The Sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald (Short Documentary)
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- Опубліковано 17 лип 2024
- Follow along as we check out the history of the big Fitz and the days leading up to the sinking of this massive vessel on the Great Lakes.
#canada #history #lakesuperior #shipwrecks #greatlakes #animation
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I am deeply fascinated by the story of the Big Fitz. I watch every video I can find on it. And this is a good one.
Thanks David! I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Same here, I'm so fascinated by these great ships, and brave Men.
I think there were several factors that sunk her.
1) She obviously had water coming in somewhere to be listing.
2) vent covers missing
3) Huge rouge waves hit her and she couldn’t shake off all that weight.
4) had to happen fast because no SOS. or distress call.
5) MAY ALL THE CREW REST IN PEACE.
the Fitz went by caribou island 6 fathom shoal at 2:45... at 3:10 the fitz called the anderson said it was taking on water and had a list...absolutely no question the Fitz bottomed out at caribou island 6 fathom shoal
Not to mention it may smashed its bottom on the shoal and broke it's back. That's what I think may have happened as it was hit my the three sisters waves as the waves probably had the ship bob 30+ feet and ultimately hitting the bottom and obviously with all the weight of the oar it broke the keel. That would cause for a very quick sinking. But only the poor sailors really know what happened that fateful night.
@DrakenViggen huh he thought the same thing? Well it makes total sense especially how fast she went down
I think this is a fair assessment of this tragedy. One can only guess what was going through the captain's mind when he realized he was no longer in control of the ship. Such am interesting and intriguing story of 29 lives lost and 29 families effected, truly heartbreaking. Thank you!
Well said Craig
I believe that the hatch covers were intact. I believe the iron ore pellets shifted forward due to the heavy winds and 40 foot waves. I think that the Edmond bottom out at first. On shallow rocks near Bearaboo while hugging the shore line to close. Tore open the bottom hall. Then took on water and the hall then warped and broke the railing. then lost boyancy and the 45 foot waves hit her at the bow causing the bow dip under water and hit into the lake floor bottom then the stern of the ship was high in the water and she broke right in half like the titanic did. I believe there was no time for calling sos or anything since the bow dipped Into the water. I believe the crew drown Below decks all drown inside the boat. The wheel man and navigation man and Captain were killed instantly. I have been a Marine and on ships in the Corps and am a Mariner with my own boat. I been out on lake michigan and Superior during october and November days fishing and she gets nasty very very quick! The clouds will always tell you about in coming storms not just sonar or radio or tv. Fog sets in that's big big big trouble. That's how you bottom out on the rocks or break apart onto the rocks. We call them the sea wall or break wall. I lost some good props that way! The radio and tv tell you it's going to be clear sky's maybe sprinkles but then it all changes very fast into a great storm from 3 foot waves with winds at 5 to10 knots to 20 or 35 knot winds from 6 foot waves to 35 foot waves very fast. God bless the crew of the Big Fitz! And their families to the bell rings 29 times each year and will til the end of time.
Thanks Douglas!
My Dad was on the Joesph H Thompson..I have been on there many times from Cleveland Huron Ohio to Duluth Minnesota The Edmund Fitzgerald was full with iron ore and when there was a storm on Lake Superior with the waves coming over the middle of the ship full with iron ore...I thought it was to break in half...
So to me I believe the weight of the iron ore an huge wave brought the Fitzgerald down
Rest in peace ✝️
RIP...
Are you serious?
For me, I think of how long most ships take to sink. And the fact that the way the Fitz went down, a ship was there, and in the next few seconds, it was just gone...
If the hatch covers were tightened down properly, then I doubt that water got inside. But taconite being what it is (pellets) it could easily have shifted forward or aft (probably forward) and caused the ship to plunge. The rogue waves didn't help matters either. And if the deck railing was broken, the structural integrity of the ship was compromised as well..... Great video!
Thank you!
The water got in becuase they ripped the bottom when the hit the shoal
@@johndennis879 - That's a possibility but I think it's unlikely. Either way, 29 men went to the bottom with The Fitz.....
@charles sutton They remeasured the Shoals and they are actually 8 Fathoms. I think the forward hatch collapsed
@charles sutton The maps used was severely inaccurate and the shoals was further and deeper than the map Mcsorley was using so I don't believe he bottomed out because he would have known it and reported it to Captain Cooper and had the opportunity to do so many times but didn't.
Fitz just reported a list and taking on water but doesn't sound concerned about it.
8:05 not an Ocean btw, it's a freshwater lake
Whatever it's worth, my father was a bottom-line foreman who worked for 34 years (and for 7 more years elsewhere) in a steel mill as the person directing the unloading of iron ore boats. (He told me that the Edmund Fitzgerald never came into his mill.) I helped to pay my way through college by working my summers in that mill. One time I was able to go onto an ore boat and even go down maybe 60 feet into the hold on a giant shovel which picked up 60 tons of ore at a time and then came back up to drop the ore onto a large conveyor belt before going back down again. I think it took nearly an 8-hour shift for at least four of those large shovels to unload a boat, with a labor crew at the end going down into the hold with handheld shovels to move the remaining ore toward or into the large mechanical shovel. When I first saw all this happening, I thought the mechanical shovel was somehow being controlled from outside the area of the ship, but then I found out that a man sitting in a small area just above the huge shovel was pushing buttons to operate it. I ended up squeezing into a place just to his right as the large shovel went up and down.
I haven't seen very much yet of this video to know what it says about the cause of the sinking, but I understand that the Edmund Fitzgerald was somehow caught in a very rare situation in which the front and rear ends of the boat were supported by water but the middle of the boat was above water and not supported by water. Very large boats are not made to be able to handle such a situation and the Edmund Fitzgerald basically broke in half. The wreckage found later at the bottom of Lake Superior was mainly in two large pieces. This supports my understanding--and description here--of the reason for the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
One correction: The giant man-operated shovels unloaded 20 tons of iron ore at a time.
Great story Bobby!
@@neverstoplearning123 Thank you.
Many of the jobs in the mill are hard and dangerous. I had fairly easy jobs there but once came very, very close to being killed and fairly close to being killed a few more times. (My brother worked there several years in a rolling mill. He had a fairly good job but finally could take it anymore and quit. He was jobless for maybe two years, staying with me for several months of that time, and then just left--maybe feeing like he was too much of a burden to me. He became homeless, wandering from state to state and finally was found dead in someone's back yard.
My father was one of several children of a farmer in a very small town. He was glad to get a mill job in the city where I grew up. My father was a little guy who had to learn how to supervise men who were much larger and certainly more aggressive. (One of the men my father supervised was the brother of a familiar heavyweight boxer.) One time the boss of my father was shot dead on the job by a worker who was probably unhappy with being bossed around by the supervisor, who was much larger and tended to throw his weight around. My father had to be more tactful in directing his workers.
Since my father worked rotating shifts, he sometimes left for work shortly before 4 PM or midnight. Once when he was quite sick our family was begging him not to go to work but said somebody had to do his job. (Somebody WOULD have done his job if he weren't there, but partly I think he was protecting a needed and fairly well-paying job that he had worked hard to get.)
I could tell you stories on and on but I won't. But I think it's good for people to know about some of the dangers and hardships faced by people whose jobs in industry produce things that make our lives more comfortable.
The video > What Happened to the Edmund Fitzgerald? < has at 6:16 a drawing that shows a very large boat being subjected to "wave-spanning" This is the opposite of cresting and occurs when both extremes of the ship are lifted by waves. The middle is subjected to immense stress, and ships carrying taconite (steel pellets) become too heavy to handle this stress.
Nice job! Been fascinated with the Fitz disaster since it occurred. Thanks for the video!
Thanks Ruben!
I've learned more about this tragedy in this short video than much longer documentaries on it. Thank you for consolidating the details without compromising the story.
I'm glad you enjoyed it!
My dad sailed the barges on the Lakes for inland steel... I was 10 when The Edmond Fitzgerald went down .... I remember to this day the impact of the ships bells at the memorial service.... My dad never went back on the boats and retired from the mills that made the Steele from the oar barges... RIP to all sailors who never came home
Edmund*
Well done video. So,sad, though.😢
Great video. Thanks for the education, graphics, historical notes, etc. Subscribed
Amazing! Thank you Rosemary!
She ripped her bottom near Caribou
(Chummy bank or six fathom shoal).
She stressed her structure in a hogging movement loosing the fence rail & ballast tank vents. She also fractured her hull and began to take water in excess of 4000 gals per minute of her pumping capacity. This reduced her freeboard enough so she was listing and barely awash when the 3 sisters struck her. Their weight collapsed her forward hatch cover resulting in instantaneous flooding of the hull
If she bottomed out near Caribou why is there no visible damage to the stern section of the ship which is flipped upside-down?
It probably bottom out on the missing 200feet of ship
Scott Puryear, I agree. More importantly Captain Cooper believed this was the case. I believe him because he was there as well as it is completely logical to me.
you have done an excellent job on this vidieo, im a former great lakes sailor myself, and i knew dan hale the sole survivor of the morrell....
Thank you Mark!
With the bow stuck in the bottom.. engine turning full speed.. the Fitz twisted like a rusty pretzel
Dad bought a 14' Hobie Cat in 1969, after a sailing lesson on Lake Minnetonka we were "ready"for Lake Superior... in sunny breezy weather we capsized within 1 minute next to Cornucopia Wisconsin, fortunately a cabin cruiser exiting the harbor helped tip us upright
The Reason the Morrell broke up was because the older steel had a bad reaction to the cold waters which meant that when the steel got cold it got brittle and couldnt flex which meant in the high waves the ship wouldnt bend meaning the steel was stressed apart untill she broke up. fun fact; The steel which made the morrell was The same steel that made the titanic.
Also, The Morrell sunk on lake Huron, Not lake superior.
That makes sense that temperature would be a factor.
@@neverstoplearning123 Yes Indeed.
Agree, good work bro, deserve more subs imo
Thanks Mark. Appreciate the Sub!
Great vid, just gained a new sub, keep up the great work!
Amazing! Thank you!
7:02 The Daniel J Morrell sank in Lake HURON, not Lake Superior.
They eneded up actually finding a body laying near the Bow
R.I.P big fitz and all of its crew
7:12 the Morrell was on Lake Huron, not Superior
The Daniel morrell was built in 1906 not in the 1920s and it's sank in lake Huron not lake Superior
Correct I noticed that too.
Thank you Captain Stubin
I know that
very well explained ... you deserve Million subscribers ....
Thank you! Maybe one day if I am lucky.
2 things.
1. After the fitzgerald sank, the SS Arthur M Anderson and SS William Clay Ford went back into the storm and searched for a long time but sadly found only debris. If you head to the Arthur Andersons Wikipedia and go down to history it shows all the ships that took part in the search for the Edmund Fitzgerald.
2. The Anderson and Ford were both apart of the AAA class lake freighters. Anderson was the second while the Ford was the last. For some reason the William Clay Ford was scrapped in 1987.
The Morrell sunk in Huron, not Superior. It was also launched in 1906 and was built of the same steel Titanic was.
They're not the Great Oceans. They're the Great Lakes. True that Superior is like a small ocean but it's still known as a lake.
I'm saying this because in the narration it's called an ocean. I remember when the Fitz sank. What a tragedy! RIP all 29. 🙏
Of course, the Great Lakes are called "lakes" because they are FRESH water, not salt water, like the oceans
It should be noted on a dive later, they did find a body ,but know one ever mentions that.
It was found off the wreck and it didn’t have any identification to be off the Fitzgerald, its possible that it is from another wreck
Great video! One problem, you said ocean at 8:03. The ship sank in LAKE Superior. Also with the animation, the Anderson did not have stripes or a boom (the crane) on it yet.
Good catch!
You also used a clip of boats leaving and entering vancouver habour......sorry to be picky...but aren't these videos about details.....that led to the sinking.....
It should also be noted The Headstones re-made the song. A pretty good version as well.
Just looked it up & gave it a listen. I like it!!! Ty for sharing!
Noticed you used a shot of what looks like Vancouver's Burrard Street bridge, a shot from West Vancouver of Stanley Park and the Lions Gate bridge, and what appears to be the railing on a BC Ferry. ???
Didn’t the Morrell sink in Lake Huron?
Good video, with the exception of the drowning cartoon sailors.
Had me in tears!! 😂😆
I love how they got Fez Wheatley to narrate. RIP Fezzie.
Not the ocean
The shoals around caribou are far deeper
Source on the heart attack at the boat’s launch? I think that’s apocryphal
No matter how mankind builds ship's mother nature is always more powerful than scientists mother nature is a powerful being as we seen in 2020 with COVID God bless the Edmund Fitzgerald and her crew may they Rest In Peace ☮️
There’s a video on UA-cam called through the eyes of Captain Cooper it’s a great story Cooper was the Captain of the Arthur M Anderson not the Clark guy you mentioned
Thanks! I'll have to check that out.
@@neverstoplearning123
Your welcome
How sad! This lake is HUGE! ...and very dangerous!!!
It truly is. Especially this month!
Daniel J Morrell sank in Lake Huron.
The only reason that they ship iron ore in ships is because it's cheaper than loading it on a train. In the winter when the lakes are frozen over the seal Mills use trains to get their iron ore for making steel. Are all the lives lost in ship-sinkings worth the money that they saved and not using the railroad?
Interesting thoughts Frank!
The Morrell was actually on Lake Huron
Thank you Michael! I corrected that in the Daniel Morrell video.
So sorry that happened!!
I think Edmund Fitzgerald either got hit by a rouge wave or the iron ore pellets moved forward.
I think the Daniel Morell needs a song written about her as well
Here is how the ship sank really hatch covers were probably lose And if you put the Iron or pellets in water they expand and get heavier watch was cause by the hatch covers getting loose as a result the ship would start to get lower and lower into the water because of probably striking the Caribou Shouls and if you listen closely to Mcxley‘s words he said I have 2 missing vent covers A fence rail down and a starboard list that must indicate that he struck the caribou Shouls and then another key factor is that the water mixing with the pellets caused it to get heavier and he said he had both of his pumps on then the ship got deeper and deeper in to the watar because the pellets were getting so heavy because of the water leaking in to the ship
Don’t judge me I’m just a historian
And stuff
@@Marquetteproductions No judgements here good sir!
Thank you
Those hatches weigh 7 tons each ive been working on the great lakes for 10 years I've been through storms with 40 ft wave swells and hatches only every other latch clamped down nothing but a few droplets of water once the fitz bottomed out the water in the ship was flowing in as fast as they were dumping it out eventually water flowed in faster then they could pump the most likely cause for no mayday was that as the ship rode lower in the water they hit a large wave the fitz rode up on it once they started back down to the main water line all water in the ship shifted forward and sent her straight down in a plunge and as she 729ft long in 500 some ft of water her stern would've been out of the water and the waves hitting the stern would twist her in 2 if cargo shifted forward she would've been riding extremely low on the bow but not enough to plunge her to the depths you'd have to pick the ship up drop her nearly vertical with all cargo weight on the bargo bay walls towards the bowto make that happen pluse if the cargo shifted the crew in the wheelhouse would've definitely had time to call it in and signal abandon ship
Thanks Matt!
The Daniel J. Moreil sunk in lake huron
depths of the "Ocean" floor?
With the new technology we have they must do another dive haven't seen it since 95
Yes it would be interesting to see if 25 years at the bottom of the lake has changed anything.
@@neverstoplearning123 i know right. They should go in a it at least the pilot house now. Some of the family of the dead are not against it
It’s illegal, you are not allowed to dive to the wreck site
@@Klappadler7844 no shit
How does a ship hit the bottom, split in half, then sink 530 feet when it already hit the bottom??? Did it hit bottom or did it sink 530 ft??? Which one
Because the ship is longer than 500 feet.
the Edmund Fitzgerald was 729 foot long and sank in 530 feet of fwater
She hit bottom, but i have read that the ship was in need of major refurbishment and that her hull would bend in rough seas, so she was already in danger. And she was overloaded and when the water was getting in her hull the pellets rushed forward and blocked pumps. She got lower and lower and the 2 big waves that hit the anderson caught up with her and broke her back and the wave sent to bow down also with pellets rushing forward then the stern went under about a few seconds later flipped over on the way down. The men had no chance. Awful way to die. It believed the bow has started to collapse and on the last dive they found one of the seaman facedown infront of the bow on the seabed. Which i didnt understand why they did not bring it up for a funeral for the family. I could not let any family member down there on there own outside the ship and not with the ships crew. RIP Big Fitz
@08:05 -- "Depth of the ocean floor." Except a 'great lake' is a 'lake' not an 'ocean.'
Yea that was sink in Lake Superior at USA I think bow touch floor and stern ripped off
Ocean floor?
One body was found
I'm pretty sure based on what they say the body was wearing, and the old type of life preserver that fellow is not from the Fitz. Two French minesweepers were lost in 1917 near there. I believe that poor man is from one of those vessels.
@@tgfabthunderbird1 they said it was wearing coveralls that are used by crewmen on these ships as well but given the dept, time, etc it would have to be a very clear sighting to be able to make those observations. I’m guessing there are still men in the pilot house and below decks but it’s been deemed off limits to further dives and exploration.
@@NatureismyHome-cu6zs Divers that examined the pilot house testified that they found no bodies in the pilot house. Probably swept out by the waves
I'm guessing your Canadian by the accent and mispronunciation of Detroit and RADAR.
Everyone knows how it
Went down to the superior it’s cargo hold was damage and when the waves are crashing on it they just ripped Open and went down to the superior w
How long was the investigation?
To make this video? I think it took roughly 3 months to make.
8:07 the ocean floor
Why are you using the metric system for an American ship.
First Symbol of “Supposed Doom”….. 3 Blows to the Champagne Bottle????????
Not a good start at all.
I was on the SS Minnow when she ran aground in the South Pacific in a storm...I was stranded on an Island with some idiot that liked talking to balls named Wilson.
Amazing :)
GILLIGAN!
Bernie Cooper was the name of the captain of the Anderson not Jesse
www.sooeveningnews.com/story/news/2020/11/10/ss-arthur-m-anderson/114812704/
@@neverstoplearning123 I know there is a tendency to explain. But you really do not owe this person an explanation. They believe they are right and post under those pretenses. He watched 1 other video, were (like most) they call him Bernie. That's all the information that they have, or they need. Let them be happy in their wrongness
@@johnhurd6243 Thank you John!
Great video but I just watched an interview with the divers who went down and viewed the wreck. They said it's still in tact and the only damage is from impact.
Exactly. He says it hit bottom, then split? Then sank 500 some feet? Makes no sense.
It’s broke in half
The heart attack story has been found to be questionable.
What is the heart attack story?
@@neverstoplearning123 about the guy dying of a heart attack when the Fitzgerald was launched.
The man's name was in the papers and witnesses stated he had a heart attack so how is that questionable.
@@insertnamehere313 ok. If that is the case. Then please reference with newspaper, and date.
The guy's name was supposedly Jennings Frazier of Cleveland. So that'll help with your search. However you'll find that nobody by that name died in Cleveland in 1958. You can actually confirm it by the Ohio department of vital statistics.
Good video but….Needs a new editor.
Ocean floor?
Noted!
God only knows what really happened
🤦😪🙏🗣💔
I have a drink for the 29 every year for the 29
When I was in jr high school, that song by Gordon Lightfoot was on the charts. It was a loooong song and depressing. I hated it every time they played it…and they played it a lot.
It’s not a mistery
Good job that sink in 1975
By the way, the locks are just called The Soo. She sank on the American side of Lake Superior. Eventully it shifted over to the Canadian Side due to the currents.
Lake Superior is actully an Inland Sea.
Also just cause the Daniel J was older, did not mean it was built with brittle steeel.
Also it should be noted that there is no definitive cause of the sinking, just much speculation. We will likely never have an answer. She is now a legal gravesite.
Also a body was found laying on the floor of Lake Supierior by her bow in 1994 during a very controversial dive that got people in trouble.
27000 tons of weight just shifted with the bottom currents…. Right
She sank in Canadian Waters near Coppermine Point ON
The video > What Happened to the Edmund Fitzgerald? < says that it appears that a very rare occurrence called "wave spanning" would explain the sudden sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald. The drawing at 6:16 in this video provides an illustration of this situation. As opposed to cresting, wave spanning occurs when both ends of a large ship are lifted by waves and the middle is unsupported by water so that the ship is subjected to immense stress. A ship carrying taconite (iron pellets) would become too heavy to be able to deal with this stress. Basically, the ship just breaks in half. Wreckage of the Edmund Fitzgerald found at the bottom of Lake Superior was in two large pieces. This backs up the thinking that wave spanning occurred with the Edmund Fitzgerald and was the cause of its sinking.
Well let's get your facts straight about the Daniel j morrell it was not in lake Superior where it sang it was in Northern lake Michigan
Arthur M. Anderson is the last ship to follow Edmund Fitgerald the last words we are holding are own Arthur M. Anderson called the coastguard but the Arthur M. Anderson whent back out to find any of the crew but no one the Edmund Fitzgerald and her 29 crew will never be forgotten may they rip.⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐