It happened 35 years ago...

[Geoff_M]

SS Edmund Fitzgerald... still give me shivers.

 

[trip]

One of the cooks (he is listed as a porter in the above clip) on the Fitz lived across the street from my inlaws.

 

[hereyago]

I was at a music store tonight and saw Gordon Lightfoot cd and thought of the song about the Edmund Fitzerald.

Hearing that song makes me cry. I am weird and must have drowned in a sinking ship in a past life because there is something about a sinking ship, hearing about it or watching a movie and I just weep for no reason.

 

[Geoff_M]

It was really weird a couple of weeks ago when we had that freak storm system roll through the Great Lakes. The day started out nice and warm, and as the day went on the temperature fell fast and the winds reach near hurricane strength. Records were set for the lowest land-based barometric pressure reading (weathermen said it was the equivalent of what you'd see with a Cat 3 hurricane). They said that there'd only been a handful of such storms recorded on the Great Lakes... and one of them was November 10th, 1975.

 

[Hannathy]

It was really weird a couple of weeks ago when we had that freak storm system roll through the Great Lakes. The day started out nice and warm, and as the day went on the temperature fell fast and the winds reach near hurricane strength. Records were set for the lowest land-based barometric pressure reading (weathermen said it was the equivalent of what you'd see with a Cat 3 hurricane. They said that there'd only been a handful of such storms recorded on the Great Lakes... and one of them was November 10th, 1975.

Yes I remember that storm a couple of weeks ago, actually lasted almost 2 days just like a hurricane. My DS came home from school and said they discussed it in Science and at least around here we did have hurricane strength winds and not Cat 1 but higher! Having lived on the east coast the wind was stronger than the few hurricanes that came thru when I was there.

That is amazing that the same thing happened in 1975, that really could explain it.

 

[Mrs. Darcy]

Thank you for posting this because I've heard the song but never really listened to the words or knew what happened. So I clicked on your link and am sorry that I never bothered to find out what it was all about before.

 

[Muushka]

Thank you for posting this because I've heard the song but never really listened to the words or knew what happened. So I clicked on your link and am sorry that I never bothered to find out what it was all about before.

Don't feel bad. I was around when the song came out and didn't realize what had happened until about 25 years later.
Gratefully today I am much more aware of what is going on.

Thank you OP for the link and the memory. Sad happening.

 

[Colleen27]

From Sunday's Free Press: http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/...ry=NEWS&ArtNo=11060810&Ref=PH&Params=Itemnr=1 Pictures don't really do the scale of the ship justice, but the underwater shots are really eerie.

 

[Geoff_M]

Thank you for posting this because I've heard the song but never really listened to the words or knew what happened. So I clicked on your link and am sorry that I never bothered to find out what it was all about before.

The story of the Fitz is pretty amazing. While it was hardly the first freighter to be lost on the Great Lakes nor was it the largest loss of life, the circumstances of the loss were mind boggling. What was jaw dropping was that a ore boat of that size (720 feet) could be lost in a matter of a couple of seconds with no real clues about what was about to happen. The Captain of the freighter Arthur M Anderson was following about 10 miles behind the Fitz and was in radio contact with Captain McSorely. They were effectively working together to try and make it through the storm.

Moments after McSorely reported that they were doing "OK", the Anderson's Captain Cooper lost sight of the lights of the Fitzgerald due to a wave/swell. When the wave/swell receded, the lights were gone. It happened that quick. Here's an interesting "video" of the radio traffic between the The Anderson's Cooper and the US Coast Guard where he first reports the Fitzgerald's disappearance. You can also tell now bad the conditions were in Cooper's reluctance to turn around and go look for the lost boat.

Also amazing is that Gordon Lightfoot effectively wrote the entire song on the basis of a Newsweek magazine article that appeared two weeks after the sinking.

 

[SaraJayne]

It was really weird a couple of weeks ago when we had that freak storm system roll through the Great Lakes. The day started out nice and warm, and as the day went on the temperature fell fast and the winds reach near hurricane strength. Records were set for the lowest land-based barometric pressure reading (weathermen said it was the equivalent of what you'd see with a Cat 3 hurricane). They said that there'd only been a handful of such storms recorded on the Great Lakes... and one of them was November 10th, 1975.

I immediately thought of the "Fitz" when they were forecasting that storm a couple weeks ago. We were in WDW at the time, but once we returned home, there was a lot of damage all over the state from it.

 

[SaraJayne]

Thanks for sharing the youtube link.

 

[Planogirl]

That's an amazing video. I didn't realize that the Edmund Fitzgerald was such a huge ship. It makes me wonder if there was some kind of design flaw for it to break up so suddenly.

Those poor men.

 

[Geoff_M]

That's an amazing video. I didn't realize that the Edmund Fitzgerald was such a huge ship. It makes me wonder if there was some kind of design flaw for it to break up so suddenly.

The determination of what caused the loss has evolved with time and new evidence. Initially there were two likely theories: 1) The boat took on water due to a hull breach because of bottoming in the shallows that that the Fitz and Anderson were near in the storm before sinking, or that the hatch covers leaked. Taking on enough water might have subjected the Fitz to being rolled in the storm. 2) A "rouge" set of waves may have lifted the bow and stern up and lifted the middle section out of the water. The weight of the ore may have then caused the boat to snap in two.

Initial submersible dives on the wreck showed the wreck to be in two halves... roughly snapped in two. However, it wasn't clear if the boat broke up on the surface or buckled and broke after nosing into the lake bottom while in one piece.

USCG inquests using photos taken of the wreck, determined that the sinking was due to crew error. They said that it was clear that the flat hatch covers weren't properly clamped down and came loose and allowed water to wash into the ship's holds. Needless to say, the families of those lost weren't too happy about their loved one's being blamed for their own deaths. They pointed to other evidence. Further independent investigation, more dive photos and video, point to other causes. The most likely is the "three sisters" theory. Three large rouge waves were reported in the area right before the sinking. Simulations indicate that it was very possible that the first two waves would have crested the Fitz and been powerful enough to damage the hatch covers and flood the holds... and the third wave would have been likely enough to finish off the doomed vessel.

 

[Planogirl]

Wow, destruction of that magnitude possibly due to three huge waves is a daunting thought. You never realize how destructive storms can be on those lakes until you hear about something like this.

 

[TDC Nala]

Oh yikes. Tomorrow I have to go to Epcot and hear the song played in the Canada pavilion. Can't figure out why they picked that as incidental music, it's hardly an uplifting song.