a crumpled raft with the Fitzgerald's
name.
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The wreckage is in two
major pieces. The bow section is 276 feet long and upright. The
stern section is 253 feet long and upside down. The sections are
170 feet apart. About 200 feet of the midsection is disintegrated.
Although there is now conclusive evidence pointing to what the cause
was, the most popular therory is that because the Fitz was taking
on water, The Fitz plunged, striking the lake's floor.
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There has been no attempt
by the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point, which had
made several exploratory expeditions down to the werckage, to recover
the crew.
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There is estimated to
be more than 6000 commercial shipwrecks in the Great Lakes, and
fewer than half of these have been located.
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The ship went down in
Lake Superior on November 10, 1975 with 29 men on board.
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