Edmund Fitzgerald sank 36 years ago, 29 died

Bemidji Pioneer ^ | 11-10-11 | By: Tom Siemers

[WOBBLY BOB]

It’s been 36 years on Thursday since the ore boat Edmund Fitzgerald sank in a violent storm in eastern Lake Superior taking all 29 crew members with her.

The storm of November 9-10, 1975, ranks among the most powerful to strike the Lake Superior region.

[PDMiller]

Not to nit pick, but it was 26,000 tons, not pounds.

[Malsua]

with a load of iron ore 26 thousand pound more

Who knew they had a whole dump truck load of iron ore? I think you mean _TONS_.

[US_MilitaryRules]

One of my all-time favorites to.

[hsalaw]

One theory I heard was that the Edmund Fitzgerald was so long that it was caught by two waves at once, and broke up between them.

[ken5050]

I thought I saw a program a while back that had a new, and pretty good throey about how she went down so fast..something about the hatch covers on deck not being porperly fastened or aligned, ( a faulty mechanism?) so that they came off initially in the storm, and then the large waves broke over the ship, and she flooded rapidly..

It may have been Discover or NatGeo...you might want to search their websites...it might be archived...

[Buckeye McFrog]

from Seinfeld:

Elaine: What was the name of the ship in that song?
Jerry: Edmund Fitzgerald
Elaine: I LOVE Edmund Fitzgerald’s voice!
Jerry: No, Edmund Fitzgerald was the ship. Gordon Lightfoot was the singer.
Elaine: Are you sure? I thought Gordon Lightfoot was the ship.
Jerry: Yeah, and it was rammed by the Cat Stevens

[Maine Mariner]

Yes, that is one theory and it is pretty good; another which has been posted suggested the fully loaded ship had a wave on the bow and a wave on the stern, the middle was lifted out of the water and the bottom just gave out.

Also remember, the Fizgerald’s hull may have been weakened over time. She went into the ship yard some years before 1975, cut in half and lenghted.

There is also another theory that at least retired Coast Guard inspector told me about. It is very possible with the heavy seas, the water in a few spots became shallow and that the Fizgerald’s bottom may actually have run aground
and then kept on going.

[Vigilanteman]

It was a great song. We still had quarter juke boxes in those days and I’d always get my money’s worth when eating out with friends.

[BlueLancer]

BTTT ...

[Dawgreg]

What a tragedy that was and Lightfoot’s haunting melody brought it home. Love that song. RIP Captain and Crew. :(

[kosciusko51]

Thanks for the link. A respectful video tribute to the crew.

[BipolarBob]

Thanks. It was the best one I could find.

[cripplecreek]

Cool video from an ore carrier in a Lake Superior gale. It really doesn’t look so bad till you see her flexing down her length.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cddtyqQNHtM&feature=related

Just some more cool Superior storm video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GB5B84meSh0

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I fueled ore carriers out of Duluth-Superior harbor 1986-1997 with a lighter vessel “MV Reiss Marine.” Our skipper had put fuel aboard the Big Fitz on the day she sailed.

He recalled that the regular cook was ill so a replacement cook was called up from the local union hall.

The replacement cook had a foreboding, even morbid outlook on life and, particularly, for that trip to the lower lakes. he even predicted that this sailing might be his last.

The most common theory about the cause is the possible shoaling (hitting bottom) of the boat in a shallow area known to have damaged other ships in the past.

[NCLaw441]

It is a great tragedy and I love the song, at least the first 200 verses.... then it gets a little stale.

[ken5050]

Thanks.. One more question, which your experience can hopefully shed some light on. Back then, IIRC there were questions about could the Great Lake storms be so severe to impact a ship as large and heavy as the EF?

Not sure if I'm expressing this correctly, but they later showed the intensity of the GL storms to be as fierce as an Atlantic gale..can you speak to this from your personal experiences..

[BelegStrongbow]

LOL, but only live. If that is our standard, let’s check the list for Grateful Dead tunes. The longest continuous rock composition I know of is Thick as a Brick which was 43 minutes long as originally written (and rarely if ever performed).

[traderrob6]

“Haunting” is the best word to describe that wonderful song.

[ZirconEncrustedTweezers]

“Was it really 45 minutes long?”

“No, that was Free Bird.”

Or was it Green Grass and High Tides?

[Maine Mariner]

Yes, the nature of the Great Lakes- relatively shallow water and contained area leads to waves of shorter distances between each wave. Waves on the ocean are usually long and rolling; waves on the Great Lakes, especially Superior are short and pounding. One of the first people to sail around the world solo said the one time he really feared for his life was in a very bad storm on Lake Erie. People who are experts on oceans can probably explain this better-I just worked on deck.