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The Edmund Fitzgerald went down with all hands on November 10, 1975. Having left port with 26,000 tons of taconite the day before, she was crossing Lake Superior to Detroit (and then to winter rest in Cleveland) when she ran into a ferocious winter storm. Superior is known for its squalls, but this one was bad even by “Great Lake” standards, with winds reaching 60mph, heavy snow, and powerful waves more than 30 feet high.
The Edmund Fitzgerald was built for lake crossings, and one would have expected the boat to withstand even this foul weather. What’s more, she had been practicing her craft for nearly 20 years, and had proven herself more than capable. So there’s mystery concerning what actually happened just after 7pm that night. Some have speculated that the cargo hatches didn’t properly close, allowing water (which was constantly washing over the decks) to fill the boat and drag it down. But there was no distress call of any kind…the boat was floating (with some difficulty and both bilge pumps running) and then, 10 minutes later, it was gone.
Others have stated that rogue waves, which were in the area that night and large enough to give off a radar return, acted in concert with the defective hatches. The water slowly dragged the boat down and a massive rogue wave simply washed it below the surface, where it broke in two and sank, giving no one any real chance to cry for help. Whatever the exact cause, the boat took twenty-nine men down with her.
Under normal circumstances, I suppose that this sinking, like the more than 300 on Superior before it, would have made the local and regional news for a couple days, and then faded away, leaving only the rusting hulk sitting in 530 feet of water and grieving families on land. But normal circumstances wouldn’t have accounted for Canadian singer Gordon Lightfoot, whose 1976 release of the song concerning the wreck was not only relatively accurate historically (as songs go), but was incredibly popular as well. The song still gets airtime more than 30 years later, bringing the intrigue and mystery of Gitche Gumee (as well as a bit of history) to another generation of listeners. But discussing Gordon Lightfoot too much is getting ahead of ourselves just a bit. We’ll talk more about him in very short order.
Recommended Reading: Mighty Fitz: The Sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald
Joel
I have followed this tragedy since the day it happened. I find it fascinating to think and read about. Two more possibilities (among others) have been put forth. 1) The Captain of the Arther Anderson following the Fritz thinks it may have bottomed out on the shoals near Caribou Island tearing a hole near the front end. Water began pouring in and later topping a large steep wave and sliding down, the added weight caused ship to not rise at the bottom but nose-dive under the water and when the propellers caught the water the ship was driven to the bottom breaking on impact. 2) Two large waves in close proxmity, one lifting the bow and one the stern leaving the middle unsupported may have caused the ship to break in half.
We will probably never know but with the two ships in close radio contact whatever happened, happened so quickly that no call could be made.
Thanks for reading and thanks for the thoughts.
The idea that the boat “bottomed out” is certainly an interesting theory. It’s definitely possible considering the Mighty Fitz (well over 700′ feet long) sank in just over 500′ of water. With 30′ foot swells and the water in the cargo holds acting as extra ballast, hitting the bottom of a trough (where the water could have been 500′ deep or less) and diving straight to lake bed is plausible.
Regards,
Joel