Edmund Fitzgerald - Gitche Gumee

Date 9-11-05

About 1915 EST., on November 10, 1975, the Great Lakes bulk cargo vessel S.S. EDMUND FITZGERALD, fully loaded with a cargo of taconite pellets, sank in eastern Lake Superior in position 46 59.91 N, 85 06.6’W, approximately 17 miles from the entrance to Whitefish Bay, Michigan. The ship was en route from Superior, WI, to Zug Island Detroit, MI, and had been proceeding at a reduced speed in a severe storm.

Time & Wind Speed
( 7:15 P.M. = Color )

 
The most extreme conditions were confined to a 6-hour period in the late afternoon.

• Low level sustained wind
• Significant wave height
• High temporal and spatial resolution

1. The most servere marine conditions during the 9-10 November 1975 storm occurred for a short time over a relatively small area.
2. An intense autumn storm moved through the upper Great Lakes region on November 10, 1975
3. Conditions on the Great Lakes was extremely treacherous with very steep waves.
4. The autumn season has produced many of the most intense storms on record in the Great Lakes region. (November)
5. On November 10, 1975 the storm was undergoing a rapid intensification by 1200 UTC as the surface low moved across the upper peninsula of Michigan.
6. The most severe weather conditions coincident with the time and location at which the ship Edmund Fitzgerald was lost.

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