The Mini Rover ROV was equipped with miniature stereoscopic cameras and wide-angle lenses in order to produce 3-D images. The NTSB Edmund Fitzgerald investigation concluded that Great Lakes freighters should be constructed with watertight bulkheads in their cargo holds. En route to a steel mill near Detroit, Edmund Fitzgerald joined a second taconite freighter, SSArthur M. Anderson. In 1976, Ontario singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot wrote, composed, and recorded the song "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" for his album Summertime Dream. "[150] Frederick Stonehouse also held that the lack of watertight bulkheads caused Edmund Fitzgerald to sink. The ship was carrying a cargo of iron ore pellets weighing about 26,100 tons, and it left from Superior, Wisconsin, heading to the steel mill on Zug Island. [4][7] Captain Peter Pulcer was known for piping music day or night over the ship's intercom while passing through the St. Clair and Detroit rivers (between lakes Huron and Erie), and entertaining spectators at the Soo Locks (between Lakes Superior and Huron) with a running commentary about the ship. Whitefish Point is the site of the Whitefish Point Light Station and Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum. Bar used beer tap made into a hat rack or coat rack. The Edmund Fitzgerald was conceived when Northwestern Mutual contracted with . Other questions were raised as to why the USCG did not discover and take corrective action in its pre-November 1975 inspection of Edmund Fitzgerald, given that her hatch coamings, gaskets, and clamps were poorly maintained. Carried 72,000U.S.gal (270,000L; 60,000impgal) fuel oil, This page was last edited on 3 January 2023, at 04:57. "[55], By late in the afternoon of November 10, sustained winds of over 50 knots (93km/h; 58mph) were recorded by ships and observation points across eastern Lake Superior. "[168] Paquette's vessel was the first to reach a discharge port after the November 10 storm; she was met by company attorneys who came aboard Sykes. One had speeds in excess of 43 knots (80km/h; 49mph) and the other winds in excess of 40 knots (74km/h; 46mph). [40] The weather forecast was not unusual for November and the National Weather Service (NWS) predicted that a storm would pass just south of Lake Superior by 7a.m. on November 10. The Edmund Fitzgerald remains the largest ship to have ever sunk in Lake Superior still to this day. "[122], Maritime author Stonehouse reasoned that "unlike the Lake Carriers, the Coast Guard had no vested interest in the outcome of their investigation. The USCG Marine board concluded that the few damaged clamps were probably the only ones fastened. [110] The NTSB came to the same conclusion as USCG because: The proximity of the bow and stern sections on the bottom of Lake Superior indicated that the vessel sank in one piece and broke apart either when it hit bottom or as it descended. Hudson Company-designed furnishings[20] included deep pile carpeting, tiled bathrooms, drapes over the portholes, and leather swivel chairs in the guest lounge. The Traverse City, Michigan, USCG station launched an HU-16 fixed-wing search aircraft that arrived on the scene at 10:53p.m. while an HH-52 USCG helicopter with a 3.8-million-candlepower searchlight arrived at 1:00a.m. on November 11. 2:39 PM. The May 4, 1978, NTSB findings differed from the USCG. She was loaded with 26,116 tons of taconite pellets at the Burlington Northern Railroad, Dock #1. The USCG took the position that only the captain could decide when it was safe to sail.[172]. [104], A group of three rogue waves, often called "three sisters,"[107] was reported in the vicinity of Edmund Fitzgerald at the time she sank. Captain McSorley said he did not like the action of a ship he described as a "wiggling thing" that scared him. Hatch cover No. The USCG Marine Board issued the following conclusion: The nature of Great Lakes shipping, with short voyages, much of the time in very protected waters, frequently with the same routine from trip to trip, leads to complacency and an overly optimistic attitude concerning the extreme weather conditions that can and do exist. The third incoming wave again adds to the two accumulated backwashes, quickly overloading the deck with too much water. [59] At about 8:25p.m., Cooper again called the USCG to express his concern about Edmund Fitzgerald[60] and at 9:03p.m. reported her missing. [39] Around 5p.m., Edmund Fitzgerald joined a second freighter under the command of Captain Jesse B. When launched in 1958, the Edmund Fitzgerald was the largest ship traversing the Great Lakes, setting records for hauling taconite iron ore mined in Minnesota and destined for Midwest steel mills. Conversion to oil fuel and the fitting of automated boiler controls over the winter of 197172. [126] Hainault's hypothesis held that this seiche contributed to Edmund Fitzgerald shoaling 200 feet (61m) of her hull on Superior Shoal, causing the hull to be punctured mid-body. Marie. [134] After August B. Herbel Jr., president of the American Society for Testing and Materials, examined photographs of the welds on Edmund Fitzgerald, he stated, "the hull was just being held together with patching plates." [23] Fitzgerald had attempted to dissuade the naming of the ship after himself proposing the names Centennial, Seaway, Milwaukee and Northwestern. Measuring 729 feet (222 meters) in length and weighing over 13,632 gross tons, the Edmund Fitzgerald was . [16], At approximately 7:10p.m., when Arthur M. Anderson notified Edmund Fitzgerald of an upbound ship and asked how she was doing, McSorley reported, "We are holding our own." [97] On the basis of the amended law, to protect wreck sites considered "watery graves", the Ontario government issued updated regulations in January 2006, including an area with a 500-meter (1,640ft) radius around Edmund Fitzgerald and other specifically designated marine archeological sites. Great lakes Edmund Fitzgerald porter beer, Cleveland Ohio Made. It had 29 crew during its sinking on 10 November 1975 due to a storm in Lake Superior. When launched, she was the largest ship on the Great Lakes, and she remains the largest to have sunk there. [159] The NTSB investigation concluded that a fathometer would have provided Edmund Fitzgerald additional navigational data and made her less dependent on Arthur M. Anderson for navigational assistance. [176] With a value of $24million, Edmund Fitzgerald's financial loss was the greatest in Great Lakes sailing history. In the years between 1816, when Invincible was lost, and 1975, when Edmund Fitzgerald sank, the Whitefish Point area had claimed at least 240ships. The USCG Marine Board found that flooding of the hold could not have been assessed until the water reached the top of the taconite cargo. [98][99] In 2009, a further amendment to the Ontario Heritage Act imposed licensing requirements on any type of surveying device. Bidding has ended on this item. The bow section abruptly ended just aft of hatch No. What happened on that fateful night to the ship and the entire 29-man crew? Without warning or a distress signal, the Edmund Fitzgerald sank some 17 miles from Whitefish Bay near Sault Ste. A brief history on the sister ship of the Edmund Fitzgerald. [50], McSorley was known as a "heavy weather captain"[167] who "'beat hell' out of the Edmund Fitzgerald and 'very seldom ever hauled up for weather'". Shortly after 4:10p.m., McSorley called Arthur M. Anderson again to report a radar failure and asked Arthur M. Anderson to keep track of them. [119] The NTSB dissenting opinion held that Edmund Fitzgerald sank suddenly and unexpectedly from shoaling. Arthur B. Homer was permanently laid up in 1980 and broken for scrap in 1987. The USCG investigation of Edmund Fitzgerald's sinking resulted in 15recommendations regarding load lines, weathertight integrity, search and rescue capability, lifesaving equipment, crew training, loading manuals, and providing information to masters of Great Lakes vessels. The sinking led to changes in Great Lakes shipping regulations and practices that included mandatory survival suits, depth finders, positioning systems, increased freeboard, and more frequent inspection of vessels. Sister Lakes Postcard, Collectible Chautauqua Lake Postcards, 8 and the deck plating was ripped up from the separation to the forward end of hatch No. Based on the NWS forecast, Arthur M. Anderson and Edmund Fitzgerald instead started their trip across Lake Superior following the regular Lake Carriers Association route, which placed them in the path of the storm. [36] Freshwater ships are built to last more than half a century, and Edmund Fitzgerald would have still had a long career ahead of her when she sank. Boats & Ships; Other Boat & Ship Collectibles; Share. When Elizabeth Fitzgerald, wife of Edmund Fitzgerald, tried to christen the ship by smashing a champagne bottle over the bow, it took her three attempts to break it. Edmund Fitzgerald lay about 15 miles (13nmi; 24km) west of Deadman's Cove, Ontario (about 8 miles (7.0nmi; 13km) northwest of Pancake Bay Provincial Park), 17 miles (15nmi; 27km) from the entrance to Whitefish Bay to the southeast, in Canadian waters close to the international boundary at a depth of 530 feet (160m). The Edmund Fitzgerald is loaded with taconite pellets at Burlington Northern Railroad, Dock 1. Ex-Fitzgerald crew member George Burgner claimed in a deposition that unrepaired cracks and weakened metal on the ship caused the loss, according . 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. [198] Artifacts on display in the Steamship Valley Camp museum in Sault Ste. [4] Her size, record-breaking performance, and "DJ captain" endeared Edmund Fitzgerald to boat watchers.[8]. She and her sister ship, the Edward Y. Townsend, carried iron ore and other bulk cargo to and from Great Lakes ports for six decades. Thousands of ships have sunk in Great Lakes since the European explorers began navigating the Lakes in late 1600. [18] In 1969, the ship's maneuverability was improved by the installation of a diesel-powered bow thruster. She was en route to the steel mill on Zug Island, near Detroit, Michigan,[38] with a cargo of 26,116 long tons (29,250 short tons; 26,535t) of taconite ore pellets and soon reached her full speed of 16.3 miles per hour (14.2kn; 26.2km/h). [24] More than 15,000 people attended Edmund Fitzgerald's christening and launch ceremony on June 7, 1958. [9] In 1957, they contracted Great Lakes Engineering Works (GLEW), of River Rouge, Michigan, to design and construct the ship "within a foot of the maximum length allowed for passage through the soon-to-be completed Saint Lawrence Seaway. Other authors have concluded that Edmund Fitzgerald most likely broke in two on the surface before sinking due to the intense waves, like the ore carriers SSCarl D. Bradley and SSDaniel J. She was used to carry taconite from mines near Duluth, Minnesota to iron works in Detroit, Toledo and other ports. He concluded that the topside damage Edmund Fitzgerald experienced at 3:30p.m. on November 10, compounded by the heavy seas, was the most obvious explanation for why she sank. The largest and longest vessel built at that time on the Great Lakes, the 729-foot SS Edmund Fitzgerald, slides into . [79] MacInnis concluded that the notes and video obtained during the dives did not provide an explanation why Edmund Fitzgerald sank. 1 hatch were fractured and buckled inward. The S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald (sometimes called the Mighty Fitz or Big Fitz) was a Great Lakes bulk cargo vessel that was christened into service on June 8, 1958. The NWS long-range forecast on November 9, 1975, predicted that a storm would pass just south of Lake Superior and over the Keweenaw Peninsula, extending into the Lake from Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The Arthur M. Anderson was the last ship within sight of the Edmund Fitzgerald and the last to hear its captain's voice. The Edmund Fitzgerald was a "Laker" type iron ore bulk freighter launched on June 7, 1958 by the Great Lakes Engineering Works in River Rogue, Michigan for the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company one year after its near sister ship Arthur B. Homer. Departing Superior "[166] The USCG did not broadcast that all ships should seek safe anchorage until after 3:35p.m. on November 10, many hours after the weather was upgraded from a gale to a storm. Gordon Lightfoot made it the subject of his 1976hit song "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" after reading an article, "The Cruelest Month", in the November 24, 1975, issue of Newsweek. Her J.L. [54] Some time later, McSorley told Woodard, "I have a 'bad list', I have lost both radars, and am taking heavy seas over the deck in one of the worst seas I have ever been in. [106], At the time of the sinking, the ship Arthur M. Anderson reported northwest winds of 57mph (50kn; 92km/h), matching the simulation analysis result of 54mph (47kn; 87km/h). [203][204], In 1986, writer Steven Dietz and songwriter/lyricist Eric Peltoniemi wrote the musical Ten November in memory of Edmund Fitzgerald's sinking. The Edmund Fitzgerald was the largest ship on the Great Lakes upon completion in 1958 and remained so until the early 1970s. Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, invested in the iron and minerals industries on a large-scale basis, including the construction of Edmund Fitzgerald, which represented the first such investment by any American life insurance company. 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