November 10th, 1975, a massive storm rolls over Lake Superior. As many ships make their way towards the safety of the coastline, one ship is left behind, in the dark turbulent night. That ship, The Edmund Fitzgerald now lye in the depths of the Superior. The events of that night and what happened to the 729-foot freighter are still a mystery to the world. Many theorize what conditions caused the ship to go down that night. Some theories deal with the weather conditions as well as focusing on equipment malfunctions that took place. So what sunk the Edmund Fitzgerald?
It was estimated that winds speeds were up to 96mph and waves were 35 feet high during the storm on the tenth. The Edmund Fitzgerald loaded with Iron Ore was headed from Milwaukee, Wisconsin to Detroit, Michigan to deliver its freight to Detroit steel mills to be used in the production in cars. However the ship turned toward the safety of Whitefish Bay as the storm approached. The 29 men aboard the Fitzgerald were confident in their safety despite the storm because of the ships reputation as one of the strongest and most competent ships on the Great Lakes. The ship when launched in 1958 set records for carrying the largest loads and making the fastest trips. The ship could carry 25,400 tons of freight. The ships captain Ernest McSorley was one of the most experienced captains in the business, he spent 44 of his previous years sailing on the Great Lakes. As you can tell the Captain, crew, and the ship itself were all held in high regard and none of their conducts were brought into question when evaluating why the ship sank. So why did the ship sink?
First, I will cover the actual weather conditions of that night and how they may have impacted the ship. Some believe th...
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...uzzle that solve the mystery that was the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
All 29 sailors perished with the Edmund Fitzgerald on November 10th 1975. If you want to learn more about the ship you can visit the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point. A place where they proudly displayed the recovered ships bell in remembrance of the lost sailors and a place that is close to the final resting place of the ship.
Works Cited
Modern , Marvels. History Channel, "Watch Documentary." Last modified 15 9, 2010. Accessed April 10, 2014. http://watchdocumentary.org/watch/modern-marvels-s12e12-engineering-disasters-19-video_cf782f02b.html.
Smithsonian Channel, "The Titanic of the Great Lakes." Last modified 2013. Accessed April 10, 2014. http://www.smithsonianchannel.com/sc/web/series/798/dive-detectives/137519/edmund-fitzgerald
On the morning of August 29, 1988, USS Dwight D. Eisenhower was returning to her homeport in Norfolk after conducting a six-month deployment in the Mediterranean Sea. She had performed extremely well in exercises and was set to receive the Battle “E.” The carrier had recently taken on approximately 500 Tigers in Bermuda, joining their parents for the final leg of the voyage. Also, the Secretary of the Navy was aboard that morning, and had been present on the bridge prior to his departure at 0807. 14 minutes later, at 0821 according to the deck log, the Eisenhower struck the Spanish bulk carrier Urduliz, which was anchored in a designated anchorage area, “A,” in berth “Z.”
The USS Indianapolis was a heavy cruiser. She did not have heavy armor which made her vulnerable to torpedo attacks. She had been ordered to sail on July 16, 1945, to deliver a bomb that would end the war. Unfortunately, it sank before it arrived.
the North Atlantic waters. At 11:40 P.M. an ice berg was spotted and as the ship made a rapid
For starters, the U.S.S. Indianapolis was a real ship. In fact, it was the first naval ship to deliver a fully operational atomic bomb from Guam. after the delivery on July 30th, 1945, at 12:14 am the Indy was hit by two out of the six torpedoes fired from a Japanese submarine. With 1,196 crewmen on board the Indy, 900 managed escape into the water, by the sun rise of the first day of being stranded shark attacks began and for five days men were picked off by the beasts and by 11:00am on the fifth day out of the 900 remaining men who escaped the attack only 317 men would survive to be saved. The author used these events in the book as this takes place when Patrick watched as the torpedoes made huge gaping holes in the hull of the Indy.
...tself 500ft below the water, none of them have been proven indefinitely. Whether the ship crossed the Superior Shoal, with water as shallow as 22 feet; or the ship suffered a stress fracture and broke apart on the surface, there will always be one more possibility regarding the Fitzgerald’s demise. For instance, the sip could have also succumbed to the forces of the Three Sisters, a Lake Superior phenomenon, consisting of massive waves. Ultimately, each of these current theories are merely conjectures, and since each holds the possibility of being true, the cause of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald’s sinking is an ongoing mystery, one that has and will continue to bring about many theories. Finally, as a result of the wreck of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald, the 30 million people who lived next to the great lakes would forever look across their waters with renewed respect.
We believe we were hit by two torpedoes, one around frame 8 or 10, because the bow was blown off forward around ten. Another one [torpedo] around frame fifty. We believe that they were large torpedoes, that they were running close to the surface, because none of us believe the magazines blew up, that is the only way we can account for the flashes of flame through the ship.
On May the 7th 1915 the Lusitania sank, taking with it the lives of one thousand, two hundred and one people including ninety-one children and thirty-one infants. Despite the fact that it was the largest and fastest ship at that time, the German torpedo still found its mark off the South Coast of Ireland while the ship was travelling between the United States and England. The failure to prevent the tragedy despite the warnings given, the actions (or lack thereof) of the Admiralty and the neglect in ensuring that the lifeboat system and the ship itself would offer maximum protection; puts the primary blame unto the British Admiralty and the Cunard Company.
Since commercial shipping began on the five Great Lakes, there have Been six thousand shipwrecks. Half have never been found. There are three storms
On October 31st, the Fitz was on her last trip for the season, but did the captain know it would be the last for him and the crew? At 8:30 A.M, november 8th, the FItz was loaded with 26,000 tons of taconite pellets(Anderson 10) “With a load of Iron ore Twenty-six thousand tons more than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty” (Gordon Lightfoot http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/) They were going across Lake Superior from Superior Wisconsin to WhiteFish Point Michigan which is 350 miles southeast. The one thing the captain didn’t know was that there was a storm coming there way from wisconsin up to canada with hurricane speed winds, the worst storm in history. so the storm hit them...
One of the Navy’s largest fuel ships, the USS Cyclops, was last seen on March 4, 1918. It had stopped in the West Indies on its way from Brazil to Baltimore, carrying 10,800 tons of manganese ore to be used for manufacturing military products (Latson). The odd element surrounding this case was that the captain never sent a distress signal, and none of the three hundred crew members aboard had responded to any of the radio calls sent by hundreds of American ships in their vicinity (Latson). Again it was a perfect day, without any storms strong enough that would cause a fuel ship to disappear, just as it had been the case with Flight 19. After the ship went off the grid somewhere north of Barbados, it became one of the most popular examples of the strange dangers associated with the Bermuda
After the bombers of Flight 19 had disappeared, the US Navy immediately sent out a search party for the lost crew. Two PBM Mariner flying boats were sent out in search of the crew of Flight 19, but shortly after their departure one plane had already gone missing. The plane had been reported as seemingly following the path that had been taken by Flight 19. The crew of thirteen on the Mariner was never found, but it was believed that the plane had exploded shortly after departure. The theory was proven shortly after when a merchant ship that was passing by reported seeing a fireball in the sky followed by oil in the ocean.
However nobody knew or knows why or how it sank. The Fitzgerald was the longest and the fastest ship on the Lakes of that time starting at 729 feet long. November 9th the Fitzgerald started a voyage not knowing it was their last, with 29 passengers on the ship. The next day they battled with 15 foot waves and 60 mph winds (history.com). The Fitzgerald was in touch with the Anderson, making weather reports and keeping the others updated, at 7pm the Fitzgerald reported that they were hit with two huge waves, the last thing heard from the Fitzgerald was “we are holding our own” (Tim Mcall). At about 7:20 pm they were off the radar and out of all sight, nothing else was heard from anybody on that ship(Tim Mcall). There was a song written about the ship and the sinking called the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. This song was written to show the people how bad it hurt many families. Many people didn’t even have to listen to the song because they were already in pain of mourning the loss of their sons and husbands (www.thecurrent.org). Wednesday after the sinking, officials from the marines held a memorial where they rang the actual bell from the Fitzgerald 29 times (John Meyers). The bell now sits at the center of the Great Lakes shipwreck museum, marking the day in history that our own selves still cannot figure out (John Meyers). All the history of the
The water temperature that night was below freezing. The wrought iron rivets that fastened the hull plates to the Titanic's main structure also failed because of brittle fracture during the collision with the iceberg. Low water temperatures contributed to this failure [Garzke and others, 1994].
Fear has taken a hold of every man aboard this ship, as it should; our luck is as far gone as the winds that led us off course. For nights and days gusts beyond measure have forced us south, yet our vessel beauty, Le Serpent, stays afloat. The souls aboard her, lay at the mercy of this ruthless sea. Chaotic weather has turned the crew from noble seamen searching for glory and riches, to whimpering children. To stay sane I keep the holy trinity close to my heart and the lady on my mind. Desperation comes and goes from the men’s eyes, while the black, blistering clouds fasten above us, as endless as the ocean itself. The sea rocks our wood hull back and forth but has yet to flip her. The rocking forces our bodies to cling to any sturdy or available hinge, nook or rope, anything a man can grasp with a sea soaked hand. The impacts make every step a danger. We all have taken on a ghoulish complexion; the absence of sunlight led the weak souls aboard to fight sleep until sick. Some of us pray for the sun to rise but thunder constantly deafens our cries as it crackles above the mast. We have been out to sea for fifty-five days and we have been in this forsaken storm for the last seventeen.