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📹 One Australia Sinking
Original Commentary. The dramatic moments on the 5th of March 1995, when during round four in the round robin stage of the …
📹 Why Did She Split In Half?
✩ABOUT THIS VIDEO✩ In this video, we take a look at the SS Edmund Fitzgerald which sank on Lake Superior in 1975. To this …
OK I can put most of the speculation to bed from the comments below. I built this boat. Yes the main winch failed and they transferred the load to I think the running back stay winch. I’m not a sailor, just a boat builder. Either way it’s like trying to break a stick with your hands close together and then moving them further apart. The boat wasn’t designed to take the load applied at such a distance. PLUS… these boats weren’t designed to be in conditions like this. They are flat water boats. The race should have been called off. If it was flat it probably wouldn’t have broken even with the winch failure. A design flaw? In a way yes and no. It only had two bulk heads. Mast bulkhead and a keel bulkhead and both were mealy ring frames and not full bulkheads. But that wasn’t the true problem IMO. The boat was as hollow as a drum. It sure was cutting edge but it had NO longitudinal strength. No beams running for and aft to stop it breaking in half. I brought this up three times but the big fella (Iain Murray) told me I wasn’t being paid to think. All I wanted to do was put two short longitudinal beams running maybe a few meters for and aft of the keel box. But no. Weight was the key factor and the order of the day. I think if they were in it may not have broken. It certainly wasn’t too thin a carbon layup. Why did it go down so fast? The hull and deck finished weighed only 1.1 tonnes. Incredibly light for an 80 ft maxi. The mast was 135 ft long and the single longest carbon structure ever produced.
As an Aussie, the America’s Cup victory in 1983 is still the proudest sporting moment for me. I remember my tears of pride as a 9 y.o. And the OneAustralia sinking was the most embarrassing moment! (Or maybe it was Sand Paper Gate? Lol! ) I can handle getting beat by a better team, but to have the boat go down like that!! Bad things happen when management don’t listen to engineers and trades people.
As I recall, AC boats are designed for the AVERAGE wind speed of the venue. San Diego generally, has very light winds and the boats were designed with that in mind. In 87, when the cup was held in Fremantle, with heavy winds, the boats (12 meter rule, as opposed to 95’s IACC), were designed for heavy winds and seas. King Cliff was right, when the race shouldn’t have been held that day because it was an unusually windy day for San Diego and the boats weren’t designed for it. Conversely, in 87, when there were unusual light winds, the race basically timed out.
People are complaining about the current AC boats being prone to failure they should see this. I heard they had a jib wench fail and the moved the line back to a spinnaker wench, so basically they had both ends of the boat under tremendous load pulling at each other. One jarring wave and the boat was split in two. These boats were designed for SD light winds.
I’m sooo keen to know why Australia has never challenged for the Cup since this horror show. If NZ can finance challenges Australia can also; and the depth of talent is surely here too? I recognise that Australians are heavily involved w other teams eg Oracle Team USA, Glen(n) Ashby w Emirates Team NZ & no doubt there’s more. But where’s Team Australia…. ?
You didn’t mention one key fact. The Master of the Anderson risked HIS life, crew, and ship, to go searching for the Fitz after she went down. He made it to Whitefish Bay. Reported her missing, then turned around and went back out. Into a November Storm. On Lake Superior. That had claimed the Pride of the American Side.
Living in Michigan, many children learn about this wreck in school. The lakes have claimed thousands, but gave us a maritime heritage that I’ve seen light up the eyes of children when they see a tallship set her main or the lights of a freighter steam across the horizon. Tragedies like this become a shared history.
My great grandfather was a helmsman on the great lakes for most of his life, and he had a lot of opinions about the Fitzgerald going down. Foremost of this was the stress put on it by the choppiness of the waves on the lake–in the ocean, the waves are bigger than the ships, so you just ride on top–but on the great lakes, the waves are smaller, such that you can have a wave at the front and back of the ship but not at the middle, and vice versa. This causes it to bend one way and the other over and over, and on a welded ship like this it won’t cause damage until it just snaps in half.
As a Michigander, the story of the Fitzgerald is almost legend. Old timers use it as a warning to explain the power of the Lakes. Living on the 3rd coast is interesting, almost everyone is a boater. Outsiders think the Lakes are just big lakes but they are actually inland seas. Events like rogue waves have been recorded, and the storms are no joke. The Fitzgerald is one of over 6000 ships that lay on the muddy bottoms. These bodies of water are not to be taken lightly. For an example of how large they are, Lake St. Claire looks like a swimming pool compared to the Great Lakes and it’s still the 15th largest lake in the country…
My deer blind over looks whitefish bay, during the week after it went down. Over 20 ships were still anchored in the bay. Waves at whitefish point we’re in the 16-18 foot range and winds were still minimum of 35 mph. The howling sound it made in the woods was deafening. Lake Superior’s color changes during these winter storms, it turns a dark black… It is very intimidating, even evil looking.
Personally I believe it was a combination of the the load draft being increased, the high seas, and her bottoming out. The captain of the Anderson at the time, Bernie Cooper, was adamite that the only way the Fitz would have lost her railings was if she either stress fractured or bottomed out. The hatch cover theory was also highly frowned upon by other captains, as even if the hatches aren’t fully secured, they weigh several tons and would remain firmly on the deck in heavy seas. With any water coming through being minimal to none. My personal take is for one reason or another, Edmund Fitzgerald sustained underwater damage just south of caribou island. She either stress fractured or bottomed out on a shoal. After that point, she started slowly dropping in the water. As the waves rolled up her deck, her bow would end up plunging down into them. Eventually, the inflow of water became too great, she plunged into another wave and never came back up. The first sign to the crew that anything was wrong would’ve been her impacting the sea floor and the subsequent wall of water smashing through the cabin windows, explaining the lack of a mayday.
May God rest the men that lost their lives when Big Fitz went down. The bodies are still there (except 1 found lying on the lake bottom next to the wreck) still intact due to the cold and lack of bacteria at that depth). The site has been declared a gravesite and no one can go there without government permission. The artist Gordon Lightfoot donated all the proceeds from his song The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald to the families of the men lost in the sinking.
The fact the SS Arthur B Homer the exact sister ship of the Edmund Fitzgerald was scrapped a decade after the Fitzgerald loss despite many millions of dollars spent to lengthen her years prior, leads me to believe stress/hull failure more likely than shoaling. Former Fitzgerald crewman Richard Orgel and Red Burgner testified Fitzgerald’s hull was “wiggling” too much in bad weather. Even saying Captain McSorley himself was frightened by it sometimes. The Lake Fleets deep down knew there likely was a design flaw, and so nobody bought The Arthur B Homer and they quietly scrapped the Homer blaming the economy. yet older vessels with smaller cargo capacity were still sailing. But who knows? (Shrug)
My Father sailed this route as a wheelsman in the 1920s. He was involved in storms of this nature, always in November. He mentioned an incident where the Engineer threatened to put out the fires in the boilers because waves were pouring into the engine room and scalding the firemen coaling up the fires. That would have been a catastrophic decision. One of his ships, the Mathewston, was hauling wheat from the head of the lakes, and was nicknamed “The Hunchback” due to a warped hull it received during a bad storm. With huge waves that accompany the winds, and my Father often mentioned the “three sisters”, the hull can be balancing primarily on one or two waves which works the structure back and forth, and eventual failure of the hull can occur. Respect to the lost sailors.
I’m a chief mate on the Great Lakes in the Canadian fleet. I have always had a huge interest in this marine disaster. You did a very good job in explaining the dynamics of this disaster, with theories I do agree with, less the hatch covers being unsecured. I personally feel the hatch covers were secure, and I side with Captain Bernie Cooper, that she bottomed out on the shoal north of Caribou Island. The unsecured hatch cover theory in my opinion is just a cop out for the US Coast Guard.
I really think the large rogue waves had something to do with it. If they were trully 30 feet tall, and the bow was in a trough, the bow could have been 50-60 feet lower than the stern. With reduced buoyancy from taking in water through the hatches and possibly even shifting cargo, two of those monster waves in succession and slow recovery likely (imo) caused the bow to dive straight to the bottom. I think it came as a shock and in an instant.
One of my earliest memories is perusal a distressing Edmund Fitzgerald program with my grandparents at the the Great Lakes maritime museum. Now I’m perusal your article a few hundred feet from some choppy great lakes waves outside my window! There’s something so extremely unsettling about this type of sinking, like the Derbyshire, where the ship just sits lower and lower in the water, waves leaving more and more green water on deck until it’s overwhelmed and slips beneath one last time.
I gotta tell ya, I grew up a mile from the Pacific ocean. I watched the sunset on the beach everyday from my high school job. You know what that gave me? A refusal to go out into big water. I don’t foresee me, ever, getting on a seaworthy vessel for the entire of my life and yet I watch your articles as soon as I see the notification, I don’t even scroll past it, it’s an immediate click. So thank you and well done mate.
I grew up in Sault Ste. Marie, MI and had the pleasure of knowing the painting-Artist Pat Norton, who lived in a small cottage on the St. Mary’s River, down river from the Sault Locks. She paints the freighters steaming by her cottage, including the Edmund Fitzgerald. My sister bought one of her prints of the ship, which Mrs. Norton arranged for Gordon Lightfoot to sign, 1 of only 10, and hangs proudly above her mantle in her Bay City home. We Yoopers have a great deal of respect and reverence for Great Lakes sailors, and by extension, to Gordon Lightfoot’s many excellent songs. Rest in Peace Mr. Lightfoot (May 1, 2023) and thank you for your contribution to American music culture and the immortal dignity of of the story sung in the The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
We’ll never know for sure, but a couple key factors or comments not considered was Bernie Cooper saying he had 2 massive waves roll over him from behind and heades towards the Fitz. Cooper believed it was those two waves that did they final deed. Also the Fitzgerald is nearly 200 feet longer than the depth of the water she rest in. Its highly possible that she augured her bow which would be a sudden stop, the stern would have been out of the water almost 200 feet and Still moving! The boat most likely snapped at that moment, having the bow stopped and on the bottom while the stern moving and the mid section snapped, most likely where she was weakened. It would have been one load sound. I remember talking to a Canadian man that lived along shore east of where she went down say he heard what sounded like a metal shopping mall being torn apart. Like a thousand dinosaurs screaming. What was it? RIP crew.
One of my next door Neighbors husbands friend was the second Stewart for the Fitzgerald when she went down on that fateful day, his name was Allen G. Kalmon, the Fitzgerald has always fascinated me especially as somebody who has lived by the Great Lakes all my life. I may not be a Michigander or Minnesotan since I live in Wisconsin, but I’ve gone to superior since I was little and the Fitzgerald will always be a topic of great interest, especially since it was made in Wisconsin.
A fact I haven’t seen mentioned in the prior comments (granted I might’ve missed it): the Edmund Fitzgerald was one of the first Great Lakes freighters to have a welded hull instead of a riveted one. Riveted hulls can flex more in rough seas whereas welded hulls are more apt to snap. I’ve read that the Fitz was due to have repairs made to its hull before the sailing season; but, they were postponed because there were plans to lengthen it during that winter’s layup (’75-’76). Interestingly; the Edmund Fitzgerald had a sister ship, the SS Arthur B. Homer, that was built the same way, with welds instead of rivets. It actually was lengthened that winter, which was not a cheap thing to do, but then was suddenly retired only five years later and scrapped sometime in the ’80s. For comparison; the Arthur M. Anderson, the ship that was selling with the Fitz the night it sank, was six years older at the time of the incident, yet is still in service today.
My grandfather drove a tanker truck on the north shore of Lake Superior. Fitzgerald didn’t start running on fuel oil, but it was converted later in its career. My grandpa often had to delay dinner because “The Fitz was in” and he had to fill it with fuel oil. They lived on the lake and my grandmother described the night with “like the devil himself was outside”. My mom had a school classmate whose father went down on it.
The Edmund Fitzgerald had accommodations for 36 crew and 4 passengers at the forward and aft ends of the ship on the upper and main decks. McSorley’s rooms were on the upper deck just under the bridge. He had a private cabin with his own bathroom plus an office and lounge overlooking the main deck. There were also two double cabins for private guests, each with a private bathroom. Below on the main deck there were 6 more cabins for the deck crew, 3 on each side and each with private bathrooms for the bridge crew. The 3 starboard cabins were singles for the officers, while the 3 port cabins were double cabins for the 3 wheelsmen and 3 watchmen. In between was a rec room. Moving aft, on the upper deck there were 3 dining rooms, each for officers, crew and guests as well as the galley. There were also 4 cabins. The shipkeeper had a single cabin, while the cook, 2 waiters and 3 stewards shared the other 3 double cabins. On the main deck were 12 more cabins. 5 were private cabins for the lead engineers. The other 7 double cabins berthed 5 seamen, 3 firemen, 3 coalpassers and 3 oilers.
The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down Of the big lake they called Gitche Gumee The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead When the skies of November turn gloomy With a load of iron ore twenty-six thousand tons more Than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty That good ship and true was a bone to be chewed When the gales of November came early The ship was the pride of the American side Coming back from some mill in Wisconsin As the big freighters go, it was bigger than most With a crew and good captain well seasoned Concluding some terms with a couple of steel firms When they left fully loaded for Cleveland And later that night when the ship’s bell rang Could it be the north wind they’d been feelin’? The wind in the wires made a tattle-tale sound And a wave broke over the railing And every man knew, as the captain did too T’was the witch of November come stealin’ The dawn came late and the breakfast had to wait When the gales of November came slashin’ When afternoon came it was freezin’ rain In the face of a hurricane west wind When suppertime came, the old cook came on deck sayin’ “Fellas, it’s too rough to feed ya” At seven PM, a main hatchway caved in, he said “Fellas, it’s been good to know ya” The captain wired in he had water comin’ in And the good ship and crew was in peril And later that night when his lights went outta sight Came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald Does any one know where the love of God goes When the waves turn the minutes to hours? The searchers all say they’d have made Whitefish Bay If they’d put fifteen more miles behind her They might have split up or they might have capsized They may have broke deep and took water And all that remains is the faces and the names Of the wives and the sons and the daughters Lake Huron rolls, Superior sings In the rooms of her ice-water mansion Old Michigan steams like a young man’s dreams The islands and bays are for sportsmen And farther below Lake Ontario Takes in what Lake Erie can send her And the iron boats go as the mariners all know With the gales of November remembered In a musty old hall in Detroit they prayed In the maritime sailors’ cathedral The church bell chimed ’til it rang twenty-nine times For each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down Of the big lake they called Gitche Gumee Superior, they said, never gives up her dead When the gales of November come early-some Canadian legend
The eastern end of Lake Superior is notorious for monstrous seas for a specific reason. Most storms and gales sweep over the lake from west to east, churning a lot of energy into the water. As they move east and the Michigan and Ontario shorelines get closer together, that energy not only has less room to move around but it actually bounces off the coastlines, causing wave action from 3 different directions.
My personal theory for this wreck stems from the fact that it was so…abrupt. They had no time to jump out or to get to the lifeboats. Taking into account the fact that the wreck is sitting at a depth of 530 feet, which is shallower than she was long, I think that one of the rouge waves came over the bow and forced the bow down. Bow hits the floor of the lake, causes the stern to torque off, accounting for how it’s split up. This also gives account for how quick it was, and how no distress call was given. shrug This is just my opinion through.
Even though “lakers” such as the Fitz have had careers that have lasted over half a century (the Arthur M. Anderson is still working), a large part of that longevity is based on how well the ship is taken care of. The Fitz was pushed hard throughout her time in service–breaking her own records for individual loads carried, and loads carried in a season–and had more than her fair share of hard hits with piers, and the walls of the locks. You can only push things–and people–so hard for so long, before they fail.
Maritime Horrors covered this and according to former crew testimony and previous CG inspections, she wasn’t in the best shape by the time she went down. Although she’s only one of many bulk carriers that have broken in half on the Great Lakes. Being long and skinny while carrying such heavy cargo in such rough waters seems to have that effect.
You should cover another Great Lakes ship that suffered a similar fate called the SS Daniel J Morrell that broke in half just a few years prior in 1966 the sinking was gathered in great detail by the only survivor accounting what he saw saying that when the ship broke up he and three others jumped on a raft and the bow sunk but the stern actually kept sailing about 5 miles past the bow before sinking it would be absolutely horrific to see the back half of your ship sail off into the stormy night with all the lighting still on
I had a 24 feet long by 16.5 inches wide kayak. I had it out on Lake Ontario not to far from shore ie. less than a quarter of a mile. Just for fun as an experiment I allowed a fair bit of water to come into the boat. When paddling into a wave it was very difficult to get the bow to come back up again and to make that a bit easier I had to bend my back rearwards and lay almost flat along the rear deck. Being that the Fitz’s captain had radioed in that the had water coming in, and that the sinking was very sudden (or the radio gear was no longer capable of sending) I too think that the Fitz nosedived into a large wave and then was driven under by a large or series of large waves from astern.
Sailors had commented that after her load line was increased, that instead of shedding water quickly (like she had done since she was built) the Fitz struggled as water slowly left her main deck. Also, it is possible, that even though she cleared 6 fathom shoals, the wave action could have caused her to “hog”. (Similar wave action sank the Moran) So, a weaken hull, from the hog, followed by the 3 sisters that hit the Anderson which was behind the Fitz, probably sank her, especially if one of the waves was amidships and another wave shoved her stern up….. Her stern is upside down on the bottom so obviously it came loose about the same time as the bow slammed into the bottom. One of the debates about her sinking is exactly when the aft quarter to a third of the ship broke off. Part of the problem is that the section we need to see suffered a catastrophic failure, and is now sheets of metal under several 1,000s tons ore!
I’ve seen what superior is like during a heavy gale and it’s no playground, these are rough fast moving rouge waves. Considering no radio distress signal was sent. It was quick and catastrophic and the fitz was swamped by a rogue wave and took a nose dive, before the force of the waves at the stern literally snapped it in half like a piece of celery
Something I feel should be mentioned is that there is around 100ft of the spar deck that is nothing more then twisted metal on the lakebed. The prevailing theory is when the Fitzgerald hit the lakebed the forward momentum the direction of travel, currents, overall weight and perhaps the ships engine still running caused the bow to hit bedrock and because bedrock is immovable the forward momentum caused the ship to suffer an accordion effect, literally the stern pushing against the bow with such force it obliterated most of the middle of the ship and spun off hence why the stern is split from the bow and capsized
Another theory is because of the wind and waves coming at the boat from behind the 3 sisters waves you were talking about came up on the boat from behind and while the front end sank on the backside of one wave the back end was raised up by the other and it was speared into the oceans bottom. With the damage to the front end of the boat that can be seen in photos taken on the bottom it is very possible.
I remember that storm. I was at, a lake front cottage, in Tobermory Ontario at the time. Even though Lake Superior was 200 kilometres north west of were I was, the storm very severe with extremely high winds and heavy rain. The next day we heard on the radio that the Edmund Fitzgerald sank. It was such a bad storm were I was, I can’t imagine how bad it was on the lake.
I believe that the ship cargo holds not being completely filled, because of the high specific weight of the iron ore, allowed the cargo to roll over one side – while the ship herself was rolled by the waves. And the ship laying on one side caused it to sink. Whatever the cause, it is a sad story of bad luck. Thank you for telling. Regards, Anthony
I grew up in that area an perusal the storms come in across Lake Superior. They were terrifying and exciting and if Ihad not seen them with my own eyes, I would never believe that such a force was possible from a lake. As an adult I have seen 2 hurricanes, one in Florida and one Mississippi, and I spent time in the North Sea duiring winter. Nothing compared to the ferocity of the waves during Lake Superior storms. They need to be witnessed to be believed.
You showed the correct wave and wind direction. However right after when talking about the Three Sisters, the three big waves that nearly caused the Arther M Anderson to broach and capsize, you show them hitting from the bow when they were from the stern. It must also be mentioned that while the Big Rollers where from the stern the echo effect of the lakes confined space was making for a confused Sea effect with some waves coming from the south and some from the East. Three captains including the skipper of the Aurther M Anderson, as well as some top navel Salvage experts all said that the only thing that would account for Nun of the crew even getting off the ship and how fast it sank was that the three big rouges hit her One lifting her stern shifting the already heave bow lode and then the second pushed her bow under, allowing the smaller but still large confused waves to pile on to her already diving bow, then the third caused the ship to plunge or Submarine and as she did the stern would have twisted and separated from the stress as it lifted. Her Crew would have never had a chance to get out and the entire ship would have been under water in the three minutes needed to explain why Auther M Anderson who passed over the exact spot not five minutes later seen no sign of her. As someone who has worked the rough seas of the Baring Sea for most of my life, I know how ships react to a fallowing sea. Only this explains how they would have been caught so unprepared and would not have sent off some message or had time to get over the side.
Apparently she had a sister ship, ARTHUR B. HOMER. It would have been interesting to see if there were any problems with her. I assume someone did a study. I often think how three of the four navy collier’s PROTEUS class ships mysteriously disappeared and the fourth one was converted to the first US aircraft carrier and was scuttled by her crew. There was likely a fatal design error or a free surface problem in that class.
My dad was stationed on the USCG Woodrush when they went out after the Fitzgerald and he at minimum followed the investigation, he said that the bow of the Fitzgerald was driven 28 feet into the mud. I can’t remember if he thought the Three Sisters waves was possibly the best theory to explain it diving into the mud.
I think you’re pretty much spot on, the Anderson mentioned being concerned that those 3 Waves may have cought up to her. And in a following see with the bow riding low and listing that’s dangerous enough, then while trying to navigate All of that it’s possible a rouge wave caused by shoreline rebound pushed the bow down even more. If you’ve seen pictures you’ll notice the visor on the pilot house bent down and I believe that can only happen with a wave breaking over it.
She broke because she hit Hard, bow first on the lake floor. The winds came up, lake got rough, water coming in through leaky hatches (due to ? ), the bow went under, and it dove deep into water. This happened very quickly. The bow gouged a hole in the floor of the lake. I was told by a friend of mine, a government employee “Larry” who dove on the ship to investigate.
I have a picture hanging up of the Carl D Bradley, which was also found split in two. That’s another interesting story, because there was a huge court case over weather the sinking was an Act of God or not, with the company that owned the vessel trying to claim that it was so they wouldn’t have to compensate family members of the victims, but they eventually settled with the families
Something I’ve recently learned about is a phenomenon called liquefaction that will occur in certain types of cargo. Certain dry and even metals will have a condition where the liquid will shake it and cause it to change from a solid mass capable of being walked upon to a suspension that would allow a person to sink into it. As it does it allows the whole mass to readily shift in the hold. If the vents were dislodged by waves flowing along the deck then with enough water intrusion some of the forward holds could have allowed the ore to shift forward enough to prevent recovery. I don’t believe it broke up until the bow struck the bottom since the ship was longer than the water was deep. Because of this the engine would cause the propeller to constantly drive the bow into the bottom. Once it struck hard it would have buckled the hull and once the stern broke completely the torque would have caused the stern to capsize. I base this on pictures taken of the bow where the steel was buckled outward above the trough it created. Since the hull was steeply inclined all of the cargo was shifted forward causing all the weight to blow the plates outward between the ribs forward. Liquefaction explains the nose dive, and the bow hitting the bottom explains the breakup. With this theory it simplifies the combination of events needed to lose buoyancy. I also hadn’t heard of vents instead of hatch covers opening up along with lowering in the water. Reduced freeboard increases the risk of mishaps.
I believe that the Fitzgerald was afloat, hit a big wave which caused her bow to be out of the water at the top of a crest, when the bow dived it collided with the sea floor, buckling the hull. Since there was no warning or indication from the crew that the ship was foundering, the crew probably thought they were going to pop back out of the water.
Taconite is pronounced with a hard “C” like a “K” not the soft “C”. Taconite pellets is very fine iron ore that is pressed into a pellet shape about the size of a lead ball from a musket. One other thing about ships on the great lakes. They are not required to have the cargo area bulkheads to be watertight like ocean going ships. This means water entering one hold can freely flow throughout all holds. You had more information and better information on the Edmund Fitzgerald than many articles three times as log. I also liked the animation. Good job! I’m subscribing & perusal some of your other articles. I’m looking forward to the Derbyshire article. It sank the year I entered the navy.
If you look at the under water images of the ship. .. especially the article of a diver retrieving the bell… The bow and pilot house have crush points like a beer-can being pushed together (top and bottom and the middle crushing inward). All the windows appear to have been blown out, door is missing. I have come to believe the ship did take on water, began to ride low, until the she dove in-between two waves, her stern ride high…the weight of iron ore and water shifting, drover her bow first the lake bottom. All the force, crushed the bow, and snapped the ship in half. They found some life rafts… one split in half the others bow is crushed, like the Fitz itself. If you have never been on the Great Lakes, when a storm whips up… it’s freakish… and the lakes are NOT forgiving. The mentions of three sisters isn’t just three waves…its three cross-chop waves. When the lakes get all riled up, they waves cross each other at there worst, they meet in the middle for a triple stack, each bring its own power, when they hit…its a wall of water is dense… even 4 -6 footers hitting will plow you down and into the lake bottom…
Im sitting here at Pancake Bay Provincial park. We hiked to the Edmund Fitzgerald lookout and looked over where she sank. Its eerie. I have always thought that since I was a kid. Even as gorgeous as the view was, Caribbean blue water shoreline, green canopy of the forest and a clear blue sky, I had goose bumps.
My brother in law was also out the same night and 14 miles behind Edmund Fitzgerald the night she went down. He was on the bridge when he said the ship disappeared from the radar. I am originally from Newfoundland, and I also had a friend who worked on fishing trawlers in the Atlantic, and he had worked on Lakers on Lake Superior! He told me that he had been in Atlantic storms that never bothered him. But he also told me that there were nights on Superior that he thought that he would not see the morning light… the waves were that bad! His conclusion was that because its an inland sea, the waves have nowhere to go except back into the lake, unlike in the North Atlantic ocean and it makes them much more intense!
You failed to mention the most obvious possibility. The wind and waves were being driven by the high northwest winds which meant that the Fitz was taking waves up the stern. As those massive rogue waves hit, the stern would raise first, driving the Fitz’s bow underwater. The theory is that one of those waves was so large that it lifted the stern high enough and drove the Fitz’s bow under and she struck bottom, the sheer weight of the load of Taconite ore (pronounced Takonite) basically overloaded and blew the ship in half by the sheer weight of the shifting load. As the bow struck bottom, the sheer inertia of the shifting load broke the ship in half when the bow hit bottom. The stern was rolled inverted by the torque from the still running engines.
I remember hearing the Gordon Lightfoot song probably 1000 times as a kid. Growing up around the great lakes it kinda became local folklore as to the causes but most agree the captain fucked up and was trying to keep a schedule instead of taking safety precautions in a storm such as the one that occurred that night.
Grew up in Wisconsin. We were always told the rogue wave is what did her in. 70+ foot wave hit her head on and it basically was suspended between the swells (backside of the wave and the secondary smaller wave) after making it through the wave. Basically she got suspended in a “U” with the center of the ship being suspended with no support causing it to snap.
Didn’t mention 3 rogue waves went by the Anderson from dead astern shortly before contact was lost with the Fitzgerald. An already half sunk ship would have tilted the stern so high so as to shift the cargo forward driving the bow underwater into the bottom 500 feet down. The ship was 700 feet long so I believe this was the cause of the wreck. Nothing in the article mentioned this.
I remember that night vividly. I was going to college in Sault Ste Marie, Ontario. My girlfriend and I caught the bus which took us into the down town area. As it drove along, the wind was breaking windows along the street. The few people that had to walk anywhere were leaning forward as much as possible in order to not get blown off their feet. Changing buses, we really felt it, the terminal was pretty tiny and there were hordes of people. When the bus got to our street, the driver actually stopped outside our front door as my girlfriend was still kinda wobbly after an accident a couple weeks before. I miss that town, and the friendly people there. RIP to the crew of the Edmond Fitzgerald.
Historic Travels has a theory that because of the lack of depth there combined with her massive length, and the massive waves, that perhaps she was simply riding the waves, and then the bow just slammed into the lakebed because of the valley between 2 waves. The depth is only 530ft deep on calm water, the ship is longer than that. The theory is that she lawn-darted into the lakebed and expected to rise from the waves as she probably did dozens of times earlier in the trip, except this time she simply didn’t come back up, breaking her spine along the keel, and there she lay for eternity.
From what I was taught living in Michigan and by the Edmund fits Gerald memorial and museum near munising I believe is that 2 rouge waves hit the ship at a frequency to have the first one be at the stern and the second at the the bow, the ends being lighter would get lifted up, but that would bring the middle up to, which had the iron ore in it, the loss of support from the water would split the ship in half, that’s just my leading theory but there may well be other more correct theories
Last run of the season. She was due for yearly hull maintenance. She was running a heavy load She was running fast. Heavy seas. Each of those increased her draft. The Arthur Anderson said that they got a report of a wave taking out the Fitzgerald’s navigation radar. The captain of the Anderson watched on his radar as the Fitzgerald drove straight over the shoal. I say she struck bottom and damaged her keel. She went down soon after driving over the shoal.
the damage all along her port side clearly indicates that a massive wave wider than the length of the ship impacted it hard, basically the wave rode up and slammed hard, right on top of the deck and the side of the ship, which then forced the middle of the ship down under the water, where it was forcibly snapped in two
I read a report of the sinking for a project in my criminal justice class. It included a review by the USCG and, iirc, Navy, as well as interviews with crewmen who had served on it. Supposedly, the company that owned the “Fitz” had modifications done to add 10K more tons of iron ore to the hold. This increased the stress level and the crewmen interviewed alleged the keel was not properly finished. A shortcut was taken that, while acceptable, was a cost saving measure. The former crewmen said the could feel the ship “flex” when rolling in heavy weather. That might be great for a clinker built viking longship but not so much for an ore carrier.
Capt McSorley reported he had lost his starboard railing to the Anderson, so the railing was an issue before She went down. That transmission was before the final ” We`re holding our own” . As well, your pictograph shows more than 3 cargo holds. Although She had many hatches, She had 3 cargo holds, the Anderson had 5. She broke records for cargo time and again and was overloaded continuously to break those records. You also mentioned She may have broke in half, then sank..a similar wreck was the Daniel J Morrell. There was but 2 survivors . The Morrell broke in 2, and as the life rafts were deployed, some swam and made it to the rafts. While on the rafts and the bow now almost completely under water, in all the commotion they saw another ship.. they waved their arms yelling. That other ship, was the stern section that had just enough of fore up angle to motor 5 miles away not before plowing into the bow section on it`s way . The Fitz on the other hand, shows the bow had hit the bottom, very hard leaving an imprint of several feet. Everyone has an opinion, none of us were there . With Capt McSorly reporting a loss of the starboard railing, the break up in all probability due to stress cracks – others that served on Her reported hearing groaning previous to the loss. The 3 sisters wave has credibility here in that the flashing above the wheelhouse is hammered down- so, yes, as you said She may have taken a hard hit on the bow, and wheelhouse wave 1, with Her bow down in a trough, the second larger wave 2 pressed on the stern while the bow was down further flexing midships, adding to a stress fracture, or flexing of the hull as She rose from the first wave and the stress of the 3rd wave encroached- by that time the taconite being like marbles had found it` way to both fore and aft, ultimately breaking Her to the point of almost in half- with taconite both fore and aft, that 3rd wave sent her hard to the bottom- the bow section implanted in several feet of seabed, the stern flipped upside down and not showing the same type of impact.
Although there is physical evidence that some of the hatch covers were not properly fastened, it is unlikely to be the sole cause of the sinking. The Fitzgerald was habitually overloaded and known as a “wiggly” or “wet” ship. An already weakened hull could easily hog/sag in heavy seas, leading to the failure cascade that caused the ship to slowly lose buoyancy until it took a very quick dive to the bottom of Lake Superior. In that regard, I do believe it was similar to the Derbyshire. I am impressed about the comprehensive review of all the theories included in this article!
One theory was the spare propeller that was stored on deck broke loose and caused the damage to the vent covers and the railing. The hogging on a shoal would have caused both railings to fail not just one and the vent covers would not be affected by a hogging. Those vent pipes were of schedule 80 steel and are 1/4 thick walls for the diameter. The winter load line was changed two years before with the captain McSolery been involved in the decision for the Coast Guards approval to increase the loads in November. It may have been the straw that broke the Camels back to increase the loads and reduce the free board in the storm prone late fall.
The thing about the Fitz, however she went down, it was fast and unexpected. I think a number of factors played apart. She either grounded or that weakened section of hull started letting water in. As she rode the waves her bow would dip down and recover, each time being slightly deeper till those rogue waves hit her. She rode one, dipped down and the second hit her pushing her down into the mud nose first. At that depth the water pressure is immense and blew out the windows, imploded hatch covers and killed the crew in the pilot house near immediately. The third wave hit her stern and due to that weakened hull section, broke her, crushing some hundred feet or so of her hull that’s missing and forced the stern under.
The Edmund Fitzgerald was overloaded with Tons of iron ore every time it set sailed, It’s called metal fatigue or the bending of metal back and forth, The captain said that he had water coming in and the pumps was not pumping it out fast enough, the top loading hatches were not bolted down securely enough and with this combination of events it sank and it sank quick.
I wish I could have spoken with the article author. When I was living in Bozeman MT I knew a guy who had been a crewmember on the Edmund Fitzgerald. He quit the ship a year or two before she went down. Anyway this old guy told me that the Captain (more than likely) left the hatches WIDE OPEN thus causing water to flood in during the storm that sank her. He said something along the lines of the Captain was a drunk and frequently drank on duty. Not sure if there was a “board of inquiry” after the sinking but what he says squares up with the events.
She had a list and was taking on water, she was overloaded, and there are rumors she wasn’t always well maintained and needed some serious work done. Couple that with a storm that was very, VERY bad, and then rogue waves and that was it for the Fitz. There’s an old documentary from the 90s floating around on Youtube– Captain Cooper himself says it in an interview on that documentary that those rogue waves struck the Anderson, too, and almost took them down. He thinks that’s what finally sank the Fitz– all of those components were just too much and she was doomed. Such a tragic story. I live in Michigan and grew up in the 80s– it was still pretty fresh in memory then. We all grew up knowing about it.
She had developed a list, but the captain stated the pumps were keeping up. Who knows what structural damage was done when she dragged bottom. I can see high seas or rogue waves putting her under. I believe the William Clay Ford went out in the search along with the Anderson. Duluth harbor cam shows the Anderson still making trips.
I had a relative who was a merchant seaman and served on the Fitz his hypothesis (and some old time Lorain Ohio shipyard workers )the ship was was originally built with old style rivet technology…with rivets you can break and pop some rivets in a plate and the plate still holds and flex the ship would still maintain its sea worthyness but leak a bit …in the late 60s or can’t remember maybe early 70s the Fitz was put into the Amship shipyards in Lorain Ohio… CUT IN HALF … and the hull was lengthened, and a conveyor belt self unloading system installed…(the old time hulett unloaders around the great lakes were being phased out and the new ore carriers were being built as self unloaders ) The new hull in the middle of ship was of WELDED PLATES, not riveted…so when the ship is in heavy seas flexing the welded section would presumably flex and stress differently…as I mentioned before rivets could break due to flexing activity and with so many rivets in a plate it could lose many and still maintain its sea worthyness, however if a major welded seam fails the whole weld may be compromised, so you get the picture. Also the welded hull area would be less flexible due to its nature of construction…This was the concensus of the theory on why the ship broke in half during the storm by my old seadog relative and 3 shipyard worker buddies over beers at Mangines Cafe across from the shipyard in Lorain Ohio one blustery winter night shortly after the disaster…
Other articles point out that fitz had overboard discharge pumps going before she sank, im thinking stress cracks from flex in the hull causing list, then flooding leading to pressure pushing hatch covers open. Not a good senario.😢 The navy has sounding and security watches to prevent such a reoccurrence…
I like the combination of theories, but one part missed was the inspection report and documentary detailing that the cargo holds had drains in the middle only, not one each on the port and starboard sides. Thus, with the reported list from water egress, it’s probable that they Fitz couldn’t properly pump out the water.
Lake Superior lies west to east, the storms move west to east. With such a long lake there is nothing to slow the storms so they increase greatly in strength, big roller waves result. Ship got high centered on a wave, broke the keel, tore in half. Lake Superior is littered with wreaks from storms. ‘Famous’ for it.
Anyone interested in this night should read : The Night the Fitz Went Down, by Hugh E Bishop. I was in Grand Marais, MN one year and I saw this book in Ben Franklin. I read it cover to cover in one go while I watched the rain fall on Lake Superior. The captain who was interviewed in this book was a very knowlegable man.
The article briefly mentions but doesn’t go into detail about the fact that the Fitz was 729 feet long but sank in 530 feet of water, meaning that it sank in a depth that was less that three-quarters of its length. With its decreasing buoyancy and being hit by the Three Sisters and its bow subsequently “submarining”, it would only take a couple of seconds of forward momentum for the bow hit the bottom of the lake bed before it had a chance to rise and break the surface as ships normally do in severe weather.
I think there were several things like the hatch covers that contributed to the sinking. But I think a rogue wave or waves was the ultimate thing that brought it down. I’ve seen 25 foot waves on Superior and been on the lake fishing when the lake went from calm to 10 plus foot waves in a matter of minutes. Like I’ve said, if that lake wants you, it’ll take you. It’s not just a large piece of water. It has an unexplainable power that can’t be comprehended.
The Ftiz wreck is missing a section of her middle hull which lays shattered around the wreck site. What I feel happened is she grounded on the shoals and broke herself and started flooding. After she passes Caribou Island is when McSorely reports the downed railing and missing vents. Steaming on without knowing it the Fitz was riding waves, each wave pushing her bow up, then she’d dip down into the water, each time dipping a bit more but righting herself. She disappeared right about the time the rogue waves would have hit her that the anderson reported, so she rode one and nosed down just like the other waves, but the second wave hit as she was nosed down and drove her into the bottom. the crew had expected her to right herself, but she didn’t, which explains no call of distress. Driving her to the bottom as fast as she would have would’ve killed the crew in the wheelhouse from the pressure. Then the storm pushed her stern down, crushing that missing section and twisting the stern around
I found out that Bruce Hudson, 22, one of the youngest men on the “Big Fitz” as he called it, when his mother Ruth said she was worried about him riding his motorcycle, Bruce told her “Don’t worry, mom. When I go out, the whole world will know.” He must have had some kind of premonition. I think that is chilling. Ruth became very close to Gordon Lightfoot as well.
Number of mishaps came together, number 1 coast guard allowed them to be loaded above winter thresholds, number 2 because they lost radar they ran aground on the shoals which caused the hogging that blew the vents and caused the fence rails to break, number three took on water that caused the list and water in the bow, number four the three sisters waves raised her stern and with the weight of the water in her bow drove the 730 foot ship into the bottom at 535 feet which caused the ship to break in half and that is why the bow, cargo and stern sank so close together!
Interesting hypothesis about it breaking up after the bow hit the bottom. If the front of the ship became negatively buoyant, the ship’s momentum would force it to dive once it was underwater. And if the water really was that shallow, its remaining momentum would work to break the ship when the bow struck bottom. The damage would be different from metal-fatigue you’d expect if it broke up from repeated flexing in the waves. Your collision with the bottom would create an abrupt tearing of the metal or brittle fracture. The way the metal is damaged where the ship broke will be one way if it was broken by hitting the bottom, and different if it broke on its own.
When my daughter was in 9th grade, I chaperoned a field trip to a law office in downtown Minneapolis. When the lawyer asked the class if they knew why the Edmund Fitzgerald sank, he had my full attention. He explained that the captain did not want to pay a crew to come aboard and secure all the hatches before getting underway. When the storm hit, the weight of the water that poured in over the taconite became too great causing the break. I never read anything about this in the papers.
You have the animation of the 3 sisters going the wrong way. They came up over her stern, not her bow. She likely rode the first out, and then with her bow down in the trough, the trailing wave and her own screws drove the already semi-flooded and low riding bow under, and drove it into the soft lake bottom. The force of the waves pushing hard on the bottom of the stern broke her in two. Captain B. Cooper of the A Anderson said himself that a progression of large Rouge waves overtook his ship in rapid succession. We will never know exactly how she met her fate, it is likely a number of collaborating factors, but I think ultimately she took a nose dive and never recovered.
I believe that a lot of recent evidence,points to the three sisters theory. The ship was I think over 800 ft long.She rests at over 500 ft down. A wave that could drive down the bow to the bottom would leave her stern out of the water,and lead to hull separation,or breaking in half. Remember,the bow section of the wreck is in good shape,but driven into the bottom as if she ran aground! The stern is upside down,several hundred yds away,and virtually destroyed.
Towards the beginning of the article he talks about how it would be able to navigate the locks of the Saint Lawrence seaway even though it wasn’t designed to do that it was designed to lock Through the Soo locks. Doesn’t even talk that the unmanufactured world was a faster ship then the Arthur M Anderson and that the ship was well within view and then may have lost its light.
I have to agree with the Arthur Anderson Captain Bernie Cooper and the Wilfred Sykes Captain Dudley Paquette. The Fitz grounded and hogged upward from center at Cariboo (which snapped the railing) and was sucking water from her damaged hull until buoyancy was lost. Her nose broke into a wave and never recovered to where she plowed into the bottom breaking her in two. The aft propeller turned the stern upside down where it came to rest. The Fitz had keelson problems way before she shoaled… which is why they sent her sister ship to the breakers not long after.
Fun Fact: When Gordon Lightfood released his song “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”. All the proceeds he made from the song were donated to the families of the 29 Men on board who lost their lives. Rest in Peace to… Ernest McSorley — Captain. Toledo, Ohio. John McCarthy — First mate. Bay Village, Ohio James Pratt — Second mate. Lakewood, Ohio Michael Armagost — Third mate. Iron River, Wisconsin David Weiss — Cadet. Agoura, California Ransom Cundy — Watchman. Houghton, Michigan. Marine Corp Veteran of the Battle of Iwo Jima. \r Karl Peckol — Watchman. Ashtabula, Ohio.\r William Spengler — Watchman. Toledo, Ohio.\r John Simmons — Senior wheelman. Ashland, Wisconsin. \r Eugene O’Brien — Wheelman. Toledo, Ohio.\r John Poviach — Wheelman. Bradenton, Florida.\r Paul Riippa — Deckhand. Ashtabula, Ohio.\r Mark Thomas — Deckhand. Richmond Heights, Ohio.\r Bruce Hudson — Deckhand. North Olmsted, Ohio.\r George Holl — Chief engineer. Cabot, Pennsylvania.\r Edward Bindon — First assistant. Fairport Harbor, Ohio.\r Thomas Edwards — Second assistant engineer. Oregon, Ohio.\r Russell Haskell — Second assistant engineer. Millbury, Ohio.\r Oliver Champeau — Third assistant engineer. Marine Corps Veteran of the Korean War. \r Ralph Walton — Oiler. Fremont, Ohio.\r Blaine Wilhelm — Oiler. Big Bay, Michigan. Navy Veteran who served in WWII and the Korean War\r Thomas Bentsen — Oiler. St. Joseph, Michigan.\r Gordon MacLellan — Wiper. Clearwater, Florida.\r Robert Rafferty — Steward and cook. Toledo, Ohio.
I have a theory that I have not heard elsewhere, based on these facts. The owners, Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, actually got the U.S. Coast Guard to increase the load line for the Edmund Fitzgerald three times — in 1969, 1971, and 1973 — allowing her to carry 4,000 tons more than she was originally designed&intended for. These changes allowed for 3 feet, 3.25 inches less minimum freeboard overall. Because of that, the ship’s deck was only 11.5 feet above water and she was considerably overweight, according to her original intended specifications. This made the ship especially sluggish and slower to recover and decreased her buoyancy when facing the waves on that fateful November 10th. The Skipper had already said that she was never the same after that- if she fell off in a heavy head sea they would sometimes have to make a complete 360 to get back on course. She’d just wallow in the troughs between the waves and then the waves would keep pushing her off from recovering her heading. “Prior to the load-line increases she was said to be a ‘good riding ship’ but afterwards, the Edmund Fitzgerald became a sluggish ship with slower response&recovery times. Captain McSorley said he did not like the action of a ship he described as a ‘wiggling thing’ that scared him. Now, the Edmund Fitzgerald’s bow hooked to one side or the other in heavy seas without recovering and made a groaning sound not heard on other ships.” This is what I believe probably happened, based on what I have already quoted and what else is known to have happened.
there is the phenomenon most noted in the great lakes called ploughing and the sister phenomenon called ploughing to the bottom. these two situations have been known to kill ships in the past. i’ll give a description of both. ploughing: this is when the ship hits a wave and the front of the ship (or rear depending on the wave motions and direction of travel) dip into the lake and then under the ships own power it drives the ship further under usually ploughing can be recovered from but relies on the ship’s ability to “submarine”. if the ship waterlogs the ship sinks. ploughing to the bottom: has similar aspects, but in this case the end of the ship is driven hard into the floor of the lake and could cause the ship to break from the heavy impact. as for your theory it does not cover why there was no emergency call. if the fitz’s captain figured out something was seriously wrong in those ten minutes he would have called it in. my theory is that the fitz ploughed to the bottom as ploughing in general can happen without warning. the wheelhouse would have went under possibly crushing and drowning the crew in the wheel house very quickly. thus no radio signal for an emergency. the engine room was in the stern of the ship thus the screws would have continued to drive the ship downward until impact. this impact and the rapidly flooding holds cracked the ship in half flipping the stern over where it is at rest today. in front of the bow it shows the mud pushed out in a wave in front of her(you can see similar mud movements with the bismarck which slid down the side of an underwater mountain before coming to a rest).
When you look at the reck you can see that the ship was pushed along the bottom of the lake. It’s believed that the Fits came off a huge wave and dove down with the front hitting the bottom and pushed along until it hit granite. That’s what broke the ship in halfe. The engines were still running that’s what turned the back of the ship over upside down.