Essay on The Loss of the Fitzgerald Ship

There are mysteries which men can only guess at, which may only ever truly be solved in part; the SS Edmund Fitzgerald’s sinking is one of them. At the time it was launched in 1958, the 729-foot long, 75-foot wide freighter was the largest ship to ply the Great Lakes. Although, on November 9, 1975 the ship embarked upon what would become its final voyage. She was carrying 26,000 tons of iron ore pellets and bound for Detroit and though the day was bright, in her path laid great turbulence. On November 10, at 1:00am, the first signs of trouble appeared, and prevailed into the afternoon. As the waves built, luck was not with the ship or the crew. At 7:10 PM, Captain McSorley delivered what was to be his final message “We are holding our own.” Ten minutes later, the Fitzgerald could neither be raised by radio, nor detect on radar, and no distress signal was received. With that, the ship and crew of 29 men sank to the bottom of Lake Superior. Several expeditions have been mounted to the wreck and have been the subject of some controversy. There are many theories for how the Fitzgerald found itself 500ft below the water, however none of them have been proven indefinitely. One possible cause of this disaster includes the ship crossing the Superior Shoal, with water as shallow as 22 feet. Additionally, the ship may have suffered a stress fracture and broke apart on the surface. Another possibility is that the ship succumbed to the forces of the Three Sisters, a Lake Superior phenomenon, consisting of massive waves. These current theories are merely conjectures, and since each holds the possibility of being true, it cannot yet be determined which one actually is.

Perhaps the most widely accepted of the several theories about t…

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…ake Superior Port Cities.

Wolff & Holden 1990, p. 227.

{5}

MacInnis, Joseph B.. “The Official Inquiry.” Fitzgerald’s storm: the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Holt, Mich.: Thunder Bay Press, 1998. 85-86. Print.

MacInnis 198, p.85-86

{6}

Bishop, Hugh (2000). The Night the Fitz Went Down. Duluth, Minnesota: Lake Superior Port Cities.

Bishop 2000, p. 90.

{7}

Wolff, Julius F.; Holden, Thom (1990). Julius F. Wolff Jr.’s Lake Superior Shipwrecks (2nd expanded ed.). Duluth, Minnesota: Lake Superior Port Cities.

Wolff & Holden 1990, p. 228

{8}

Ramsey, Raymond. (2009). SS Edmund Fitzgerald: Requiem for the Toledo Express. Houghton, Michigan: Keweenaw Productions.

Ramsey 2009, p. 16.

{9}

Wolff, Julius F.; Holden, Thom (1990). Julius F. Wolff Jr.’s Lake Superior Shipwrecks (2nd expanded ed.). Duluth, Minnesota: Lake Superior Port Cities.

Wolff & Holden 1990, pp. 226–227.

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