Remembering the Mighty Fitz

On Monday, November 10, 1975 the "Mighty Fitz" S. S. Edmund Fitzgerald mysteriously sank without sending any distress signals, in Canadian waters approximately 17 miles from the entrance to Whitefish Bay. All 29 members of the crew perished. It was launched on June 8, 1958 and until the 1970's was the largest ship on the Great Lakes.

On Sunday, November 9, 1975 the Edmund Fitzgerald left Superior, Wisconsin in route to a steel mill near Detroit on Zug Island. Captain Ernest M. McSorley captained the Edmund Fitzgerald. They were joined by a second freighter, Arthur M. Anderson, which was headed for Gary Indiana. Since the Fitzgerald was faster, it took the lead. While crossing Lake Superior the boats run into a nasty winter storm. Winds were in excess of 50 knots with waves as high as 35 feet. Due to the storm, the Soo Locks at Sault Ste. Marie were closed so the boats turned northward to seek shelter along the Canadian coast hoping to make it to Whitefish Bay.

Late in the afternoon on Monday, November 10, 1975 the Anderson was struck with a 75-knot hurricane like gust. At 3:30 pm, the Fitzgerald radioed the Anderson to say they had developed a minor list and had sustained some top-side damage, which included the radar. The heavy snow made it impossible to see. All ships were warned by the Coast Guard to find safe harbor, but the Fitzgerald was running blind. The lighthouse and radio beacon at Whitefish Point had been knocked out. The Fitzgerald slowed so that the Anderson could get in range to provide them with radar guidance.

The Anderson was able to direct the Fitzgerald for a time. At 5:45 PM Captain McSorley radioed another ship, Avafors, to report that they had lost their radar, had suffered a bad list, and the seas were washing over the decks. The last communication came at 7:10 PM when the Anderson radioed the Fitzgerald of being hit by rogue waves that were big enough to be captured on radar. The rogue waves were heading towards the Fitzgerald. Captain McSorley reported that they were holding their own, but a few minutes later the Mighty Fitz sank. Ten minutes later the Anderson was unable to find the Fitzgerald by radio or radar. They informed the Coast Guard of their concern for the Fitzgerald at 8:32 PM. They then began to look for survivors. The weather made the search difficult. A second freighter, the SS William Clay Ford, joined the Anderson in the search. The Coast Guard launched three aircraft, but the weather prevented them from launching any ships. The search recovered no survivors.

The day after the Fitzgerald sank, the Mariners' Church in Detroit rang the bell 29 times for each life lost. The church continues to hold a memorial each November 10, reading the names of the victims and ringing the church bell 29 times. Every November 10 the Split Rock Lighthouse in Silver Bay, Minnesota emits a light in honor of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

The wreckage was discovered by a Navy aircraft using an on-board magnetic anomaly detector that was normally used to find submarines. The wreckage was further surveyed by the Coast Guard using sonar on November 14-16, 1975. Since the wreckage was found there has been quite a bit of controversy over how the Edmund Fitzgerald sank. When it initially vanished it was believed that it broke apart on the surface then sank, but the wreckage did not support this theory. The Coast Guard decided that it sunk due to ineffective hatch closures that had been unable to keep the waves from filling the cargo hold. The flooding had probably been going on for most of the day until it finally lost buoyancy and then plummeted to the bottom. An alternative theory is that the loss of the radar forced the crew to use inaccurate charts that resulted in them briefly either running aground or scraping a shoal near Caribou Island. This bottom damage caused the Fitzgerald to gradually take on water into she sank so suddenly in the deep water that none of the crew had time to react. A documentary by the Discovery Channel blames the loss of the Edmund Fitzgerald on rogue waves that were reported to the Fitzgerald by the Anderson.

The bell of the Edmund Fitzgerald was recovered on July 4, 1995. It is now a part of the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum in Whitefish Point near Paradise, MI. The anchor that had been lost on a previous trip was recovered and can be found on display at the Dossin Great Lakes Museum in Detroit, MI. Other artifacts like lifeboat #2 that was shredded like paper can be found at the Steamship Valley Camp in Sault Ste. Marie, MI.

The names of those who were lost:

Michael E. Armagost
Fred J. Beetcher
Thomas D. Bentsne
Edward F. Bindon
Thomas D. Borgeson
Oliver J. Champeau
Nolan S. Church
Ransom E. Cundy
Thomas E. Edwards
Russell G. Haskell
George J. Holl
Bruce L. Hudson
Allen G. Kalmon
Gordon F. MacLellan
Joseph W. Mazes
John H. McCarthy
Ernest M. McSorley
Eugene W. O'Brien
Karl A. Peckol
John J. Poviach
James A. Pratt
Robert C. Rafferty
Paul M. Rippa
John D. Simmons
William J. Spengler
Mark A. Thomas
Ralpha G. Walton
David E. Weiss
Blaine H. Wilhelm

Gordon Lightfoot immortalized the story of the Edmund Fitzgerald in song in 1976. I listen to this song every November 10th.

The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald by Gordon Lightfoot.

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 ev'ry man knew, as the captain did too
'twas 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 t'feed ya."
At seven P.M. a main hatchway caved in; he said,
"Fellas, it's bin good t'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 'is 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 'er.
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 call "Gitche Gumee."
"Superior," they said, "never gives up her dead
when the gales of November come early!"

The Edmund Fitzgerald may be the latest and largest ship lost, but sadly it is not alone at the bottom of the lake. The Great Lakes have a long and sad history of nautical disasters. Since 1878 there have been nearly 6,0000 shipwrecks on the Great Lakes and 25% of those have been total losses. There have been several ships and crews that vanished without a tracwe in storms.

So on this day that remember the Edmund Fitzgerald the 29 men lost aboard her, we should remember the other souls that have been lost in nautical disasters on the Great Lakes.

-Melissa