How the Edmund Fitzgerald sank.....

Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee
The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead
When the skies of November turn gloomy     (Gordon Lightfoot)

Many of us remember this song.  It was one of my favorites, as was Gordon Lightfoot....After reading a hub on the largest lakes, it made me think of this song, and the perils faced by the ships crew.  

Knowing what I know of storms on the water, and having spent many hours on the ocean sailing and fishing, I decided to look further into the demise of this vessel, and what I found rather shocked me.  

Than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty
That good ship and true was a bone to be chewed
When the gales of November came early (Gordon Lightfoot)

The Edmund Fitzgerald was the pride of the lakes. The largest taconite bulk lake carrier; construction started in 1957 and was completed and launched in '58,,,,Built to carry taconite from the mines near Duluth, MN (which is not too far from where I live) to iron works in Detroit, Toledo and various other ports.

The vessel had a capacity of 24,100 Tons, the twenty one watertight hatches were 11.6 X 54.1 feet, made of 5/16 inch steel...Originally it burned coal for fuel, but in 1971-'72 was converted to oil burning for fuel. It's length was 729 feet and until 1971 was the largest boat on the Great Lakes.

Being such a large vessel, it is amazing to me that it had only a few mishaps during it's voyages, such as running aground in '69 and running into the SS Hochelaga in 1970...and running into the walls of various locks several times. For those of you unfamiliar with what locks are, they are a system to maneuver ships from varying heights of either sea water or lake water....the vessel is moved into the lock, the water lowered or heightened until it reaches the same level of the next body of water. Lake and ocean floor depth varies, so this system was developed for ease in boat travel....

With such a large vessel as the Edmund Fitzgerald, I was amazed to discover so few mishaps...it could not have been very easy to steer with it's sheer size and weight fully loaded.

In November of 1975, the vessel left Superior Wisconsin fully loaded on it's way to the steel mill in Zug Island, Detroit, Michigan and was joined by another vessel, the Arthur M Anderson-destination Gary, Indiana......though fully loaded, the Fitzgerald was by far the superior vessel and took the lead......

Crossing Lake Superior, an early winter storm suddenly came over the lake carrying with it winds of 58 mph and waves of 35 foot and sometimes higher....The weather was so bad, all the locks were closed on every side the two ships could have taken safe harbor in...they were left to their own defenses and knowledge.....in my estimation, they should have stopped, anchored down and rode out the storm.....but they kept moving.

Late in the afternoon on November 10, the SS Anderson was struck by a hurricane force gust of 75 miles an hour.....the Fitzgerald had already been having challenges with the height of the waves and the buffeting winds.....and started taking on water.....

At this point again for those of you who are unfamiliar with wave action on boats, whether in lakes or ocean, there is such a thing as a rogue wave. These waves form unexpectedly, are able to reach a 98 foot height......in varying conditions with the wind and the wave direction caused by the wind. These are not tsunamis. They are rogue waves. Vertical walls of water preceded by troughs so deep the trough is referred to as a hole in the sea (or in this case lake.)

In addition to the rain, heavy wind, buffeting the vessels about, when the 75 mile an hour gust hit the Anderson, the Fitzgerald had already been adding water to it's holds, the the unthinkable happened......Their radar was lost and the lighthouse which should have guided both vessels to safety was knocked out by the sheer ferocity of the storm.....Radio contact was lost, the vessel was listing heavily to the side, the Anderson lost sight of it.

It took an hour and a half to convince the Coast Guard the Fitzgerald had indeed gone down and the storm was so bad it took a few days to find it........

Going back to the rogue waves......people who are of seagoing nature know these happen, and during a storm such as this they are inevitable. A major controversy was started as the the sinking and as the Canadian maps and the American maps of the lake floors are different, the Fitzgerald could have struck a hidden shoal and started taking on water from the bottom of the hull, the Coast Guard blamed it on "faulty hatch covers" which was not the case....but again, it had to be blamed on something --the crew or covers to cover the insurance company's "butt"....

In reality, after some years, it is almost definitively being blamed on the "three sisters". A group of rogue waves .......which damaged the hatch covers, the first two hitting, and then the third breaking the water laden vessel apart. The Discovery Channel "discovered" this fact and since reports from the Anderson were that two of these waves had been sighted already, this is the final belief of what happened to the great vessel....The Edmund Fitzgerald.

Lake waters are notorious for storms and warnings are always given to stay off the water, but already being too far to come to safe harbor......such a sad story and eloquently memorialized by Gordon Lightfoot.....

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee
Superior, they say, never gives up her dead
When the gales of November come early. (Gordon Lightfoot)

February 14, 2010 Half Moon Bay, CA.....rogue wave disrupts surfing contest, breaks bones and causes other injuries.....

March 4, 2010.. Cruise Passenger ship.....Cypriot owned vessel Louis Majesty hit by rogue waves up to 26 foot high....2 dead, 6 hurt...breaking glass in forward deck....

These waves exist. They are dangerous and come from nowhere. It is my belief, along with the Discovery Channel that this is in reality what caused the final demise of this great vessel....

As there is some concern as to the validity of some of my statements, here is an exerpt from Wikipdedia concerning the tragic wreck.

"..........that inoperative radar forced the crew to rely on inaccurate charts. The Canadian and American versions of the same chart placed shoals and shallow water in different places, and failed to mark some shoals at all. As a result, Fitzgerald briefly ran aground or scraped a shoal near Caribou Island without the crew being aware of it. Consequently, she received bottom damage, which caused her to gradually take on water until she sank so suddenly in the deep water that none of her crew had time to react. The ship, pile-driving into the lake bottom, snapped in half, and its stern landed upside-down on the bottom. (If so, given the ship's length vs. the depth of the water, the stern could still have been above water when the bow hit bottom, similar to the sinking of the RMS Lusitania.) This theory is supported by final radio communications between Anderson and Fitzgerald; Anderson had been struck by two large waves that were heading toward Fitzgerald. If the hull had indeed been breached, it would be difficult to prove. Fitzgerald has settled in mud up to her load marks, making it impossible to inspect for damage.

A documentary created and aired by the Discovery Channel investigated a large "fold" found in the hull plating. Previous defects with cargo hold covers and clamps as well as cracking issues were also addressed. Through the use of wave tanks and computer simulation, the Discovery Channel team speculated the loss of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald was due to a rogue wave. Reports show three large waves were detected, two of which were reported by the Anderson. Such a grouping of waves is often called "three sisters". As per the investigation, it was theorized that the Fitzgerald was badly battered by the first two waves, further damaging the hatch covers. It was surmised ultimately that the Fitzgerald took on water through the damaged cargo hold covers, which flooded the ore cargo and severely stressed the ship's hull, and was then overwhelmed by the third wave that snapped the weakened ship in half. ......."

We all must view Wikipedia as telling the truth. Rogue Waves are very dangerous and can most certainly cause deathly damage to any vessel they encounter.