Because all 29 men aboard the Fitzgerald went down with the ship -- which was there one minute and gone the next -- the best accounts that investigators could rely on were those of sailors in the vicinity of the ship during the storm, or who had contact with the Fitzgerald somehow in the weeks prior to her final voyage. Photo courtesy of the Great Lakes Maritime Institute. Since the Fitzgerald never called for help and the ships lifeboats were found badly damaged--indicating they were never launched but instead smashed while still secured to the ship-the Coast Guard determined the ship sank abruptly. Father Hubbard, thanks so much for being with us. After the inquiry, the question remained: What caused the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald? Between 12th and 14th Streets Bryan Thao Worra on Instagram: "Revisiting my July, 2021 reading of my With a length of over 729 feet, the Edmund Fitzgerald was the largest ship on the Great Lakes when it was built in 1958, and remains the largest ship to have sunk in the Great Lakes. According to Captain Cooper of the Arthur M. Anderson, his ship was struck by two 30 to 35-foot tall waves at 6:30 p.m. on the night of the Edmund Fitzgerald disaster. Multiple locations were found. The shipwreck of Edmund Fitzgerald resulted in changes made to shipping regulations in the Great Lakes, including mandatory survival suits, depth finders, and frequent inspections. It was then they saw a huge wave pouring green water over their entire vessel. All Rights Reserved. One of the worst seas I've been in." At 7 p.m., the Fitzgerald radioed another nearby ship, "We are holding our own." Less than two hours later, the Edmund Fitzgerald had disappeared from radar. Computer Models Additionally, the ship in the song was on its way to Cleveland, instead of Detroit. Or maybe the lake will never reveal her secrets. On Nov. 9, 1975, when she sailed out onto Lake Superior from Superior, Wis. with veteran mariner Capt. The iron ore freighter Edmund Fitzgerald sank to the bottom of Lake Superior during a hurricane-like storm on the night of Nov. 10, 1975. From 1972 until it sank, Captain Ernest M. McSorley led the Fitzgerald's voyages. The ships 200-pound brass bell was recovered in 1995 and is on display at the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point in Michigan. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. MQT RSS Feeds. Accept Read More. The pictures clearly showed the words "Edmund Fitzgerald" on the stern piece of the sunken ship. 6 Theories on What Happened to Edmund Fitzgerald. That evening, the ship radioed another vessel, Avafors, with a warning: Fitzgerald: (shouting) DONT LET NOBODY ON DECK!, Avafors: Whats that, Fitzgerald? Edmund Fitzgerald Sinking: Weather? Crash? Failure? Some theories are nonsense relating to UFOs or a Great Lakes Bermuda Triangle in the area where the ship sank. The Tragedy of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald Quiz | World | 10 Questions We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. The well-respected captain was born in Ontario, Canada, but lived later in life with his wife in Ottawa Hills. 11 Things to Know About Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald - Awesome Mitten COOP Reports In fact, the Fitzgerald -- known as a workhorse ship that set numerous cargo hauling records -- was allowed by 1975 to sit a touch over 3 feet deeper in the water when laden with cargo than originally intended when the ship was launched in 1958. A 2010 television episode of Dive Detectives simulated the effect of a 56-foot wave on a scale model of the Fitzgerald. The tragic shipwreck left no survivors, but their memory lives on in the folk singers hit song. The two large sections of the hull give no firm indication of how the vessel came apart. At 7:10 p.m., when asked how they were making out, Capt. Image: Restored Fitzgerald bell at Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum Whitefish Point, MI - credit is flickr.com, CURRENT HAZARDS Climate Science The Tragic Story of The Edmund Fitzgerald, Whose Crew Was Never Seen Again - ABTC Advertisement What caused the Edmund Fitzgerald to sink? If they continued on course, the super waves would have hit the Fitzgerald 10 minutes later. Satellite The Storm that Sunk the Edmund Fitzgerald | Teaching Great Lakes Science Perfect Storm Caused Fitzgerald to Sink - Gift Baskets From Michigan Edmund Fitzgerald Wreck: Great Lakes Legend Keeps Growing SIMON: And years ago, when I was doing a story on an oar boat in the Great Lakes SIMON: I had a sailor explain to me they're not placid waters. 47 years later, people and communities in the Great Lakes region and beyond remember their loss. Michigan borders four out of the five Great Lakes. Regardless of the specific cause, historical weather data sheds some light on the circumstances surrounding the Fitzgerald's sinking. Fire Weather As the heavy cargo shifted forward quickly while the. He's a pastor at the 179-year-old church and joins us now. "She took on water all the time and her tunnels flooded out on her," Woodward said. The exact cause of the sinking still remains unknown. Why was the Edmund Fitzgerald so famous? And since it would take anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes to deploy a lifeboat, there was no chance that anybody could survive the . TOLEDO, Ohio Editor's note: The attached video is from a segment relating to the Fitzgerald that aired on Nov. 10, 2021. In 2009, retired naval architect Raymond Ramsey, who helped design the Fitzgerald hull wrote that the maintenance history, increased cargo loading allowances and construction of the Fitzgerald made her unseaworthy the night she went down. The True Story behind Gordon Lightfoots The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, Tupac Shakur, His Mother, and His Song Dear Mama, The Drama That Fueled Fleetwood Macs Rumours, How Patsy Cline and Willie Nelson Made Crazy, 8 Facts About Son of a Sinner Singer Jelly Roll, Your Privacy Choices: Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads. In 2005, government agency NOAA - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - and the National Weather Service ran a computer simulation that emulated the weather in the area at the time of the shipwreck. The church bell chimed till it rang twenty-nine times So compelling was their case on the TV documentary series Dive Detectives that singer/songwriter Gordon Lightfoot revised some of the lyrics of his ballad, The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.. Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald: When did it sink? These storm systems frequently produced heavy windstorms over the Great Lakes often referred to as The Gales of November. By early afternoon, the low pressure system had crossed Lake Superior and moved northeast toward the James bay. Famous Musicians Country Singers The True Story behind Gordon Lightfoot's "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" The tragic shipwreck left no survivors, but their memory lives on in the folk. This low pressure system was driven by strong contrasts in temperatures often found in the stormy month of November. Four days later, the ship was found in deep water by a US Navy aircraft. Thank you. What caused "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald?" - NavWeaps BGSU University Libraries, 21 Nov. 2019, lib.bgsu.edu/finding_aids/items/show/738. The Edmund Fitzgerald was christened on June 7, 1958, at the time the largest of any vessel on the Great Lakes. (SOUNDBITE OF GORDON LIGHTFOOT SONG, "THE WRECK OF THE EDMUND FITZGERALD"). If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. No distress calls were ever received. Canadian songwriter Gordon Lightfoot immortalized the loss of the Fitzgerald and all 29 aboard with his 1976 hit song "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald." The slow flooding supposedly went unnoticed by the captain and crew until it caused an imperceptible but fatal buoyancy loss and eventually sent the Fitzgerald plunging to the bottom. Although the Nov. 10 storm was certainly the catalyst for the incident, the actual cause remains uncertain. But the storm she would experience in the coming hours would be so intense, so ferocious, that even Capt. The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald | National Museum of American History The Edmund Fitzgerald sank so quickly that the exact cause of the accident is still a mystery, though dives to examine the wreckage revealed the ship had split in half. WFO MQT Observation, FORECASTS The heavy seas overwhelmed a ship that had already lost freeboard and was listing. Local The wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, . PDF RE-CREATING THE SINKING OF THE EDMUND FITZGERALD - Texas A&M University To register for a tour, click here. Last year, after leading their own research and investigation into the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald, including simulating the actual weather and sea conditions, Canadians Mike Fletcher and his son Warren concluded that a rogue wave delivered the final blow to an already damaged ship. Accessed 25 June 2023. Edmund Fitzgerald was later discovered to be broken into two large pieces. Scrubs en Apple Podcasts Scrubs on Apple Podcasts We now ring the bell eight times for those who have lost their lives on the Great Lakes - once for each of the Great Lakes, once for Lake St. Clair, once for the Detroit and St. Clair Rivers, and then once for the St. Lawrence Seaway. In the Duluth News-Tribune, another former crew member, Jim Woodard, claims the Fitzgerald was a "wet" ship. On Lake Superior, a group of three rogue waves referred to as the Three Sisters. The ship was vital to Great Lakes maritime commerce, setting haul records, causing it to become known as "The Pride of the American Side," a name referenced in Gordon Lightfoot's famous 1976 ballad, "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald." First, it ran aground in Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan, in September 1969. LAKE SUPERIOR -- Nobody really knows what caused the Edmund Fitzgerald to sink, but that sure hasnt stopped people from trying to solve the mystery. As the heavy cargo shifted forward quickly while the Fitzgerald was going down, the bow of the ship hit the bottom with such force that the vessel snapped in two. LAKE SUPERIOR -- Nobody really knows what caused the Edmund Fitzgerald to sink, but that sure hasn't stopped people from trying to solve the mystery. YouTube: Scrubs I just post my Storytime's to this since length isn't limited. The U.S. Coast Guard and National Transportation Safety Board both issued official investigation reports that many dismiss in favor of a theory favored by the Lake Carriers Association. RT @6Voodoo: We all just pretend like a U-boat didn't sink the Edmund Fitzgerald and Gordon Lightfoot isn't just a liar. Written before the wreckage of the ship was found, it deviates from the known sequence of events, and contains some artistic omissions and paraphrases. On July 4, 1995, divers recovered the Fitzgeralds bell from the bottom of Lake Superior, replacing it with a replica engraved with the names of the crew. So do the results of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) when a few years ago they recreated the Fitzgerald storm using 21st-century tools. On Nov. 10, 1975, the gales of November came early to Lake Superior and took with them the SS Edmund Fitzgerald and the lives of 29 crew. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Several days later, the remains of the ship were discovered in two pieces on the bottom of Lake Superior, only 17 miles from the safety of Whitefish Bay. We all just pretend like a U-boat didn't sink the Edmund Fitzgerald and Gordon Lightfoot isn't just a liar. Then, the ship would have lost buoyancy and stability and sunk without warning. Edmund Fitzgerald's final hours: 8 things to know If the ship had "hogged" upon striking the shoal, it could have caused the topside damage reported by Fitzgerald captain Ernest McSorley in the hours before the sinking. Also, Steve Bannon finds ONE actual coincidence (at your expense), Biden hears a boom, Gordon Lightfoot sank the Edmund Fitzgerald (cui bono? The Edmund Fitzgerald was a Great Lakes freighter that sank in a storm on November 14, 1975, and few understand what happened to cause the freighter to sink. And am taking heavy seas over the deck. One of the worst seas Ive been in., At 7 p.m., the Fitzgerald radioed another nearby ship, We are holding our own.. LAKE SUPERIOR -- Nobody really knows what caused the Edmund Fitzgerald to sink, but that hasn't stopped people from trying to unravel the mystery. At 7:10 p.m., the captain radioed the message We are holding our own. Five minutes later, the ship disappeared from radar and was never heard from again. Federal investigators looking into Bitwise, according to California media report, Lucas County Health Department hosting summer farmers markets to promote healthy eating, Air quality warning issued for northwest Ohio, southeast Michigan due to wildfire smoke, Dry Wednesday with sunshine peaking through haze; heat rises to 90 on Thursday | WTOL 11 Weather, Lake sturgeon stockings show promise for return of prehistoric fish to Lake Erie, Shipwreck discovered in Lake Superior, 131 years later. Whether through music, museums, education or the continued importance of Great Lakes shipping commerce, Toledoans are still impacted by the legacy of the Edmund Fitzgerald. On Nov. 10, 1975, the gales of November came early to Lake Superior and took with them the SS Edmund Fitzgerald and the lives of 29 crew. Its mysterious demise inspired Gordon Lightfoot 's hit song " The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" (1976), which helped make it the most famous shipwreck in the Great Lakes. Please try another search. This detailed animation shows how Edmund Fitzgerald sank on Lake Superior during a storm on the 10th of November 1975.#EdmundFitzgerald #ships #sinking The LCA thinks the Fitzgerald grounded on the poorly-marked Six Fathom Shoal northwest of Caribou Island, causing fatal damage to the hull. The cause of the Fitzgerald's sinking prompted much discussion with multiple theories offered for it through the years and in the Nov. 19, 1975 edition of the Charlevoix Courier, experts . Photograph by Rus Hurt, courtesy of Hartwell Etc. The Fitzgeraldwas labeled For 17 years, the Fitzgerald was the Pride of the American Flag, setting all kinds of tonnage and shipping records. The wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, and thousands of other ships - NPR As a freighter, the Fitzgerald transported iron ore from Duluth, Minnesota to Detroit and Toledo, making approximately 47 of these five-day-long trips per season. Our Office Edmund Fitzgerald Timeline S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald Online It sank 17 miles from Whitefish Point on Michigan's Upper Peninsula, an area that has claimed at least 240 . Water poured in through a sudden hatch failure. What was the Edmund Fitzgerald? - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Just_A_Transistor on Twitter: "RT @6Voodoo: We all just pretend like a Gordon Lightfoot liked this theory, posited by the National Transportation Safety Board a year after the Coast Guard issued its report. The site is littered with her cargo of taconite pellets and debris from parts of the ship. The Great Lakes shipwreck museum keeps a torch burning for the memory of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald. LAKE SUPERIOR -- Nobody really knows what caused the Edmund Fitzgerald to sink, but that sure hasn't stopped people from trying to solve the mystery. Jeffrey Hubbard describes the event's significance and its roots in a 1975 shipwreck. The main tool that we will use is Dr. Jerry Tessendorf's proprietary rendering software Gilligan, which is able to simulate oceans, waves, splashes, and mist with a high level of scientific accuracy. on the Great Lakes, and remained so until 1971. It's still unknown exactly how the ship sank, but many believe that the Edmund Fitzgerald started taking water over its hull as the storm over. Maybe someday we will learn the exact cause. Whatever caused the Edmund Fitzgerald to sink, it happened fast. All 29 people onboard were lost. For example, the original version referenced a crewman in charge of the main hatchway that, upon its failure, said, Fellas, its been good to know ya. Lightfoot rewrote the line in order to avoid upsetting family members of crewmen that operated the ships hatches. Biography and associated logos are trademarks of A+E Networksprotected in the US and other countries around the globe. 47 years later, people and communities in the Great Lakes . Jesse B. Cooper told an audience in Wisconsin the Anderson was struck from astern that evening by a pair of huge waves, which rolled over his ship and continued on toward the Fitzgerald. The Horrific Sinking Of The Edmund Fitzgerald Remains An Unsolved - MSN Rescuers found a few empty lifeboats, buoys, and other bits of debris on the lake. . Advertisement In history, there have been ships that have made men wonder. The wind and waves could have caused the mighty ship to capsize. Here's how its impact is still felt today across the Great Lakes region today. Others overlap in some ways. As it happened: How local news reported the sinking of the Edmund Of note, the NTSB report included a dissenting opinion that held to this theory. Email us at exclusive@the-sun.com or call 212 416 4552. Aviation NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. The wind and waves were certainly comparable to other storms Captain McSorely and the Edmund Fitzgerald had easily weathered. 6 Theories on What Happened to Edmund Fitzgerald September 4. ", RELATED: Lake sturgeon stockings show promise for return of prehistoric fish to Lake Erie. In 1977, the U.S Coast Guard pinned the sinking on massive flooding of the cargo hold caused by faulty or poorly fastened hatch covers. Without a steady waterline to go by, no one on board notices the gradual settling of the vessel. However, a blinding snowstorm hit that caused wind gusts of nearly 100 miles per hour and waves as high as 35 feet. A Navy underwater recovery vehicle photographed the wreckage on May 20, 1976. Well, the Edmund Fitzgerald was and is still one of them. US Dept of Commerce The wind and waves were certainly comparable to other storms Captain McSorely and the Edmund Fitzgerald had easily weathered. Please select one of the following: The Coast Guard conducted a thorough search in the next several days. was going down, the bow of the ship hit the bottom with such force that the vessel snapped in two. On November 9, 1975, the ships captain, Ernest McSorley, and crew took off from Superior, Wisconsin, and headed for Detroit with a cargo of taconite pellets (that is, low grade iron ore). Another theory suggests the cargo hold became flooded due to ineffective hatch closures. Though the Fitzgerald sits in two pieces at the bottom of Lake Superior, communities in the Great Lakes region still remember the loss that affected so many lives. The sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald is one of the most famous maritime disasters in modern history entered a place of cult status. On the night of November 10, 1975, shortly after seven fifteen, the 729-foot long iron ore freighter, Edmund Fitzgerald, nose-dived to the bottom of Great Lake Superior. The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down Edmund Fitzgerald: The Shipwreck that Never Gave Up Its Dead There was a change in this service about 15 years ago when we switched from remembering only the men aboard the Fitz to remembering everyone who's lost their lives in the Great Lakes. The Lake Superior twitter account sent out a series of tweets with the names and job positions of each of the lost crew members. November 10 marks the anniversary of the loss of the Edmund. Winter Weather Great Lakes captains, family members, and friends pay their respects at a memorial service for the Edmund Fitzgerald crew at Detroits Mariners Church. All hands were lost. Certainly, Lightfoots song is what carved that name into the collective consciousness of the continent. On Nov. 10, 2022, the Anderson was in Detroit. Forty-six years ago this week, the Edmund Fitzgerald sank in a storm as the boat carried iron ore toward Detroit from Superior, Wis. As Gordon Lightfoot sang (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THE WRECK OF THE EDMUND FITZGERALD"). 6 theories on what caused the Edmund Fitzgerald to sink. While commonly associated with its final resting place in Lake Superior after an early November storm, the Fitzgerald has several ties to northwest Ohio and Toledo. In a similar vein, Paul Hainault, a retired Michigan Tech University professor, postulated a seiche caused the ship to scrape the bottom of Superior Shoal early that morning and the weakened hull eventually gave out. Then, over the course of the next year, it collided with another ship and a lock wall in separate incidents. The Sinking of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald. And then we ring it a ninth time for military personnel who have lost their lives in service to our nation as we get - with the proximity to Veterans Day. The idea of a group of rogue waves has also been tossed around - a rogue wave is an unusually large and unpredictable wave that seemingly appears out of nowhere - as they were reported in the area at the time of the sinking. McSorley commented it was one of the worst seas he had ever seen. Theories continue to abound surrounding the cause of the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Below is a breakdown of the main theories: Faulty hatch covers caused massive internal flooding. The 75-minute tours are on Nov. 12 and 13. HUBBARD: Sure. The iron ore freighter Edmund Fitzgerald sank to the bottom of Lake Superior during a hurricane-like storm on the night of Nov. 10, 1975. Captain Ernest M. McSorley had loaded her with 26,116 long tons of taconite pellets, made of processed iron ore, heated and rolled into marble-size balls. Almost 36 years after the Edmund Fitzgerald sank to the bottom of Lake Superior, taking its 29 crew members with her, mystery still surrounds just what happened on Sunday, Nov. 9, 1975 to sink the 729-foot freighter. She sank like a rock. Over the years, he also developed personal relationships with the families of the deceased sailors. None of the 29 people aboard survived. Burgner said a shipyard worker showed him evidence of old keel weld breaks during the 1972-73 winter lay-up that were brought to McSorley and dismissed. Example video title will go here for this video. It sailed without incident for more than 11 years before suffering a series of mishaps. Visit the NOAA website for details of the report. The mystery is compounded by mud covering key parts of the wreck and a legal prohibition on further dives imposed by the Canadian government. GLMS 24 - Marine Board of Investigation: Sinking of the EDMUND FITZGERALD