The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
10 NOVEMBER 1975
50th ANNIVERSARY
THE WRECK OF THE EDMUND FITZGERALD
When she slid off the ways in 1958, the 729-foot SS Edmund Fitzgerald was the largest man-made object ever to hit freshwater, indeed her size took Great Lakes freighting to a new standard. Named for the sitting chairman of Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, her owner, she bordered on luxurious even by modern standards; her crew spaces bore leather-grained wall coverings, thick pile carpet, and tiled heads. Her size earned her the accolade “Queen of the Lakes” from a payload perspective as well, as she repeatedly broke records for tonnage carried per trip and per season.
On Sunday afternoon, 9 November 1975, Capt. Ernest R. McSorley departed Superior, Wisconsin, at the extreme western tip of Lake Superior, heading out on the northeast-southeast dogleg course to the locks at Sault Ste. Marie. On this last trip of the season, he was laden with 26,116 tons of taconite (iron ore) pellets, drafted to the minimum freeboard the recently loosened shipping laws allowed. Two hours out he met Capt. Jessie B. Cooper aboard SS Arthur M. Anderson, another ore freighter outbound from Two Harbors, MN. As the wind freshened both captains elected to take a more northerly course and hug the lee shore of the Canadian side.
A storm broke with uncommon fury through the night and following day. And having made their dogleg to the southeast, both ships now bucked the full force of what had unexpectedly matured into a once-a-century gale with 70 mph headwinds and 30-foot seas. Snow squalls limited visibility, and both vessels took green water over their weather decks. About 1530 McSorley radioed Anderson that two ventilation covers had been carried away, that he was shipping water and listing slightly, and that both radars were out. He confirmed that his pumps were working but asked Anderson for help in maintaining a correct course for the sheltered waters of Whitefish Bay and Sault Ste. Marie. As the stormy afternoon wore on, several subsequent radio transmissions beamed from Fitzgerald, one to the Swedish freighter Avafors, upbound in the opposite direction, asking whether the Whitefish Point navigation beacon was operational. In none of these communiqués did McSorley suggest a threat to his ship, in fact Fitzgerald’s last transmission at 1910 indicated, “We are holding our own.”
The watch aboard Anderson monitored Fitzgerald on their radar throughout that dark and fateful afternoon. From their position about ten miles behind they even caught an occasional visual sighting between snow squalls. Ground clutter periodically overwhelmed the radar, but Fitzgerald’s lumbering progress against the heavy seas was followed. Then around 1930 this day Edmund Fitzgerald vanished from the radar. Having battled over 500 miles down Lake Superior, at that moment the shelter of Whitefish Bay lay a mere fifteen miles distant.
Continued tomorrow…
Department of Transportation, US Coast Guard. SS Edmund Fitzgerald Sinking in Lake Superior on 10 November with Loss of Life. US Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigations Report and Commandant’s Action, Report #USCG167/64216, Washington, DC: GPO, 15 April 1977.
“Edmund Fitzgerald’s Grip on Hearts Still Powerful 20 Years After.” The Detroit News, 10 November 1995.
Farquhar, D.M., “The Loss of the Edmund Fitzgerald.” Sea Classics, Vol 29 (7), July 1996, pp. 40-42.
“Lakes’ Safety Plan Tied to ’75 Tragedy.” Chicago Tribune, 10 November 1985.
Ratigan, William. Great Lakes Shipwrecks & Survivals. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1977, pp. 315-46.
Smart, David. “The Last Expedition: Retrieving the Bell of the Edmund Fitzgerald.” Sea Classics, Vol 28 (12), December 1995, pp. 44-48.
