The Lake Carriers Association was inclined to accept that Fitzgerald passed over the Six Fathom Shoal Area as reported by Captain Cooper. The Naugatuck arrived at 12:45 pm on November 11, and the Woodrush arrived on November 14, having journeyed all the way from Duluth, Minnesota. As the afternoon wore on, radio communications with the Fitzgerald concerned navigational information but no extraordinarily alarming reports were offered by Captain McSorley. What also can be stated with certainty is that sometime between 7:10 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., the Fitzgerald simply disappeared into Lake Superior about 15 miles from the shelter of Whitefish Bay just west of Sault Ste. 5. Sawyer AFB in the UP of Michigan, crew member on a rescue helo. The wreck continues to rust and deteriorate over time despite the fresh water nature of Lake Superior. Within days, the location of the wreck on the bottom of the lake was pinpointed by U.S. Navy aircraft and the following spring the Coast Guard positively identified the wreckage using underwater photography. Theorists have sized upon the permanent lay-up of the Fitzgerald sister ship, the Arthur Homer, in 1980 as indicative of structural deficiency both vessels. He could clearly see the ship and the beacon on Caribou on his radar set and could measure the distance between them. I myself and my classmates are without a doubt able to state that is not only a prime example of media misinformation. In the early afternoon of Nov. 10, the Fitzgerald had passed Michipicoten Island and was approaching Caribou Island, steaming toward Whitefish Bay at Superiors east end.. Adding to that puzzle is the fact that its captain never uttered a word of serious concern for his ship nor reported his problems to the Coast Guard. Captain Jesse Cooper, (J.C.) of the S.S. Arthur M. Anderson watches the Fitzgerald round Caribou Island and comments that the Fitzgerald is much closer to Six Fathom Shoal than he would want to be. The main deck behind the superstructure, which included the forward cargo hatches appears to have collapsed entirely and the sides of the hull are bending outwards. Near-hurricane force winds seemed to pick up strength throughout the day while visibility was greatly reduced. For the boating safety class Tom treated us to footage of some of the many shipwrecks that he has dove over his own career which included a full unedited version of the Jacques Cousteau expedition. And around 7:15 pm, the pip was lost again, but this time, did not reappear. By this point, McSorley knew his ship was in serious trouble and opted to head full steam towards the natural protection of Whitefish Bay to ride out the storm and protect his ship and crew from further damage.By 6:00 PM, the storm had worsened and its likely theFitzgeraldwas riding even lower in the water, due to much larger 35 foot high waves, heavier damage caused by the waves and an even larger amount of water in her hull the pumps seemed unable to cope with. Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement (updated 4/4/2023), Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement, and Your Privacy Choices and Rights (updated 1/26/2023). Cities by ZIP Code. He and his officers watched the Fitzgerald pass right over the dangerous area of shallow water. Beyond these improvements on board the ships, the marine weather reports have become more sophisticated and accessible, with detailed charts now printed out electronically in the pilothouse. Because of the Great Depression, the island was not restocked and the island was more or less abandoned by the approximately 15 owners-in-common. Captain Cooper of the Anderson mentioned the possibility of a stress fracture in his testimony before the marine board and also included it in his personal story of the wreck in James R. Marshalls Shipwrecks of Lake Superior. Im checking down. The lifeboats recovered were unused. Cooper tried desperately to raise McSorley on the radio to no avail. By 1979, a new Loran broadcast station began operating at Baudette, Minnesota, giving sailors easy access to their location, speed, course being steered and other information. By its last voyage, the freighter had made about 748 round trips. That finding was quickly challenged by the Lake Carriers Association (LCA) and by many seasoned sailors. 7 Caribou populations naturally fluctuate on 40-70 . In the steel towns to Gary's east, Cleveland, Detroit, Pittsburg, Bethlehem and others, urban decay also set in and still remains today (2021). I have a fence rail down, two vents lost or damaged, and a list. The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down Caribou Island is part of a large glacial moraine that accumulated south of Michipicoten Island. Captain Cooper maintained that he watched the Edmund Fitzgerald pass far too close to Six Fathom Shoal to the north of Caribou Island. Add to Cart. it be nice if they stopped talking about White Fish Bay which is 15 (N) miles from where it went down. Were going to try to contact those saltwater vessels and see if they cant possibly come about and possibly come back alsothings look pretty bad right now; it looks like she may have split apart at the seams like the Morrell did a few years back., Well, thats what I been thinking. That would likely mean that it was at the forward end of the weather deck. Not long after the search ended, years of arguments and disagreements over what could have caused theEdmund Fitzgeraldto sink have clouded up any hope of truly understanding what occurred the night of November 10, 1975 as the shipping companies, government agencies and sea fairers of the Great Lakes all have different theories and opinions that do not match. 400 W. Portage Avenue There was no answer. First mate Clark spoke to the Fitzgerald one last time, about 7:10 pm: Fitzgerald, this is the Anderson. Caribou Island and Southwest Bank Protection Area means the area enclosed by rhumb lines connecting the following coordinates, beginning on the northernmost point and proceeding clockwise: 4730.0 N, 08550.0 W 4724.2 N, 08538.5 W 4704.0 N, 08549.0 W 4705.7 N, 08559.0 W 4718.1 N, 08605.0 W. A body that was seen but not retrieved is not a recovered body. Conjecture by proponents of the Six Fathom Shoal theory concluded that Fitzgerald ' s downed fence rail reported by McSorley could occur only if the ship "hogged" during shoaling, . As the afternoon dragged on, the storm worsened. There are no more Iron Boats. What's obvious is that wind and waves played a big role in the sinking. There is no conspiracy or disinformation campaign on that fact. For books, videos, and memorabilia about the Fitzgerald, her loss, and her legacy, visit theShipwreck Coast Museum Store . The owners knew of the EF's structural problem, and had the steel already cut to effect yet another repair. "I've often wondered whether these two particular seas might have been the ones that finally did the Fitzgerald in, because they were really huge," he said. Caribou is located on the North Fork Feather River, 9.5 miles (15.3 km) south of Almanor. Cooper radioed theFitzgerald at 7:10 PMuknown to him that it would be the final communication with McSorley. The Anderson's captain also made statements in 1986 seemingly supportive of the rogue wave theory. Just to late for the 29. But what caused the ship to take on water, enough to lose buoyancy and dive to the bottom so quickly, without a single cry for help, cannot be determined. The ship would bend and flex in sometimes un-natural means and the keel would at times be lifted over two inches above the bottom ofFitzgerald'shull during a violent storm. George Stegner recalled last year how he was on duty that night: I was on duty this night. Captain Woodard, who was acquainted with McSorley and had talked with him many times previously, said in testimony that he didnt recognize the voice when first they spoke and that McSorley sounded strange. The shoaling hypothesis suggests that the most probable cause of the Edmund Fitzgerald's wreckage was her shoaling or grounding in the Six Fathom Shoal northwest of Caribou Island when the crew was unable to use the Whitefish Point Light as a navigational aid. I have never been able to get that shot out of my head to this day 35 years later. Whether spoken from a desire to maintain calm in his pilothouse or from his own false sense of security, his assessment was obviously quite wrong. Yes, she almost certainly hit the shoals. FREE BOXES. In testimony before the marine board, Captain Cooper said that 10 miles southeast of Caribou he had waves cresting over the pilothouse - 35 feet above the waterline. This is futher indicated by the stern which lies completely upside down beside the bow; all superstructure buried deep into the mud. They therefore have the best genetics for surviving in this area. For the island near Thunder Bay, see, Caribou Island (near Michipicoten Island), Caribou Island near the international border. The ship broke in half and quickly sank. 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 26,116 long tons more than the great iron boat weighed empty. The final voyage of the Edmund Fitzgerald began November 9, 1975 at the Burlington Northern Railroad Dock No.1, Superior, Wisconsin. The Fitzgerald being the faster took the lead, with the distance between the vessels ranging from 10 to 15 miles. Numerous authors have written books on the tragedy. At 3:30 PM, Captain McSorely reported to Captain Cooper aboard theAndersonthat theFitzgeraldwas taking on water and had a reported list of 20 degrees towards starboard. Caribou Island is an uninhabited island in the eastern end of Lake Superior, 40 kilometres (25 mi) south of Michipicoten Island. The Anderson was just approaching Michipicoten, about three miles off the West End Light. However, Northwestern Mutual apparently decided to remedy the problem regardingFitzgerald'sloose keel. Had she sailed two days later, empty, for repairs (very good timing, actually) none of this would have happened. Marie. Officially, the report of the U.S. Coast Guard marine board of inquiry states that the most probable cause of the sinking was loss of buoyancy due to massive flooding of the cargo hold through ineffective hatch closures. With the catastrophic damage to the ship and the way the ship is buried in the mud and the windows blown out and the collision with the bottom is there any possibility of a rogue wave catching the floundering ship and driving it to the bottom. Gaines, who began is career at the Saturday Review, the storied American weekly magazine that had started out as The Saturday Review of Literature in 1924, is now a Paris-based writer, would go onto become the first editor in chief of People magazine, as well as the editor of Time magazine, and also to serve as regional editor for the Americas, and then global editor-at-large for Reuters. Almost none of the bodies including that of Captain McSorley were ever found. Couseau had theorized a surface break up, which sounds similar to the Merril several years later. By this time, snow and rising spray had obscured the Fitzgerald from sight, visible 17 miles ahead on radar.. The bow lies mostly buried in the mud upright pointing towards Whitefish Bay. Our Specialties. It's a national disgrace. It was considered a private hunting preserve through the early 1900s. The 1976 hit single "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" by musician Gordon Lightfoot is the reason why theEdmund Fitzgeraldis currently the most famous shipwreck on the Great Lakes. Captain Jessie B. There have been about half a dozen dives to the site since the shipwreck in 1975. On this voyage, Fitzgerald was fully loaded with iron ore. Gordon Lightfoot liked this theory, posited by the National Transportation Safety Board a year after the Coast Guard issued its report. Until 1959,Edmund Fitzgeraldheld the record for the longest ship on the Great Lakes. Marie in 1967. Images of the Fitz's 1958 construction and launch. Located about a third forward of the stern, this working area is approximately the same as the area where the intact stern of the Fitz separated from the rest of the wreckage. None, of course, were found and only floating debris gave clues that the Fitzgerald and its crew were lost. Seeing the violence of the wind, sky and water on the night of November 10, 1975 while in northern Michigan, I awoke the next morning, for the only time in my life with the certainty that something ominous had or was about to occur. She would be travelling in tandem with the ore freighter Arthur M. Anderson under command of Captain Bernie Cooperto the Soo Locks at Sault Ste. [5][6], A dangerous reef known as "Six Fathom Shoal" stretches more than 1 mile (1.6km) north of the north point of the island, and is rumored to be the one the SS Edmund Fitzgerald shoaled on prior to sinking. Marie, Michigan, and Sault Ste. Captain Cooper tries again. In those seas, such a command goes without saying, so why did McSorley have to emphasize it? he asks. I have read recently that the shoal near the island doesn't exist but it was from a guy who favors the loose hold cover theory. The closest communities are Belden to the southwest, Twain to the southeast, Canyondam to the north, and Greenville to the east. Recovered, means retrieved from the depths. On May 20, 1976, the words Edmund Fitzgerald were clearly seen on the stern, upside down, 535 feet below the surface of the lake. Captain Cooper reported winds from the NW x W (305 ) at a steady 58 knots with gusts to 70 knots, and seas of 18 to 25 feet. Perhaps the most widely accepted of the several theories about the loss of the Fitzgerald is that the ship crossed Caribou Islands Six-Fathom Shoal, which nestles off the north end of the island with water as shallow as 26 feet. Although not a heavy weather vessel like a cutter, it is capable of handling larger seas than the Naugatuck, the harbor tug previously stationed at the Soo. The Fitzgerald is about 16 miles ahead. In 2006, a National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration study recreated the storm in a computer and discovered that the Fitzgerald and its floating companion, the Arthur M. Anderson, inadvertently steamed into the heart of the storm by taking the northern route across Lake Superior to avoid what they thought would be treacherous waves along the established, more direct southern route. The ships were nearing Whitefish Bay. The wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald lies at the bottom of the southeastern portion of Lake Superior in 530 feet of water. She was already moving slow and was listing as well. FAQs. Art & Exhibitions Departing Superior about 2:30 pm, she was soon joined by the Arthur M. Anderson, which had departed Two Harbors, Minnesota under Captain Bernie Cooper. What was eventually found only included destroyed remains of the ships two lifeboats, life preservers and items from the ship's galleys. Theory 2: Six-Fathom Shoal Perhaps the most widely accepted of the several theories about the loss of the Fitzgerald is that the ship crossed Caribou Island's Six-Fathom Shoal, which nestles off the north end of the island with water as shallow as 26 feet. In July 1979, he would go onto co-author the book Great American Dreams: A Portrait of the Way We Are with the Washington Posts Robert Kaiser. These records are part of the Records of Bureau of the Census, Record Group (RG) 29. The story is about Inuit hunting the toughest Caribou until only . Cannon, W.F., Green, A.G., Hutchinson, D.R., Lee, M., Milkereit, B., Behrendt, J.C., Halls, H.C., Green, J.C., Dickas, A.B., Morey, G.B. But the Coast Guard called Captain Cooper back at 9:00 pm: Anderson, this is Group Soo. Bernie Cooper of the Anderson reported his concern for the Fitzgerald to the Coast Guard station in Sault Ste. McSorely had also ordered the pumps to be turned on in order to keep the ingress of water out of the cargo hold.By 4:10 PM, the list had not gotten any better and theFitzgeraldwas still taking on water, effectively sinking. Email him at gellison@mlive.com or follow on Twitter & Instagram. All rights reserved. You can listen to it here at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8LBkYjniTU. Inspired in large part by reading Gaines and Lowells Newsweek story, Gordon Lightfoot recorded The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald the following month in December 1975 at Eastern Sound, a recording studio made out of two Victorian houses at 48 Yorkville Ave. in downtown Toronto. When originally built, it was visible for 16 miles (26km) and operated on a 30-second revolving cycle. Significantly, within a few minutes of passing the shoal, the Fitzs Captain Ernest McSorley reported a starboard list, missing vents and a fence rail down. All rights reserved (About Us). I hear they found the crewmen's bodies and than I heard they never did that this was a rumor. Capt. Only one other vessel, the William Clay Ford, was able to leave the safety of Whitefish Bay to join in the search at the time. The theories include structural failure, rouge waves and the possibility the ship bottomed out while passing over Six Fathom Shoal thereby causing the hull to fracture. A more serious issue was determined by poor construction and design. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. Stationed at K.I. The steel and iron plates still sat on the dock two years later. The Arthur M. Anderson, an ore carrier in the U.S. Steel fleet, had been trailing and providing navigational information to the Fitzgerald because the Fitzs radars had malfunctioned about four hours earlier. Your comment will appear after being approved. Captains challenge high waves with he bow, not the stern. In the early afternoon of November 10, the Fitzgerald had passed Michipicoten Island and was approaching Caribou Island. Five years later in 1980, Jacques Cousteaus famous Calypso arrived for the first manned dive inside an underwater vessel to the site. No sailors in life vests were found. Cooper asked McSorley how they were doing. The ships were nearing Whitefish Bay. Less than 20 minutes later when the Anderson cleared a snow squall, its radars lost contact and the Big Fitz, as seamen called the ship, passed from the land of the living into legend. The modification never took place and the patch plates could be seen at the shipyard a couple of years after theFitzgerald'sdemise.TheEdmund Fitzgeralddeparted on what would be her last voyage the afternoon of November 9, 1975 leaving the iron ore docks of Superior, Wisconsin bound for aZug Island steel foundry near Detroit,Michigan. One winter, in the 1920s, the caribou walked off the island when the lake froze over. NARA microfilm publication M1931, Index to Selected City Streets and Enumeration Districts, 1930 Census (7 rolls) reproduces a 57-volume typescript index to selected city streets and enumeration districts of the Fifteenth Census of the United States taken in 1930. From what I know, the Fitzgerald sank 45 years ago as of posting this comment, soon to be 46. Ten miles ahead, Captain McSorley learned from Captain Cedric Woodard, a U.S. pilot aboard the Swedish-flagged Avafors, that neither the light nor directional radio beacon at Whitefish Point were working. I, respectfully, can't and won't feel the magnitude of this tragedy by those directly affected. With the load she was carrying as she was driven down would it not shift forward and drive the ship down at a rapid rate causing so much damage? Caribou Island is an uninhabited island in the eastern end of Lake Superior, 40 kilometres (25mi) south of Michipicoten Island. Dave Sproule, a natural heritage education and marketing specialist with Ontarios Department of Environment, Conservation and Parks Land and Water Division in Sudbury, has written Lake Superior is a weathermaker so big it creates its own weather At about 5:20 pm the crest of a wave smashed the Andersons starboard lifeboat, making it unusable. On November 14, a U.S. Navy plane equipped with a magnetic anomaly detector located a strong contact 17 miles north-northwest of Whitefish Point. He again voiced grave concern that the Fitzgerald was missing at 8:32 p.m. Search and rescue efforts started immediately after Coopers second call, but the nearest Coast Guard vessel that could sail in the huge seas was the Woodrush, stationed 300 miles away in Duluth, Minnesota. The island was acquired completely by the Roys A. Ellis family in the 1960s and was transferred to the Mellon Conservancy Trust of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in the early 1980s to never be developed. Conflicting theories about the cause of the tragedy remain active today. One man lived to tell about what happened unlike the Fitz. It lies entirely within the territorial waters of Canada although only about five kilometres from the international border between Canada and the United States. The Western Arctic Herd is one of the largest caribou herds in Alaska and the world. 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. This took them between Isle Royale and the Keweenaw Peninsula. It is not known ifFitzgeraldhad struck bottom on the shoal or another nearby outcropping, but upon passing Caribou Island, the problems started. The laker, the pride of the American side, was still bigger than most, and had been the largest freighter to sail the Great Lakes when it was launched in 1958. In 2000, author Hugh Bishop pushed the "Three Sisters" theory about a trio of rogue waves that overwhelmed the Fitzgerald in quick succession. This theory was supported by a 1976 Canadian hydrographic survey, which disclosed that an unknown shoal ran a mile further east of Six Fathom Shoal than shown on the Canadian charts. Whatever prompted that command just a little over an hour before the sinking, Paquette analyzes that it would have been catastrophic and visible from the pilothouse in the darkness of an early November evening. Fitzgerald, there is a target 19 miles ahead of us. It was not long after thatFitzgeraldvanished from theAnderson'sradar. The NTSB hewed to the Coast Guard line somewhat, agreeing that that non-weathertight hatch covers probably caused flooding during the trip, but the board ultimately concluded the probable sinking cause was "sudden massive flooding of the cargo hold due to the collapse of one or more hatch covers." Already have an account? In that sense, the Fitzgerald met her fate on the path she took to avoid it. With mounting apprehension, Captain Cooper called the Coast Guard once again, about 8:00 pm, and firmly expressed his concern for the welfare of the Fitzgerald. A dynamic population. Although she had a good safety record, theFitzgerald'shull was, according to the anecdotes of mariners who set foot aboard her and sailed on her, a vessel with a loose keel. He said that he was going along like an old shoe; no problems at all., Well, again, do you think you could come about and go back and have a look in the area?, Well, Ill go back and take a look, but God, Im afraid Im going to take a hell of a beating out there Ill turn around and give er a whirl, but God, I dont know. sometimes we forget to pray that at times we could have been saved, at this time of events, it was meant to have happened, at it is not us who make the storm or to calm the storm..but, Sad to have lost what was a great ship and the people on board History is what I like.. Within a few years, Loran was rendered obsolete by the pinpoint accuracy of the Global Positioning System (GPS), which uses satellites to answer virtually any navigational question an officer might have. [7], These reefs are not coral reefs. Despite many people accepting this as the most likely scenario for the sudden list and deck damage, the photographic evidence for such a grounding simply doesnt exist. Its as certain as anything can be that sooner or later there will be another ship lost on Lake Superior, says maritime historian Frederick Stonehouse. While EPIRB would not have aided the crew of the Fitzgerald, it would have identified the sunken ship and given searchers a location to start their effort to find survivors. Diving expeditions on the shoals also found no evidence of any recent groundings there by a ship. 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. Broke in two and sank in minutes. The radar signal, or pip of the Fitzgerald kept getting obscured by sea return. Her track along the north shore was standard in inclement weather -- to shelter a bit from north winds. Reporting to the Anderson, the Fitzs Captain Ernest McSorley revealed the list and had activated two large ballast tank pumps to control it. This week, Minnesota tugboat captain Bob Hom, who sailed with McSorley before the man became captain of the Fitzgerald, claims McSorley once told him five years before the sinking he'd hate to be on the Fitzgerald in a big storm because 'They got it all worn out from years of overloading,'" Hom told the Duluth News-Tribune. Captain Cooper contacted the other ships in the area by radio asking if anyone had seen or heard from the Fitzgerald.
