SS Edmund Fitzgerald Totally Explained

Everything about Ss Edmund Fitzgerald totally explained

The S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald, nicknamed "Mighty Fitz," "The Fitz," or "The Big Fitz," was an American lake freighter, launched on June 8, 1958. Until the 1970s, she was the largest ship on the Great Lakes. During a Lake Superior gale storm on November 10, 1975, the Fitzgerald sank suddenly, without sending any distress signals, in 530 feet (162 m) of water at, in Canadian waters approximately 17 miles (15 nmi; 27 km) from the entrance to Whitefish Bay. All 29 hands in the crew perished, presumably by drowning. The incident is the most famous disaster in the history of Great Lakes shipping, and is the subject of Gordon Lightfoot's hit song, "The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald."

Construction and operation

On February 1, 1957, Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company of Milwaukee, Wisconsin contracted Great Lakes Engineering Works (GLEW), of River Rouge, Michigan, to design and build an ore bulk carrier laker for Northwestern. The contract contained the stipulation that the boat be the largest on the Great Lakes. GLEW laid the keel on August 7 of that year, and some time between then and her christening and launch on June 8, 1958, Northwestern announced their decision to name the boat for their President and Chairman of the Board, Edmund Fitzgerald, whose own father had himself been a lake captain.
The completed vessel had a capacity of 26,600 tons (24,131 tonnes). Her large cargo hold loaded through twenty-one watertight hatches, each measuring 11-feet 7-inches by 54 feet of 5/16 inch steel (3.53 m by 16.5 m of 8 mm steel). The boat's boilers were originally coal-fired, but would be converted to burn oil during the 1971-72 winter layup. With a length of 729 foot (222 m), she met the demanding stipulation of the contract and was the largest boat on the Great Lakes, a record she held until the 1970s, when 1000 foot lakers first appeared.
Over 15,000 people attended the Fitzgerald's launch. The event was troublesome. When Mrs. Edmund Fitzgerald went to christen the boat by smashing a champagne bottle over the bow, it took her three swings to break the bottle. The launch was delayed 36 minutes while the shipyard crew struggled to release the keel blocks. Upon launching sideways into the water, the boat crashed violently into a dock. Sea trials for the Fitzgerald began on September 13, 1958, and Northwestern handed the operation of the boat to the Columbia Transportation Division of the Oglebay Norton Corporation one week later. For the next 17 years, the Fitzgerald carried taconite from mines near Duluth, Minnesota to iron works in Detroit, Toledo and other ports. Prior to the events of November 9, 1975, she suffered five collisions, running aground in 1969, colliding with the S.S. Hochelaga in 1970 and then striking the wall of a lock later in the same year, hitting a lock's wall again in 1973, and then again the following year. She also lost her original bow anchor in the Detroit River in 1974.

Final voyage and wreck

Fitzgerald left Superior, Wisconsin on the afternoon of Sunday, November 9, 1975 under Captain Ernest M. McSorley. She was en route to the steel mill on Zug Island, near Detroit, Michigan, with a full cargo of taconite. A second freighter, Arthur M. Anderson, destined for Gary, Indiana out of Two Harbors, Minnesota, joined up with Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald, being the faster ship, took the lead while Anderson trailed not far behind.
   Crossing Lake Superior at about 13 knots (15 mph/24 km/h), the boats encountered a massive winter storm, reporting winds in excess of and waves as high as 35 feet (10 m). Because of the storm, the Soo Locks at Sault Ste. Marie were closed. The freighters altered their courses northward, seeking shelter along the Canadian coast. Later, they'd cross to Whitefish Bay to approach the locks.
   Late in the afternoon of Monday, November 10, sustained winds of 50 knots were observed across eastern Lake Superior. Anderson was struck by a 75 knots hurricane force gust. At 3:30 PM Fitzgerald radioed Anderson to report a minor list developing and top-side damage including the loss of radar. Visibility was poor due to heavy snow, and the Coast Guard warned all ships to find safe harbor. Fitzgerald's two bilge pumps were running continuously to discharge shipped water. The lighthouse and navigational radio beacon at Whitefish Point had also been knocked out by the storm. Fitzgerald was ahead of Anderson at the time, effectively blind, therefore, she slowed to come within 10 miles range so she could receive radar guidance from the other ship.
   Although it's the latest vessel lost, and the largest, Fitzgerald isn't alone on the bottom. The Great Lakes have a long history of nautical disaster; nearly 6,000 shipwrecks have occurred since 1878, with about a quarter of those being listed as total losses. Some ships and crews simply vanished in storms. A number of diveable marine preserves have been established that contain multiple sunken ships.
   Every November 10, Split Rock Lighthouse in Silver Bay, Minnesota emits a light in honor of the Edmund Fitzgerald. In 2005, efforts were underway to establish in Washington, D.C. a memorial remembering all lost Great Lakes mariners. A campaign to establish November 10 as "Great Lakes Mariners Day" fell short when in 1994, the House of Representatives ended the practice of annual Congressional recognition days.
   In 1976, Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot recorded the song "The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald," commemorating the events surrounding the sinking of the ship. In 2005, Michigan based Northern-Rock band Great Lakes Myth Society included audio samples of transmissions from the Anderson relaying the suspected loss of the Fitzgerald to the Coast Guard in their song "Lake Effect."
   The concerto The Edmund Fitzgerald, whose music was composed by American composer Geoffrey Peterson (External Link

) in 2002, was premiered by the Sault Symphony Orchestra in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada for the commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the shipwreck in November 2005. The concerto for piano and string orchestra chronicles the tragic final voyage of the Fitzgerald. Composed in four movements, Embarkment, The Gales, Six-Fathom Shoal (“We’re holding our own.”) and Entombment-Dirge, the concerto paints a vivid and haunting portrait of the legendary and mysterious shipwreck. The concerto incorporates several musical quotes. The first is "Spanish Ladies," an English sea chantey, the other, the funeral march from Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3, the Eroica Symphony. The work is housed in the Edwin A. Fleisher Collection of Orchestral Music in Philadelphia, PA.
   In 1986, writer Steven Dietz and songwriter/lyricist Eric Peltoniemi wrote the musical Ten November in memory of the Edmund Fitzgerald's sinking. In 2005, the musical was re-edited into a new musical called The Gales Of November, which opened on the 30th anniversary of the sinking at the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul, Minnesota, narrated by Kevin Kling, performed by the singers Prudence Johnson, Ruth MacKenzie, and Claudia Schmidt, and backed by Peter Ostroushko (Violin and Mandolin), Dan Chouinard (Accordion and Piano), Eric Peltoniemi (Acoustic Guitar), and Jeff Willkomm (Electric Bass Guitar).
   Coast Guard Cutter Woodrush was replaced by a brand new buoy tender in 2001, USCGC Maple. On her maiden voyage, the Maple visited the final resting place of the Edmund Fitzgerald and dropped the last Woodrush life ring down to the wreck.
   On August 8, 2007, a Michigan family discovered a lone life saving ring in a provincial park along the shores of Lake Superior that seemed to be from the SS Edmund Fitzgerald. It was thought to be a hoax because there are considerable differences in the markings of proven rings found at the wreck site. A recent Associated Press article published August 20, 2007 confirms that the life ring was indeed a memorial, not an artifact.

Crew members

Edmund Fitzgerald's crew on her final voyage included:

Last, First	Position	Age	Hometown
Armagost, Michael E.	Third Mate	37	Iron River, Wisconsin
Beetcher, Fred J.	Porter	56	Superior, Wisconsin
Bentsen, Thomas D.	Oiler	23	St. Joseph, Michigan
Bindon, Edward F.	First Assistant Engineer	47	Fairport Harbor, Ohio
Borgeson, Thomas D.	Maintenance Man	41	Duluth, Minnesota
Champeau, Oliver J.	Third Assistant Engineer	41	Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Church, Nolan S.	Porter	55	Silver Bay, Minnesota
Cundy, Ransom E.	Watchman	53	Superior, Wisconsin
Edwards, Thomas E.	Second Assistant Engineer	50	Oregon, Ohio
Haskell, Russell G.	Second Assistant Engineer	40	Millbury, Ohio
Holl, George J.	Chief Engineer	60	Cabot, Pennsylvania
Hudson, Bruce L.	Deck Hand	22	North Olmsted, Ohio
Kalmon, Allen G.	Second Cook	43	Washburn, Wisconsin
MacLellan, Gordon F.	Wiper	30	Clearwater, Florida
Mazes, Joseph W.	Special Maintenance Man	59	Ashland, Wisconsin
McCarthy, John H.	First Mate	62	Bay Village, Ohio
McSorley, Ernest M.	Captain	63	Toledo, Ohio
O'Brien, Eugene W.	Wheelsman	50	Toledo, Ohio
Peckol, Karl A.	Watchman	20	Ashtabula, Ohio
Poviach, John J.	Wheelsman	59	Bradenton, Florida
Pratt, James A.	Second Mate	44	Lakewood, Ohio
Rafferty, Robert C.	Steward	62	Toledo, Ohio
Riippa, Paul M.	Deck Hand	22	Ashtabula, Ohio
Simmons, John D.	Wheelsman	63	Ashland, Wisconsin
Spengler, William J.	Watchman	59	Toledo, Ohio
Thomas, Mark A.	Deck Hand	21	Richmond Heights, Ohio
Walton, Ralph G.	Oiler	58	Fremont, Ohio
Weiss, David E.	Cadet	22	Agoura, California
Wilhelm, Blaine H.	Oiler	52	Moquah, Wisconsin

Statistics

The metrics of the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald were as follows:

Length: 729 feet (222.2 m) oa

Beam: 75 feet (22.7 m)

Depth (D): 39 feet (11.9 m)

Net Register Tonnage (NRT): 8,686

Gross Register Tonnage (GRT): 13,632

Deadweight tons (DWT) (capacity): 26,660 tons

Rated speed: 14 knots

Fuel: 72,000 U.S. gallons (60,000 imp gal; 273 m³) fuel oil

Builder: Great Lakes Engineering Works (River Rouge, Michigan)Further Information

Get more info on 'Ss Edmund Fitzgerald'.

External Link Exchanges

Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:

<a href="http://ss_edmund_fitzgerald.totallyexplained.com">SS Edmund Fitzgerald Totally Explained</a>

Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned.