37 years ago...

[geoff40]

...on November 10th, 1975, was the night the Edmund Fitzgerald went down in a horrendous, Lake Superior storm. All 29 crew members perished. God bless them for all eternity.

 

[chickened]

Gordon Lightfoot sang about that incident.

 

[RHRanch]

 

[bakerjw]

I've always been fascinated by the big Fitz as she was called. There are a number of theories, but the one that carries the most weight seems to be that they were taking on water either because they didn't get the ore hatches tight or they bottomed out on seven fathom shoals. The Captain of the Arthur Anderson reported a series of super waves coming across his ship and heading in the direction of the Fitzgerald. One of the waves was very large and could have driven the bow of a ship that was already sitting low in the water under the water, thereby driving it down to the bottom. The last documentary that I saw showed evidence, on the bottom of the lake, where the bow had dug in. The Fitzgerald also broke in two.

My wife and I have always wanted to go to the memorial at Whitefish bay. We'll get there someday.

 

[oldrooster]

I've always been fascinated by the big Fitz as she was called. There are a number of theories, but the one that carries the most weight seems to be that they were taking on water either because they didn't get the ore hatches tight or they bottomed out on seven fathom shoals. The Captain of the Arthur Anderson reported a series of super waves coming across his ship and heading in the direction of the Fitzgerald. One of the waves was very large and could have driven the bow of a ship that was already sitting low in the water under the water, thereby driving it down to the bottom. The last documentary that I saw showed evidence, on the bottom of the lake, where the bow had dug in. The Fitzgerald also broke in two.

My wife and I have always wanted to go to the memorial at Whitefish bay. We'll get there someday.

Did a report on the Fritz in college, reviewed the facts and basic theories of her demise, it appeared as though more than likely the waves caught her before she made it to a nearby cove that gave "light" shelter as the Fritz had some mechanical and electrical trouble earlier in the day and the Arthur Anderson had the last confirmed sighting, and later the last confirmed radio contact with the Fritz.