41st anniversary of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald

Edmund Fitzgerald: In a 'perfect' storm, could happen again

Thursday denote the 41st commemoration of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald, the biggest ship to go down in the Great Lakes. The ship had some essential binds to Sturgeon Bay and different parts of Wisconsin.

 

                       41st anniversary of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald

 

Edmund Fitzgerald was an American Great Lakes freighter that sank in a Lake Superior storm on November 10, 1975, with the loss of the entire crew of 29. When launched on June 7, 1958, she was the largest ship on North America's Great Lakes, and she remains the largest to have sunk there.

For 17 years Fitzgerald carried taconite iron ore from mines near Duluth, Minnesota, to iron works in Detroit, Toledo, and other Great Lakes ports. As a "workhorse," she set seasonal haul records six times, often breaking her own previous record. Captain Peter Pulcer was known for piping music day or night over the ship's intercom while passing through the St. Clair and Detroit Rivers (between Lakes Huron and Erie), and entertaining spectators at the Soo Locks (between Lakes Superior and Huron) with a running commentary about the ship.  Her size, record-breaking performance, and "DJ captain" endeared Fitzgerald to boat watchers.

Carrying a full cargo of ore pellets with Captain Ernest M. McSorley in command, she embarked on her ill-fated voyage from Superior, Wisconsin, near Duluth, on the afternoon of November 9, 1975. En route to a steel mill near Detroit, Fitzgerald joined a second freighter, SS Arthur M. Anderson. By the next day, the two ships were caught in a severe storm on Lake Superior, with near hurricane-force winds and waves up to 35 feet (11 m) high. Shortly after 7:10 p.m., Fitzgerald suddenly sank in Canadian (Ontario) waters 530 feet (160 m) deep, about 17 miles (15 nautical miles; 27 kilometers) from Whitefish Bay near the twin cities of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, and Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario—a distance Fitzgerald could have covered in just over an hour at her top speed. Although Fitzgerald had reported being in difficulty earlier, no distress signals were sent before she sank; Captain Mc Sorley's last message to Anderson said, "We are holding our own." Her crew of 29 perished, and no bodies were recovered.

Why was it named Edmund Fitzgerald?

The ship was named after the President and CEO of its proprietor, Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company. As per a Los Angeles Times eulogy, Edmund Fitzgerald, who kicked the bucket in 1986, was a community pioneer in the place where he grew up of Milwaukee. He was attributed with setting up the city's Performing Arts Center, port office, and Amtrak station. He was additionally the grandson of a Great Lakes vessel commander.

Fitzgerald was at first restricted to having the vessel named in his respect and the Northwestern board affirmed the name when he was out of the room. Notwithstanding, his child in-law told the L.A. Times that the respect turned into "the proudest snapshot of his life."

What happened to the ship?

The Fitzgerald sank on the night of Nov. 10, 1975 amid an especially harsh tempest on Lake Superior. There are no survivors or observers to the wreck.

As per the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum, the Fitzgerald's Captain Ernest Mc Sorely reported issues around 3:30 p.m. that evening in a radio message to the S.S. Arthur Anderson: "Anderson, this is the Fitzgerald. I have a fence rail down, two vents lost or harmed, and a rundown. I'm checking down. Will you remain by me till I get to Whitefish?"

The last contact with the Fitzgerald occurred at 7:10 p.m. The Fitzgerald group reported that the ship was "standing our ground." Just five minutes after the fact, the Anderson's radar lost the Fitzgerald's flag. Another call to the Fitzgerald at 7:22 p.m. went unanswered. Around 10:00 p.m. the Anderson's team found the Fitzgerald's rafts and other destruction, yet no indication of survivors.

The day after the wreck, Mariners' Church in Detroit rang its bell 29 times; once for each life lost. The church continued to hold an annual memorial, reading the names of the crewmen and ringing the church bell, until 2006 when the church broadened its memorial ceremony to commemorate all lives lost on the Great Lakes.

 

41st commemoration of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald

The ship's bell was recovered from the wreck on July 4, 1995. A replica engraved with the names of the 29 sailors who lost their lives replaced the original on the wreck.[186] A legal document signed by 46 relatives of the deceased, officials of the Mariners' Church of Detroit and the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historic Society (GLSHS) "donated the custodian and conservatorship" of the bell to the GLSHS "to be incorporated in a permanent memorial at Whitefish Point, Michigan, to honor the memory of the 29 men of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald.”  The terms of the legal agreement made the GLSHS responsible for maintaining the bell, and forbade it from selling or moving the bell or using it for commercial purposes. It provided for transferring the bell to the Mariners' Church of Detroit if the terms were violated.

An uproar occurred in 1995 when a maintenance worker in St. Ignace , Michigan, refurbished the bell by stripping the protective coating applied by Michigan State University experts. The controversy continued when the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum tried to use the bell as a touring exhibit in 1996. Relatives of the crew halted this move, objecting that the bell was being used as a "traveling trophy." The bell is now on display in the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum in Whitefish Point near Paradise, Michigan.

An anchor from Fitzgerald lost on an earlier trip was recovered from the Detroit River and is on display at the Dossin Great Lakes Museum in Detroit, Michigan. The Dossin Great Lakes Museum also hosts a Lost Mariners Remembrance event each year on the evening of November 10. Artifacts on display in the Steamship Valley Camp museum in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, include two lifeboats, photos, a movie of Fitzgerald and commemorative models and paintings. Every November 10, the Split Rock Lighthouse in Silver Bay, Minnesota emits a light in honor of Edmund Fitzgerald.

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