Remembering the Edmund Fitzgerald

Lake Superior, just north of Whitefish Point, is known as the location for one of the worst shipping disasters in the Great Lakes.  At the tip of Whitefish Point sits the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum, which honors not only the Edmund Fitzgerald but other ships that have succumbed to the mighty Great Lakes waters.  This page is meant to honor and remember those who lost their lives trying to navigate "the Fitz" to a safer location during an epic storm on November 10, 1975.  Unfortunately, they did not make it.  You will find some history about the ship and the accident as well as pictures here.

On That Fateful Night...

On November 10, 1975, the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald headed out of the Superior, Wisconsin port.  It was headed for Detroit, Michigan, where it was to deliver a heavy load of taconite pellets from the Minnesota Iron Range.  The crew on board of the Edmund Fitzgerald didn't know what they soon would be in for. 

The Fitzgerald was being accompanied by the Arthur M. Anderson across the stormy waters of Lake Superior.  Both ships reported experienced heavy weather.  A November gale low pressure system from the south moved up to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and crossed right over Marquette, Michigan and over central Lake Superior.  The Edmund Fitzgerald was just 17 miles from Whitefish Point in the eastern U.P. when it sank to the bottom of Lake Superior. 

The Captain of "the Fitz," Ernest McSorley reported to control that he was having difficulty with the ship and was taking on water.  There was noticeable damage to the ship's ballast vent pipes and the radar on the ship was not working.  McSorely said it was the worst storm he had ever seen.  All 29 officers and crew, including a Great Lakes Maritime Academy cadet, went down with the ship, which lies broken in two sections in 530 feet of water.

The ship was surveyed by the U.S. Coast Guard in 1976.  The wreckage consisted of an upright bow section and an inverted stern section.  A debris field comprised of the rest of the hull in between.  Both sections lie within 170 feet of each other.

In 1978, the National Transportation Safety Board unanimously rejected the Coast Guard's official report and the theory of faulty hatches.  Later on, the NTSB revised its decision and reached a majority vote to agree that the sinking of "the Fitz" was caused by taking on water through one or more of the hatch covers damaged by the impact of the heavy seas over her deck during the storm. 

On August 7, 1977, the U.S. Coast Guard cited faulty hatch covers, lack of water tight cargo hold bulkheads and damage caused from an undetermined source.  

A Few Facts on the Edmund Fitzgerald

It was built by Great Lakes Engineering works as Hull 301 at its yard at Ecorse, Michigan. The vessel was launched on June 7, 1958. 

The engine builder was Westinghouse Electric Corporation.  Its engines were Steam Turbine 2 cylinder, 7,500 SHP.

Gross Tonnage was 13,632, the length of the ship was 711.2 feet, the breadth was 75.1 and the depth of the ship was 33.4 feet.  

The registry number of the ship was US 277437.

Lyrics to Gordon Lightfoot's Song "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" 

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they called Gitchigumi
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 crew 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 feeling?

The wind in the wires made a tattle-tale sound
And a wave tumbled over the railing
And every man knew, as the captain did too,
T'was the witch of November come stealing.

The dawn came late and the breakfast had to wait
When the gales of November came slashing
When afternoon came it was freezing rain
In the face of a hurricane west wind.

When suppertime came, the old cook came on deck saying
"Fellas, it's too rough to feed ya."
At seven PM the main hatchway caved in, he said
"Fellas, it's been good to know ya"

The captain wired in he had water coming in
And the good ship and crew was in peril.
And later that night when his lights went out of 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.
All that remains are 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 isles 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 till 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 call Gitchigumi
Superior, they say, never gives up her dead
When the gales of November come early.