As a Michigander, I have always been touched by the story of the Edmund Fitzgerald ever since I was a child. I got emotional when I visited Lake Superior, because I knew the beautiful lake freighter was in there. Now as a teacher, I have the honor of sharing the story with my students. I look forward to watching your video, and hopefully will be able to share it with my students. ☺️
Thank you so much for your kind comment. While this annimation is very short it does show the most accurete sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald to date. For a longer video please check out this one below I made last year. I hope your students like both of them! 😊ua-cam.com/video/W-rY3PCkxk0/v-deo.html
I think you got it right. If it had broken up on the surface the debris field of the ore pellets would have been larger. Also explains why there were no distress calls.
@@roberts663Fitz was much longer than 420 ft. Not sure where you got that info. Her actual length was 729 ft. She would’ve easily been sticking out of the water when she went down.
@@johnkozlovich5519 we all know that. I just stated the length of the ship and the depth of water it was in. I'm well aware it wasn't actually standing up in the water.
Yep which is why there were no survivors or mayday calls. The bow went down and never came back up. She sank so fast they never knew what happened, let alone had time to escape.
Yes but I believe when he bottomed at 6 fathom shoals he ripped a chunk out of the bow and when she broke deep it finished the big fitz off. Rip fellas
@@porto_watt199You have NO clue what you are talking about. Superior may as well be an ocean. It's over 350 miles long, 160 miles wide, 1,300 miles around its perimeter, and over 1,300 feet deep in places....
She aint the Ghost of the lakes, she just had the best soundtrack. There are scores of steel freighters down there, that went down with all hands. They haven't found the James Caruthers yet. They know coal and wheat use to wash aground from her holds, but no one has found her 550ft haul, built in 1913 sunk in 1913. That's a ghost ship. Then you add in all the sailing schooners of the 18th and 19th centuries, just needed a better song. Maybe Kanye will Wright a song about that mutha fucken Carruthers.
RIP the crew of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald Captain Ernest M. McSorley (September 29, 1912 - November 10, 1975), aged 63 First Mate John H. McCarthy (July 14, 1913 - November 10, 1975), aged 62 Michael E. Armagost (October 14, 1938 - November 10, 1975), aged 37 Fred J. Beetcher (February 24, 1919 - November 10, 1975), aged 56 Thomas D. Bentsen (January 10, 1952 - November 10, 1975), aged 23 Edward F. Bindon (January 7, 1928 - November 10, 1975), aged 47 Thomas D. Borgeson (November 26, 1934 - November 10, 1975), aged 41 Oliver J. Champeau (September 4, 1934 - November 10, 1975), aged 41 Nolan S. Church (July 13, 1920 - November 10, 1975), aged 55 Ransom E. Cundy (April 16, 1922 - November 10, 1975), aged 53 Thomas E. Edwards (February 28, 1925 - November 10, 1975), aged 50 Russell G. Haskell (May 19, 1935 - November 10, 1975), aged 40 George J. Holl (March 11, 1915 - November 10, 1975), aged 60 Bruce L. Hudson (September 10, 1953 - November 10, 1975), aged 22 Allen G. Kalmon (February 7, 1932 - November 10, 1975), aged 43 Gordon F. MacLellan (August 2, 1945 - November 10, 1975), aged 30 Joseph W. Mazes (February 13, 1916 - November 10, 1975), aged 59 Eugene W. O'Brien (July 17, 1925 - November 10, 1975), aged 50 Karl A. Peckol (September 6, 1955 - November 10, 1975), aged 20 John J. Poviach (June 6, 1916 - November 10, 1975), aged 59 James A. Pratt (January 29, 1931 - November 10, 1975), aged 44 Robert C. Rafferty (June 16, 1913 - November 10, 1975), aged 62 Paul M. Riippa (August 15, 1953 - November 10, 1975), aged 22 John D. Simmons (August 25, 1913 - November 10, 1975), aged 62 William J. Spengler (September 11, 1916 - November 10, 1975), aged 59 Mark A. Thomas (August 14, 1954 - November 10, 1975), aged 21 Ralph G. Walton (July 22, 1917 - November 10, 1975), aged 58 David E. Weiss (November 13, 1953 - November 10, 1975), aged 22 Blaine H. Wilhelm (August 12, 1923 - November 10, 1975), aged 52 Gone but not forgotten.
Still deep how my ex and I visited the Shipwreck Museum while vacationing in the U.P., August 2000. Signs everywhere that it was its 15th anniversary, and the surviving families had been invited to 'ring the bell' near the ship replica's open deck. Watching as a few of those families steadied themselves during each bell ring, for their lost loved one, as they paid tribute, was tough. Even eerier going down inside the hub, which was dark and echoey. Like something out of a Ghostunters episode. God bless those families, and the dead R.I.P.
Yes. And at 7:30PM, the Captain Bernie Cooper tried to call the Edmund Fitzgerald's crew by phone and only got silence. A sign that something catastrophic had occurred.
You wouldn't survive all the way to the bottom becauae of the rapid pressurization. The men in the engine room were probably still alive when the bow hit, though, and they could probably tell they were sinking despite being in a watertight compartment. That would be terrifying.
@@Camstrattwhat are you talking about???? it's not that deep!!!! and even if it were, only in the movies is pressurisation that dramatic. in reality carcasses have been found at the ocean floor with basically ribs shattered, eardrums and synesis burst, and such would occur only at the lost extreme depths. you don't just implode or black out because you're suddenly dropping under water....
My profile pic is the ship that was only a couple miles behind Fitzgerald named The Arthur M Anderson that still sails the lakes today shes my fav lake ship just cause she was there and the SS William Clay Ford Aswell cause the captain had decided to go back out in that storm with SS Arthur Anderson to look for Fitz survivors. And one day i hope to visit the Anderson and see the SS William Clay Fords bridge in bell isle along with Fitz anchor that she dropped in the Detroit river in 1974 only a year before sinking its cool living in Michigan cause u can go to Duluth and port Huron and get a good view of these Historic ore ships. I wanna see the new ship MV MARK W BARKER.
I have actually had the privilege of seeing the mark w barker in person and took a video of it twice,once in marysville and same trip down in st. clair
Quick note: The waves were coming stern first, and Captain Cooper of the Anderson said they had a couple massive waves, bigger than all the others hit them from behind, and he said those waves caught up to the Fitz and would’ve made the Fitz take a nose dive.
Makes me wonder about the depth beneath the keel at the time the Anderson encountered those two waves compared to the depth beneath the Fitzgerald. Had the Fitz slowed down more or been farther along that part of the route, things might have been different. It'd be interesting to see if anyone knows, about the seafloor in that area.
The animation is amazing but didn’t the ship fall into the trough of a wave which is what forced it under? The water in the scene looked kind of calm and the bow just looks like it went down for no reason.
I was reading the independent wreckage forensic report the other day that was written retroactively. If I recall it was the waves breaking on the fore deck that caused the number 3 and number 4 holds to implode. The vessel was already listing at 30 degrees prior to loosing radio contact with her sister ship who was acting as a go between for radio communication. The entire event from the two holds imploding to the front of the ship hitting the lake bottom was less than a minute. The ore she was carrying that was released during the break up rained down 1-2 minutes before the back of the ship came to rest on the bottom.
i think that with the loose hatches, she lost buoyancy which wasn't as obvious during the storm. She road up one big wave, then down into the trough but due to her reduced buoyancy, her bow (and pilot house) dove deep under the waves. This is why no "mayday" was ever called and why the windows of the bridge showed signs of imploding. When the bow went under, the engines were still out of the water and the prop drove he right into the bottom. This snapped the ship in half and then caused the stern to rotate inverted as it also sank
Just one more ore shipment late in the season, boys, and we'll celebrate Christmas in style. Keep the Owners happy, too! Get there-itis. That's what sank Her.
@@freddiecunningham2860 there was a storm, you didnt see the waves? even if they did swim up they would probably be swept away to die from drowning or hypothermia, they probably couldnt even see anything when they came up due to the freezing rain crashing down on them.
@@freddiecunningham2860 The Wreckage shows the ship had all of it's doors tightly shut except for one in the pilothouse (ship's bridge). The storm was fierce with very high waves the crew was hopeful the ship could make it to safe harbor. When the ship sank it happened so fast nobody could react in time to escape or send a distress call. The crew remains are still with the Fitzgerald today
@@freddiecunningham2860the Fitz is 500 feet below the surface. At that depth, and with how freezing cold the lake is, even experienced divers with multiple thermal layers and pressurized suits struggle. Without any of that, you're just cooked.
It had no boiler room!!! What total BS. Was your great, great, great uncle 95 or 100 years old in the "boiler room?" LMAO!!! It wasnt steam powered, ferchrissakes
The only thing I think is missing from this animation is the port side list they had reported. That list would have gotten progressively worse as more water flooded the cargo bay.
A good animation, but this only supports that she broke up across two waves, there are parts of the animation before she supposedly nose dived into the bottom, where there was too much stress on the hull, it would've already snapped in two before it reached that nose dive. There's no way any hatches would've been left unsecured, if there was any chance of bad weather, they knew how rough it could get on that lake. It wasn't taking on water, and it didn't nose-dive into the bottom. If it went under like that, it would've been boyant enough not to hit bottom because all the hatches were sealed, and it wouldn't have broken up, because there was no leverage to break it, the weight would've been evenly distributed, the only time it wouldn't have been evenly distributed, was when the hull wasn't evenly supported, over waves. Just like you can see happening to this ship: ua-cam.com/video/gaZhnNlutuQ/v-deo.html
What likely happened was she was shoved to the floor of the lake. That's a solid 250 feet of the ship still above the water, IF the water was level. It's likely that since she was in the trough of the wave, there was even more of her in the air. As the lake caught up behind her, my guess is it smashed through the superstructure of her and broke her, resulting in her laying the way she is now.
Grew up in my teens in Sarnia around this time. Used ride my bike to bottom os Bluewater bridge, get great cheeseburgers & fries from an old Italian guy who owned a chip truck. Amazing old guy. He new the ship schedules, so he'd tell people the Edmund Fitzgerald will be through here in 1/2 hour. Stick around. They would get to see the freighter and they would come back for more great food & his soft serve ice cream
If you think about the way these ships are made and how low their well decks are and how extensive they are it's amazing that all of these don't sink in the very first storm that comes along.
To be fair this was the worst case scenario for any lake freighter. To get literally spiked against the floor of the lake bed like a volleyball by the lake... those men hopefully didn't even know what hit them.
“The captain wired in he had water comin’ in and the good ship and crew was in peril. Then later that night when his lights went out of sight came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald…”
Yes quite possible same huge waves that earlier washed over the Arthur Anderson hit the Fitz from behind & pushing the bow of the Fitzgerald to the bottom in seconds. It’s a glaring fact that the Fitzgerald was sinking & losing bouyancy since it went around Caribou island, losing a fence rail, two vent covers & had developed a marked list. Supporting these occurrences, I believe the crew knew the ship was sinking as Captain McSorely was overheard in communications by the Captain of the freighter Avafors saying “No! No one goes out on deck”! That would indicate to me there was some emergency out on deck which crewmen felt they had to fix even in weather as bad as it was knowing they’d risk their lives doing it. Captain McSorely took a gamble knowing the Fitz was sinking & thought she’d get get them to Whitefish bay but she’d lost too much buoyancy. There was obviously a difference in the condition of the Fitzgerald & the Arthur Anderson since the Anderson made it through the storm that night.
I have a cousin who is taking a go at movie directing. When he was on holidays from Los Angeles and visiting he asked the family for movie ideas? I said? Some one should do a movie on the Edmund Fitzgerald? Well? He said it was stupid, as no one wants to see a movie about an ore wagon? He shut me down and changed the topic before I could rebut him by saying really? What about Oliver Stone's the Perfect storm???? I still think some one should do a movie! I firmly think it would go over as well as Gordon Lightfoot's tune.
Your cousin sounds like a Moron and jerk. Edmund Fitzgerald is an incredible story. Same with the wrecks of the SS Daniel J Morelle and SS Carl D Bradley
I was just thinking the other day there should be some film depiction showing the power of the lakes infamous November Gales. This being the most plausible coming to the big screen
Plenty of us would like to see such a movie. Not all of us want to watch superhero films. The only thing that I would be against is depicting the wreck itself because no one actually knows what caused the ship to sink.
@@blacksunshine1089 That's right. Non of us will really know. However I always subscribed to Captain Bernie Cooper's theory , former Master of the Arthur M Anderson. Fitz already damaged from 6 fathom shoal, taking on water, listing and the rogue waves that rolled over her and she nose dived.
Nah the fitz just doesn’t have enough for a movie. They should do the SS Arctic. That shit’s sinking is an already written feature with a perfect role for a star for the captain who experiences everything including the loss of his own son aboard. Look it up. Only sinking that seems nuttier than Titanic.
I still find it awe-inspiring that these ships are so big that when she went under, the stern was still sticking out of the water. Imagine if you could have seen that from a distance.
The rear section in the animation would never be that high out of the water. Ore pellets are really heavy and would have been very densly compacted. There were issues with the actual construction and welding of the ships hull. Those waves on that particlar day were larger and higher than before. The hull was over stressed and she broke her back. The very heavy load sank the two halves very quickly.
It probably didn’t help that they were hauling a bit more weight than the ship could safely carry. In normal conditions, not a problem. Add in hurricane force winds and giant waves and the already stressed hull just couldn’t handle it.
Was over weight, went into a storm. Let's think about over weight. More pressure on the vessel, more stress on the vessel. Now consider if it was x any of tons lighter, it would of sat up higher on the lake, basic gravity stuff. If it was completely empty and had very little gravity, it never probably would have sank in those conditions... But because it was overloaded, had gravity forcing it down, then add in the storm, it started to bend in the middle, and the cold temps turned that bend into a break. And down it went.
Just like the RMS Titanic, it spilt apart and sank. The only difference is that the RMS Titanic was a luxury steam liner that got hit by an iceberg, sank in the cold waters of the North Atlantic, and only 710 passengers and crew members survived while 1,514 passengers and crew members died. The SS Edmund Fitzgerald was a freighter ship that got caught in the rough waters of Lake Superior during a violent storm. Then, SS Edmund Fitzgerald spilt apart and sank when it got hit by rouge wave and all of its 29 crew members died.
I enjoyed your video but I disagree with your depiction. If she had sunk like that, the taconite in the forward hold would have shifted forward on the way down. When the ship' bow hit bottom, the taconite would have piled up in the front even more. It would be spilling out of the first two or three hatches. Yet the underwater surveys show no taconite in those hatches at all (at least as far as the light could penetrate).
I just cant imagine the situation that happened to The Fitz and crew..... What I believe is it made a nose dive but the strong waves just kept Fitz down under water.
From what I read, The Fitzgerald was sunk by not 1, but 3 whole rogue waves, measuring around 30 feet each, pretty scary seeing 3 massive waves coming towards you as you violently rock up and down, in the middle of no where.
That's one theory. I think rogue waves were a very likely cause. She had been taking on water for a while before the sinking though. The waves probably weren't as big as we would expect them to be to threaten a large ship like that.
I have a theory on how the ship sank, so here it is: Waves toss the ship around like a toy, then multiple waves crash on the deck making her hatches to her cargo hold lose. with more and more water coming in, a starboard list forms with each wave. Eventually she goes down, her front slams into the shallow water of the Great Lakes, the back capsizes and boom, that’s my theory!
iirc, in the 80s they remapped the lake around six fathom shoals and the water is way deeper than originally charted thus eliminating the bumping bottom theory. I think a remapping project is again underway now as well. It would be interesting to see the brand new data.
"the bodies were never recovered" is a crappy thought because when the wreck was investigated by a submersible to try and understand what had happened, they did see a body or bodies in the wheel house...
@@Terry-nx8kg I’ve never heard that before. I know I saw the interview where a guy who went down back in the early 90s said you could still see the bones and clothing. Just… weird to me they weren’t retrieved. Maybe that’s what the family wanted, I don’t know?.?.?.? I do know the family has asked that no one ever visit the wreck again. The retrieving of the bell was the last time anyone is supposed to have been able to LEGALLY dive the wreck. The families just want it left alone as it is a grave and I don’t blame them.
@@phillipschaber7836 Yes, it's a very special case because it's fresh water and being so cold the bodies were preserved more or less for decades. I don't think anymore people will be diving the wreck. And yes I think you're right about the bell being the last time someone was down there. I'm still wondering about red paint from her hull scraping the bottom of sixth fathom shoal. I've heard there's red paint there proving that she bottomed out. Again, not 100% sure if that's true, but it would make sense.
@@Terry-nx8kg I’ve heard that theory as well, about her bottoming out but I could have sworn they disproved it. Maybe I’m wrong, been a while since I really got into the history of it. Growing up in NW Ohio, having fished on Lake Erie countless times and seen the weather change countless times… I’m pretty familiar with the story as a “scare” factor from my dad when I was a kid. 😂
I hope that God, with all his mercy, took the crew of the FITZ into his arms before the end. And on the last day, the sea shall give up its dead. RIP, Sailors.
The captain should have stayed put. Simple as that. Ship was overloaded. Weather was really rough. They should have waited it out. Either wait it out or skirt around it.
Who signed off on using “Dumbledore’s Farewell” from the Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince soundtrack for the backing track to this animation, it’s too fitting😭😭😭😭😖😔😞😩💔😥😓
Something had to have happened inside for the bow to go down otheriwse it was smooth sailing it also depends on the speed the Edmund Fitzgerald was going in that'll tip it over the waves
I dont understand how it sunk like that? What snapped it? Also why didn't anyone swim out of the ship? Wouldn't it made sense if 5 or 7 survived and swam out?
You can't swim in water like that, first the waves and current were so rough you'd be tossed around like a rag doll, also it was November, the water would have been so cold you'd be hypothermic pretty fast.
You can see by the wreckage a huge wave caved in the first and 4th or 5th cargo holds covers as well as the rear wheel house windows be smashed inwards. Bottom line it was an absolute beast of a storm. Very sad. Truly a remarkable story I cannot learn enough about.
@wladmuir Thanks for that. I thought they were from the north. The animation is a bit off still. Taking those waves from the side must have been harrowing! The storm was a "panhandle hooker," meaning a low that formed around the Texas/Oklahoma panhandles, moved east, then hooked up to the Great Lakes. They're what cause the "gales of November."
@@beenaplumber8379 Well you are probably a lot closer than the video, as the storm was moving northeast. The waves may have been making contact, rear, starboard quarter. Captain Cooper of another similar ship that was just northwest shadowing the EF during the storm said his deck was 12 ft under at times. This video didn't portray the EF with a starboard list either, as was reported by Captain McSorley. If you care, there's about a 4-minute video of Cooper with his analysis on here. He was in the storm, an expert, and easy to listen to. You can copy and paste this if you want: "Through the eyes of Capt. Cooper: The night the Edmund Fitzgerald went down".
@@wladmuir Thanks so much for the tip! I've listened to the Coast Guard recordings of Cooper (the real hero of the night IMO - him and the crew of the Arthur Anderson) and the others involved in the search that night, and the tone of his voice was grim and I'd say even fearful - realistically so, like, ok, there's no one else in position to do this job but us, and we sure as hell don't want to go back out in that storm, but of course they did anyway. I don't think the Coast Guard guy wanted to ask that of him either. They both knew how bad it could end, but of course they didn't feel they had a choice. I'll definitely look up that interview. I was delighted to learn last November that the Anderson is still a working iron boat, looking sharp too! She came in to Duluth harbor and gave an honor blast of the horn to mark the anniversary of the sinking of the Fitz. There's a video of that here. There's also a video somewhere here of a guy who was granted special access to board her while in port for the winter, just before the beginning of this season, and he gave a tour of the pilot house. Of course everything's modernized, but that coffee maker might have been there that night... And the intercom handsets are original, and all the woodwork. And Captain Cooper's oddly positioned captain's chair. (He obviously retired long ago, but it was put way off to the side because he wanted it there.) Sorry this got so long! Edit: I just watched the Cooper interview. I feel more confident than I ever have before about what sank the Fitz. That's a guy who knows - he knew the iron boats, the storm, and those two huge waves. He knew what those elements could do to a big ship like that because it could have happened to his ship. That had to have gone through his mind that day, especially when those two big waves hit. What an awful, helpless feeling he must have had.
@@beenaplumber8379 Yeah, although there's different opinions on what happened, and I can't seem to get consistent facts. It seems like a combination of bad luck string of events throughout that voyage... including the route they took to stay away from that storm as much as possible turned out to be the worst possible route when the storm shifted and started causing all kinds of problems. They were freak waves they call "3 sisters" may have been the just the final bit of bad luck that did them in when they were almost there. I had just found out the Anderson was still sailing a couple of days ago and Cooper died 30 years ago. Like many, I know about this tragedy from the song. I come back every few or several years or so to look into it again. That Titanic sub got me into the Titanic again then I saw a recommendation for the Fitz and ended up looking around and here. I mostly look into plane crashes/tragedies for different reasons, I guess.
G.D. They were F##KED and they KNEW it. Land, a safe harbour or even the ship tailing them on radar were NOWHERE IN SIGHT. Terrified, alone and sailing BLIND, ( the freighter tailing the Mighty ‘Fits we’re using there own radar and broadcasting locations to the ‘Fits over the radio since, for still unknown reasons, the ‘Fits radar went offline. Then, the tailing freighter saw…. NOTHING. Just ‘Blip…’Blip…’Blip……..NOTHING. After the bow was SUBMERGED temporarily, it was over. ALL systems failed, at once. They HAD a fighting chance, however remote, to live. But after the bridge was Sloshed, all electrical went offline. They were DEAD in the water. Just thinking of being a sailor aboard, after all systems failed and KNOWING it’s just a matter of time.
As a Michigander, I have always been touched by the story of the Edmund Fitzgerald ever since I was a child. I got emotional when I visited Lake Superior, because I knew the beautiful lake freighter was in there.
Now as a teacher, I have the honor of sharing the story with my students. I look forward to watching your video, and hopefully will be able to share it with my students. ☺️
Shot ur button
Ur house explod
EZ
Thank you so much for your kind comment. While this annimation is very short it does show the most accurete sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald to date. For a longer video please check out this one below I made last year. I hope your students like both of them! 😊ua-cam.com/video/W-rY3PCkxk0/v-deo.html
Oh no, our worst enemy!
A Michigander
I'm from Wisconsin 😊
I think you got it right. If it had broken up on the surface the debris field of the ore pellets would have been larger. Also explains why there were no distress calls.
@@roberts663the Fitz was 729 feet long, therefore the Fitz would be poking 200 feet out of the water straight up and down.
@@roberts663Fitz was much longer than 420 ft. Not sure where you got that info. Her actual length was 729 ft. She would’ve easily been sticking out of the water when she went down.
@@justinontman
It wasn't straight up and down
@@johnkozlovich5519 we all know that. I just stated the length of the ship and the depth of water it was in. I'm well aware it wasn't actually standing up in the water.
hey Dakota slim,U talk as someone who has "walked a deck"?if so U have a gift. Gimme a shout. Like 2 hear more. C-ya , JAC 2
One of the better depictions of the sinking that I've seen online.
Slowing the playback enhances the gravity of the situation.
@@tr4480 Does gravity change near shipwrecks?
I think a rogue wave from behind took her down. Bow came down, but never came up. The stern snapped once the bow plowed into the ground.
Yep which is why there were no survivors or mayday calls. The bow went down and never came back up. She sank so fast they never knew what happened, let alone had time to escape.
Yes but I believe when he bottomed at 6 fathom shoals he ripped a chunk out of the bow and when she broke deep it finished the big fitz off. Rip fellas
She didn’t sank in ocean so no rogue wave
@@porto_watt199you don’t need to be in the ocean for a rogue wave, besides the Great Lakes are so large that they might as well be the sea
@@porto_watt199You have NO clue what you are talking about. Superior may as well be an ocean. It's over 350 miles long, 160 miles wide, 1,300 miles around its perimeter, and over 1,300 feet deep in places....
The Ghost of the Great Lakes. Clear sailing and fair winds to those unfortunate souls.
She aint the Ghost of the lakes, she just had the best soundtrack. There are scores of steel freighters down there, that went down with all hands. They haven't found the James Caruthers yet. They know coal and wheat use to wash aground from her holds, but no one has found her 550ft haul, built in 1913 sunk in 1913. That's a ghost ship. Then you add in all the sailing schooners of the 18th and 19th centuries, just needed a better song. Maybe Kanye will Wright a song about that mutha fucken Carruthers.
@@NonExpertKnowItAll Almost 62 years apart. The James Caruthers went down November 9.
RIP the crew of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald
Captain Ernest M. McSorley (September 29, 1912 - November 10, 1975), aged 63
First Mate John H. McCarthy (July 14, 1913 - November 10, 1975), aged 62
Michael E. Armagost (October 14, 1938 - November 10, 1975), aged 37
Fred J. Beetcher (February 24, 1919 - November 10, 1975), aged 56
Thomas D. Bentsen (January 10, 1952 - November 10, 1975), aged 23
Edward F. Bindon (January 7, 1928 - November 10, 1975), aged 47
Thomas D. Borgeson (November 26, 1934 - November 10, 1975), aged 41
Oliver J. Champeau (September 4, 1934 - November 10, 1975), aged 41
Nolan S. Church (July 13, 1920 - November 10, 1975), aged 55
Ransom E. Cundy (April 16, 1922 - November 10, 1975), aged 53
Thomas E. Edwards (February 28, 1925 - November 10, 1975), aged 50
Russell G. Haskell (May 19, 1935 - November 10, 1975), aged 40
George J. Holl (March 11, 1915 - November 10, 1975), aged 60
Bruce L. Hudson (September 10, 1953 - November 10, 1975), aged 22
Allen G. Kalmon (February 7, 1932 - November 10, 1975), aged 43
Gordon F. MacLellan (August 2, 1945 - November 10, 1975), aged 30
Joseph W. Mazes (February 13, 1916 - November 10, 1975), aged 59
Eugene W. O'Brien (July 17, 1925 - November 10, 1975), aged 50
Karl A. Peckol (September 6, 1955 - November 10, 1975), aged 20
John J. Poviach (June 6, 1916 - November 10, 1975), aged 59
James A. Pratt (January 29, 1931 - November 10, 1975), aged 44
Robert C. Rafferty (June 16, 1913 - November 10, 1975), aged 62
Paul M. Riippa (August 15, 1953 - November 10, 1975), aged 22
John D. Simmons (August 25, 1913 - November 10, 1975), aged 62
William J. Spengler (September 11, 1916 - November 10, 1975), aged 59
Mark A. Thomas (August 14, 1954 - November 10, 1975), aged 21
Ralph G. Walton (July 22, 1917 - November 10, 1975), aged 58
David E. Weiss (November 13, 1953 - November 10, 1975), aged 22
Blaine H. Wilhelm (August 12, 1923 - November 10, 1975), aged 52
Gone but not forgotten.
And lightfoot
🙏🏼💔
Damn, so many young and middle aged people. RIP.
Rest In Peace of the 29 crews of the Edmund Fitzgerald who lost their lives in Lake Superior on November 10, 1975.😔
Very funny
@@Just-a-normal-guy-yt not really funny there were people that did die
Rest in Pieces
Trolls go to hell….
Evryone on the Edmund Fitzgerald oofed
Still deep how my ex and I visited the Shipwreck Museum while vacationing in the U.P., August 2000. Signs everywhere that it was its 15th anniversary, and the surviving families had been invited to 'ring the bell' near the ship replica's open deck. Watching as a few of those families steadied themselves during each bell ring, for their lost loved one, as they paid tribute, was tough. Even eerier going down inside the hub, which was dark and echoey. Like something out of a Ghostunters episode.
God bless those families, and the dead R.I.P.
15th anniversary or 25th anniversary? She went down in 75
@@noahwright8909 must've been its 25th my bad
A Rouge wave took the fitzgerald down at 7:46 am. The captains last words were ''We are holding our own''
A Rouge Wave???
Don't you mean "Rogue Wave"???
@@karlsmith2570 he tore us off.
7:46am?? Those last transmitted words came at 7:10pm and it didn't show up on radar at 7:20pm when checked.
@@karlsmith2570no, definitely rouge as in moulin rouge, there was a musical at the bottom of the lake and the ship really wanted to see it
Yes. And at 7:30PM, the Captain Bernie Cooper tried to call the Edmund Fitzgerald's crew by phone and only got silence. A sign that something catastrophic had occurred.
I could not imagine being alive. And hitting the bottom of Lake Superior. And realizing what happened.
You wouldn’t be alive due to the pressure, if miraculously you did survive, you’d be in very bad shape.
You wouldn't survive all the way to the bottom becauae of the rapid pressurization. The men in the engine room were probably still alive when the bow hit, though, and they could probably tell they were sinking despite being in a watertight compartment. That would be terrifying.
@@heftyindimagine once the lights turned off what they were thinking. the feeling of sinking, hitting the lake floor ,etc.
@@Camstrattwhat are you talking about???? it's not that deep!!!! and even if it were, only in the movies is pressurisation that dramatic.
in reality carcasses have been found at the ocean floor with basically ribs shattered, eardrums and synesis burst, and such would occur only at the lost extreme depths.
you don't just implode or black out because you're suddenly dropping under water....
@@heftyindwhat 'rapid' pressurisation? 🤷🏻♂️
it's really not that deep or rapid
This is the sinking theory that I first heard on the channel History Mystery Man. I think it's 100% accurate too.
My profile pic is the ship that was only a couple miles behind Fitzgerald named The Arthur M Anderson that still sails the lakes today shes my fav lake ship just cause she was there and the SS William Clay Ford Aswell cause the captain had decided to go back out in that storm with SS Arthur Anderson to look for Fitz survivors. And one day i hope to visit the Anderson and see the SS William Clay Fords bridge in bell isle along with Fitz anchor that she dropped in the Detroit river in 1974 only a year before sinking its cool living in Michigan cause u can go to Duluth and port Huron and get a good view of these Historic ore ships. I wanna see the new ship MV MARK W BARKER.
Mine is the Fitzgerald :D
@@Michiganrailfanner23 and i love it :D nothing can get better than Anderson and fitzgerald pfps
I have actually had the privilege of seeing the mark w barker in person and took a video of it twice,once in marysville and same trip down in st. clair
I just saw the Arthur this summer. We passed it coming into Makinac Island. He was looking good
@@zackjay71 awesome!
Quick note: The waves were coming stern first, and Captain Cooper of the Anderson said they had a couple massive waves, bigger than all the others hit them from behind, and he said those waves caught up to the Fitz and would’ve made the Fitz take a nose dive.
Yes, you are correct! I will try to amend this in a future video of the FITZ around November
@@Blue-Star-Line nice! Your animations are spectacular!
Makes me wonder about the depth beneath the keel at the time the Anderson encountered those two waves compared to the depth beneath the Fitzgerald. Had the Fitz slowed down more or been farther along that part of the route, things might have been different. It'd be interesting to see if anyone knows, about the seafloor in that area.
The animation is amazing but didn’t the ship fall into the trough of a wave which is what forced it under? The water in the scene looked kind of calm and the bow just looks like it went down for no reason.
Superior, it is said,
Never gives up her dead
When the gales of November come early.
great song
Also RIP Gordon lightfoot
He was the 2nd Assistant Engineer my great great great uncle is/was Russell Haskell
The edmound Fitzgerald THE TITANIC OF THE GREAT LAKES
"We're holding our own".
-Captain of Edmund Fitzgerald
I was reading the independent wreckage forensic report the other day that was written retroactively.
If I recall it was the waves breaking on the fore deck that caused the number 3 and number 4 holds to implode. The vessel was already listing at 30 degrees prior to loosing radio contact with her sister ship who was acting as a go between for radio communication.
The entire event from the two holds imploding to the front of the ship hitting the lake bottom was less than a minute. The ore she was carrying that was released during the break up rained down 1-2 minutes before the back of the ship came to rest on the bottom.
i think that with the loose hatches, she lost buoyancy which wasn't as obvious during the storm. She road up one big wave, then down into the trough but due to her reduced buoyancy, her bow (and pilot house) dove deep under the waves. This is why no "mayday" was ever called and why the windows of the bridge showed signs of imploding. When the bow went under, the engines were still out of the water and the prop drove he right into the bottom. This snapped the ship in half and then caused the stern to rotate inverted as it also sank
I found that changing the playback so the animation slowed by 50% made it more intense.
Just one more ore shipment late in the season, boys, and we'll celebrate Christmas in style. Keep the Owners happy, too! Get there-itis. That's what sank Her.
yep
Good grief; even this animation is frightening. RIP guys.
I know it'll be amazing! Hyped!
Not even a chance at a mayday call. Probably how she sank. Quick and catastrophic
And nobody couldn't swim up??? The lake was shallow........can someone tell me??
@@freddiecunningham2860 Lake supperior is like 1000 feet deep
@@freddiecunningham2860 there was a storm, you didnt see the waves? even if they did swim up they would probably be swept away to die from drowning or hypothermia, they probably couldnt even see anything when they came up due to the freezing rain crashing down on them.
@@freddiecunningham2860 The Wreckage shows the ship had all of it's doors tightly shut except for one in the pilothouse (ship's bridge). The storm was fierce with very high waves the crew was hopeful the ship could make it to safe harbor. When the ship sank it happened so fast nobody could react in time to escape or send a distress call. The crew remains are still with the Fitzgerald today
@@freddiecunningham2860the Fitz is 500 feet below the surface. At that depth, and with how freezing cold the lake is, even experienced divers with multiple thermal layers and pressurized suits struggle. Without any of that, you're just cooked.
I lost my great great great uncle on the Edmund he was working in the Edmund's boiler room
It had no boiler room!!! What total BS. Was your great, great, great uncle 95 or 100 years old in the "boiler room?" LMAO!!! It wasnt steam powered, ferchrissakes
The only thing I think is missing from this animation is the port side list they had reported. That list would have gotten progressively worse as more water flooded the cargo bay.
A good animation, but this only supports that she broke up across two waves, there are parts of the animation before she supposedly nose dived into the bottom, where there was too much stress on the hull, it would've already snapped in two before it reached that nose dive. There's no way any hatches would've been left unsecured, if there was any chance of bad weather, they knew how rough it could get on that lake. It wasn't taking on water, and it didn't nose-dive into the bottom. If it went under like that, it would've been boyant enough not to hit bottom because all the hatches were sealed, and it wouldn't have broken up, because there was no leverage to break it, the weight would've been evenly distributed, the only time it wouldn't have been evenly distributed, was when the hull wasn't evenly supported, over waves. Just like you can see happening to this ship: ua-cam.com/video/gaZhnNlutuQ/v-deo.html
What likely happened was she was shoved to the floor of the lake. That's a solid 250 feet of the ship still above the water, IF the water was level. It's likely that since she was in the trough of the wave, there was even more of her in the air. As the lake caught up behind her, my guess is it smashed through the superstructure of her and broke her, resulting in her laying the way she is now.
Hi, I may or may not make it to the live stream because I'm working on that day. I'm looking forward seeing this video
We watched her leave the Duluth harbor along the pier.
Brutal assesment; very possible. 😮
And The Legend Lives On⚓
Grew up in my teens in Sarnia around this time. Used ride my bike to bottom os Bluewater bridge, get great cheeseburgers & fries from an old Italian guy who owned a chip truck. Amazing old guy. He new the ship schedules, so he'd tell people the Edmund Fitzgerald will be through here in 1/2 hour. Stick around. They would get to see the freighter and they would come back for more great food & his soft serve ice cream
Honestly this ship design seems pretty dangerous given how many of them sank
If you think about the way these ships are made and how low their well decks are and how extensive they are it's amazing that all of these don't sink in the very first storm that comes along.
To be fair this was the worst case scenario for any lake freighter. To get literally spiked against the floor of the lake bed like a volleyball by the lake... those men hopefully didn't even know what hit them.
“The ship was the pride of the American side.” 😞 rest their souls
“The captain wired in he had water comin’ in and the good ship and crew was in peril. Then later that night when his lights went out of sight came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald…”
even with how sad this is, I can’t get over how goofy the bow of the ship looks.
“The wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald” song by Gordon Lightfoot 😀
Of all of the theories on the sinking, this one depicted here, is the scenario that makes the most sense facing 25 - 30 foot waves.
Yes quite possible same huge waves that earlier washed over the Arthur Anderson hit the Fitz from behind & pushing the bow of the Fitzgerald to the bottom in seconds. It’s a glaring fact that the Fitzgerald was sinking & losing bouyancy since it went around Caribou island, losing a fence rail, two vent covers & had developed a marked list. Supporting these occurrences, I believe the crew knew the ship was sinking as Captain McSorely was overheard in communications by the Captain of the freighter Avafors saying “No! No one goes out on deck”! That would indicate to me there was some emergency out on deck which crewmen felt they had to fix even in weather as bad as it was knowing they’d risk their lives doing it. Captain McSorely took a gamble knowing the Fitz was sinking & thought she’d get get them to Whitefish bay but she’d lost too much buoyancy. There was obviously a difference in the condition of the Fitzgerald & the Arthur Anderson since the Anderson made it through the storm that night.
I have a cousin who is taking a go at movie directing. When he was on holidays from Los Angeles and visiting he asked the family for movie ideas? I said? Some one should do a movie on the Edmund Fitzgerald? Well? He said it was stupid, as no one wants to see a movie about an ore wagon? He shut me down and changed the topic before I could rebut him by saying really? What about Oliver Stone's the Perfect storm???? I still think some one should do a movie! I firmly think it would go over as well as Gordon Lightfoot's tune.
Your cousin sounds like a Moron and jerk. Edmund Fitzgerald is an incredible story. Same with the wrecks of the SS Daniel J Morelle and SS Carl D Bradley
I was just thinking the other day there should be some film depiction showing the power of the lakes infamous November Gales. This being the most plausible coming to the big screen
Plenty of us would like to see such a movie. Not all of us want to watch superhero films.
The only thing that I would be against is depicting the wreck itself because no one actually knows what caused the ship to sink.
@@blacksunshine1089 That's right. Non of us will really know. However I always subscribed to Captain Bernie Cooper's theory , former Master of the Arthur M Anderson. Fitz already damaged from 6 fathom shoal, taking on water, listing and the rogue waves that rolled over her and she nose dived.
Nah the fitz just doesn’t have enough for a movie. They should do the SS Arctic. That shit’s sinking is an already written feature with a perfect role for a star for the captain who experiences everything including the loss of his own son aboard. Look it up. Only sinking that seems nuttier than Titanic.
Thank u blue star line you are amazing.
Bro said this before it even started 💀
I still find it awe-inspiring that these ships are so big that when she went under, the stern was still sticking out of the water. Imagine if you could have seen that from a distance.
"I just hope he didn't take a nose dive.".....Bernie Cooper Arthur M. Anderson
The rear section in the animation would never be that high out of the water. Ore pellets are really heavy and would have been very densly compacted. There were issues with the actual construction and welding of the ships hull. Those waves on that particlar day were larger and higher than before. The hull was over stressed and she broke her back. The very heavy load sank the two halves very quickly.
I believe after a wave hit the bow dipped and hit the sea floor causing massive floods, stern broke up due to waves and stress hitting
It probably didn’t help that they were hauling a bit more weight than the ship could safely carry. In normal conditions, not a problem. Add in hurricane force winds and giant waves and the already stressed hull just couldn’t handle it.
Was over weight, went into a storm.
Let's think about over weight. More pressure on the vessel, more stress on the vessel.
Now consider if it was x any of tons lighter, it would of sat up higher on the lake, basic gravity stuff. If it was completely empty and had very little gravity, it never probably would have sank in those conditions...
But because it was overloaded, had gravity forcing it down, then add in the storm, it started to bend in the middle, and the cold temps turned that bend into a break.
And down it went.
Just like the RMS Titanic, it spilt apart and sank. The only difference is that the RMS Titanic was a luxury steam liner that got hit by an iceberg, sank in the cold waters of the North Atlantic, and only 710 passengers and crew members survived while 1,514 passengers and crew members died. The SS Edmund Fitzgerald was a freighter ship that got caught in the rough waters of Lake Superior during a violent storm. Then, SS Edmund Fitzgerald spilt apart and sank when it got hit by rouge wave and all of its 29 crew members died.
The 2 Seas that Rocked the Anderson caught the Fitz and drove her too the bottom. My opinion.
RIP brave souls.God bless you all.
🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍
MAKE A MOVIE OF THIS THAT WOULD BE AWESOME
0:47 Love the harry potter farewell Dumbledore music at the end
Well done for noticing!
@@Blue-Star-Line Thank you
RIP emrald Fitzgerald
Damn Marine Corps birthday 😢
Only the bell was recovered.It's marked as a gravesite and not to be disturbed as it should be!
That's a big mfin wave. Must've been at least 100 ft high.
Some explanation about what happened and why would be very helpful.
I enjoyed your video but I disagree with your depiction. If she had sunk like that, the taconite in the forward hold would have shifted forward on the way down. When the ship' bow hit bottom, the taconite would have piled up in the front even more. It would be spilling out of the first two or three hatches. Yet the underwater surveys show no taconite in those hatches at all (at least as far as the light could penetrate).
God rest the souls of the Fitz
We’re holding our own. 😢
RIP EF and her crew.
I actually spent a 2 minute long moment of silence for those who died on the Edmund Fitzgerald.
I appreciate that bc I lost my great great great uncle on the Edmund he was working in the Edmund's boiler room
@@Torontoboy678 Rest his soul.
@@Torontoboy678 Iies!
I think it's possible that the ship broke as the bow went down before it hit the sea bed.
I just cant imagine the situation that happened to The Fitz and crew..... What I believe is it made a nose dive but the strong waves just kept Fitz down under water.
From what I read, The Fitzgerald was sunk by not 1, but 3 whole rogue waves, measuring around 30 feet each, pretty scary seeing 3 massive waves coming towards you as you violently rock up and down, in the middle of no where.
That's one theory. I think rogue waves were a very likely cause.
She had been taking on water for a while before the sinking though. The waves probably weren't as big as we would expect them to be to threaten a large ship like that.
It is even scarier at night when you don’t see them coming.
I have a theory on how the ship sank, so here it is: Waves toss the ship around like a toy, then multiple waves crash on the deck making her hatches to her cargo hold lose. with more and more water coming in, a starboard list forms with each wave. Eventually she goes down, her front slams into the shallow water of the Great Lakes, the back capsizes and boom, that’s my theory!
WRONG theory!! Shallow Lake Superior??!! It is over 1,300 feet deep in many places, and the ship is in 530 feet of "shallow" water. LMAO!!!!!😂😂😂😂
May the rest in peace. 🙏
imagine being on that boat when that happened. that must have sucked.
Is it possible to make this darker
Fastest sinking ever
Wasent the cargo reactive in a form with water? Plus i thought it was said in a waves trough near a shallow area it hit ground. Fractured the hull.
iirc, in the 80s they remapped the lake around six fathom shoals and the water is way deeper than originally charted thus eliminating the bumping bottom theory. I think a remapping project is again underway now as well. It would be interesting to see the brand new data.
Nice animation,
"the bodies were never recovered" is a crappy thought because when the wreck was investigated by a submersible to try and understand what had happened, they did see a body or bodies in the wheel house...
Yes, and I'm almost positive that one of the bodies was partially shown during a televised broadcast many years ago. But they cut away very quickly.
@@Terry-nx8kg I’ve never heard that before. I know I saw the interview where a guy who went down back in the early 90s said you could still see the bones and clothing. Just… weird to me they weren’t retrieved. Maybe that’s what the family wanted, I don’t know?.?.?.?
I do know the family has asked that no one ever visit the wreck again. The retrieving of the bell was the last time anyone is supposed to have been able to LEGALLY dive the wreck. The families just want it left alone as it is a grave and I don’t blame them.
@@phillipschaber7836 Yes, it's a very special case because it's fresh water and being so cold the bodies were preserved more or less for decades. I don't think anymore people will be diving the wreck. And yes I think you're right about the bell being the last time someone was down there. I'm still wondering about red paint from her hull scraping the bottom of sixth fathom shoal. I've heard there's red paint there proving that she bottomed out. Again, not 100% sure if that's true, but it would make sense.
@@Terry-nx8kg I’ve heard that theory as well, about her bottoming out but I could have sworn they disproved it. Maybe I’m wrong, been a while since I really got into the history of it. Growing up in NW Ohio, having fished on Lake Erie countless times and seen the weather change countless times… I’m pretty familiar with the story as a “scare” factor from my dad when I was a kid. 😂
Dang, nice 3D animation. Did you use a 3d animation?
I hope that God, with all his mercy, took the crew of the FITZ into his arms before the end. And on the last day, the sea shall give up its dead. RIP, Sailors.
Amen, I pray so as well 🕯️
The captain should have stayed put. Simple as that. Ship was overloaded. Weather was really rough. They should have waited it out. Either wait it out or skirt around it.
God that would be horrifying
That line: "Does anyone know where the love of God goes?", gives me chills.
Not the Harry Potter music😭🥺
It was needed!
Más ther Majeststy the SS Esmund Fitzgerald Rest in peace
Who signed off on using “Dumbledore’s Farewell” from the Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince soundtrack for the backing track to this animation, it’s too fitting😭😭😭😭😖😔😞😩💔😥😓
Good on you to notice!
thank you blue star line
Something had to have happened inside for the bow to go down otheriwse it was smooth sailing it also depends on the speed the Edmund Fitzgerald was going in that'll tip it over the waves
Is it still a sunken ship where it was Or was that pulled up afterwards?
Still there on the sea floor, no way to float broken pieces of the ship.
boys it's been nice to know ya
Lake Superior a beauty, but she has a dark side
I dont understand how it sunk like that? What snapped it? Also why didn't anyone swim out of the ship? Wouldn't it made sense if 5 or 7 survived and swam out?
No to fast and deep
You can't swim in water like that, first the waves and current were so rough you'd be tossed around like a rag doll, also it was November, the water would have been so cold you'd be hypothermic pretty fast.
not sure how you figure you'd survive if you managed to escape the ship...
ships are kinda' what keep you alive at sea!
Wasn't that in lake Erie?
The waves came a stern.
Theres a lot of evidence suggesting she broke up on the surface as appose to when she sunk.
Please don’t set the premiere time in 2:30AM. I’m from Indonesia
What game is this? Or is it a animation
animation
Using the same sounds of the titanic simulator sinking 😊
Nice and sad video
How many people are there?
You can see by the wreckage a huge wave caved in the first and 4th or 5th cargo holds covers as well as the rear wheel house windows be smashed inwards. Bottom line it was an absolute beast of a storm. Very sad. Truly a remarkable story I cannot learn enough about.
Aren't the waves going backwards in this animation? Weren't the wind and the waves coming from the north, from behind the Fitz?
Waves coming from west to northwest per NOAA and NWS, hitting it near perpendicular. The storm originated in the US.
@wladmuir Thanks for that. I thought they were from the north. The animation is a bit off still. Taking those waves from the side must have been harrowing! The storm was a "panhandle hooker," meaning a low that formed around the Texas/Oklahoma panhandles, moved east, then hooked up to the Great Lakes. They're what cause the "gales of November."
@@beenaplumber8379 Well you are probably a lot closer than the video, as the storm was moving northeast. The waves may have been making contact, rear, starboard quarter. Captain Cooper of another similar ship that was just northwest shadowing the EF during the storm said his deck was 12 ft under at times. This video didn't portray the EF with a starboard list either, as was reported by Captain McSorley. If you care, there's about a 4-minute video of Cooper with his analysis on here. He was in the storm, an expert, and easy to listen to. You can copy and paste this if you want: "Through the eyes of Capt. Cooper: The night the Edmund Fitzgerald went down".
@@wladmuir Thanks so much for the tip! I've listened to the Coast Guard recordings of Cooper (the real hero of the night IMO - him and the crew of the Arthur Anderson) and the others involved in the search that night, and the tone of his voice was grim and I'd say even fearful - realistically so, like, ok, there's no one else in position to do this job but us, and we sure as hell don't want to go back out in that storm, but of course they did anyway. I don't think the Coast Guard guy wanted to ask that of him either. They both knew how bad it could end, but of course they didn't feel they had a choice. I'll definitely look up that interview.
I was delighted to learn last November that the Anderson is still a working iron boat, looking sharp too! She came in to Duluth harbor and gave an honor blast of the horn to mark the anniversary of the sinking of the Fitz. There's a video of that here. There's also a video somewhere here of a guy who was granted special access to board her while in port for the winter, just before the beginning of this season, and he gave a tour of the pilot house. Of course everything's modernized, but that coffee maker might have been there that night... And the intercom handsets are original, and all the woodwork. And Captain Cooper's oddly positioned captain's chair. (He obviously retired long ago, but it was put way off to the side because he wanted it there.) Sorry this got so long!
Edit: I just watched the Cooper interview. I feel more confident than I ever have before about what sank the Fitz. That's a guy who knows - he knew the iron boats, the storm, and those two huge waves. He knew what those elements could do to a big ship like that because it could have happened to his ship. That had to have gone through his mind that day, especially when those two big waves hit. What an awful, helpless feeling he must have had.
@@beenaplumber8379 Yeah, although there's different opinions on what happened, and I can't seem to get consistent facts. It seems like a combination of bad luck string of events throughout that voyage... including the route they took to stay away from that storm as much as possible turned out to be the worst possible route when the storm shifted and started causing all kinds of problems. They were freak waves they call "3 sisters" may have been the just the final bit of bad luck that did them in when they were almost there.
I had just found out the Anderson was still sailing a couple of days ago and Cooper died 30 years ago. Like many, I know about this tragedy from the song. I come back every few or several years or so to look into it again. That Titanic sub got me into the Titanic again then I saw a recommendation for the Fitz and ended up looking around and here. I mostly look into plane crashes/tragedies for different reasons, I guess.
G.D.
They were F##KED and they KNEW it.
Land, a safe harbour or even the ship tailing them on radar were NOWHERE IN SIGHT.
Terrified, alone and sailing BLIND, ( the freighter tailing the Mighty ‘Fits we’re using there own radar and broadcasting locations to the ‘Fits over the radio since, for still unknown reasons, the ‘Fits radar went offline. Then, the tailing freighter saw…. NOTHING. Just ‘Blip…’Blip…’Blip……..NOTHING.
After the bow was SUBMERGED temporarily, it was over. ALL systems failed, at once. They HAD a fighting chance, however remote, to live. But after the bridge was Sloshed, all electrical went offline.
They were DEAD in the water. Just thinking of being a sailor aboard, after all systems failed and KNOWING it’s just a matter of time.
edmund fitzgerald-1958-1975
Ss Edmund Fitzgerald splitz like titanic
That was a blackout