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2006-11-10 -Short Attention Span Theater-

Today in History: the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

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Posted by Mike 2006-11-10 08:05|| || Front Page|| [2 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 ..My Dad worked for American Shipbuilding in Lorain OH west of Cleveland while I was growing up, and a few months before her loss Dad was aboard to survey some work (IIRC, her owners intended for her to get an overhaul during the offseason), and I got up close to her - she was a beautiful, beautiful ship with a proud, skilled crew. What most people don't realize is that the Great Lakes can be horrifyingly dangerous, even worse than the North Atlantic in winter. The Fitzgerald simply got caught in one of those corners that there was no way out of. I still vividly remember the papers that morning and the dawning realization that one of the largest ships on the Lakes had just flat out vanished.
BTW, some sites about the Fitzgerald
say that at the time of her loss she was the largest ship on the Lakes - at 729 feet she was near the top, but AmShip had already sent SS Roger Blough to sea in 1972 for US Steel at 858 feet, and Amship would go on to build SS James Barkerand SS Mesabi Miner, each 1000 ft long.

Mike

Posted by Mike Kozlowski 2006-11-10 09:10|| 2006-11-10 09:10|| Front Page Top

#2 My dad worked on the lakes off and on in the 1940s, between graduating from high school at 16 and finishing his masters in 1952, with Submarine Service in WWII and college on the GI bill in between. He worked his way from steward to engine room crew to pilot, in order to pay his living expenses.

If you want to know what a storm on the lakes is like, churn up some waves in a bathtub and watch how they crash together. Then imagine 40 to 60 foot waves doing this.

Lightfoot's song has kept the Fitz in the public eye, but there are thousands of wrecks on the lakes. I recommend books on Great Lakes history by Dwight Boyer, some of which are still in print and some of which may be lurking around in your library.

Posted by mom">mom 2006-11-10 09:19|| 2006-11-10 09:19|| Front Page Top

#3 Mom-
Oh, absolutely - Boyer' books are classics, but not at all sure if they're still in print.

Mike

Posted by Mike Kozlowski 2006-11-10 09:22|| 2006-11-10 09:22|| Front Page Top

#4 For years the Chicago Yacht Club tried to get Ted Turner do race in the anual Chicago-Mackinaw race. Turner always responded that he might as well race on a mill pond. When he finally did enter they had great weather till halfway through the race. By the time he got to the finish I think he had changed his opinion. IIRC he says the only worse weather he ever raced in was the infamous Fastnet Race of '79

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1979_Fastnet_race

The link below is an unabashed plug for a buddies book.

http://www.amazon.com/Mighty-Fitz-Story-Edmund-Fitzgerald/dp/158234647X

Posted by Cheaderhead 2006-11-10 11:14|| 2006-11-10 11:14|| Front Page Top

#5 Earworm!

And a moment of slience for the lost ship and crew.

Posted by Seafarious">Seafarious 2006-11-10 11:15|| 2006-11-10 11:15|| Front Page Top

#6 It looks like all, or nearly all, of the Dwight Boyer books can be gotten on Amazon.

Posted by Mike 2006-11-10 14:21|| 2006-11-10 14:21|| Front Page Top

#7 In regards to the Great Lakes and freakish weather and the loss of the , it's my understanding that the final investigaion report decided that a hatch cover had come loose or been accidentally left open enough that it was torn off in the storm. The ship was carrying an iron ore substrate that absorbed water extremely well. Water poured into the cargo hold at the rate of hundreds or thousands of gallons a minute, if not more. The ship became progressively more ungainly and unhandleable, and also began gaining enormous weight in the keel which may have begun to give way about the time they crossed a shoal which the ship should have had clearance for altough only by a few feet.

About this time, according to the report, the weather was really lousy with 40-60 ft waves smashing the ship from all directions. Note that waves produce troughs and peaks. Apparently, the Edmund Fitzgerald may have gone into a trough just as she crossed the shoals and was virtually simultaneously hit by waves fore and aft which lifted her out of the water and another wave which smashed her midsection. She broke into at least 2 pieces and went down within seconds - so fast that on one radar pass of a (relatively) nearby vessel she was there on one pass and gone on the next.

No bodies were ever recovered (something that inspired no end of conspiracy theories about UFOs, aliens, and the Great Lakes Triangle), but the ship's bell was a few years ago - something that was significant to the families of the 29 crewmen who died aboard her that day.

Posted by FOTSGreg">FOTSGreg 2006-11-10 19:11|| www.fire-on-the-suns.com]">[www.fire-on-the-suns.com] 2006-11-10 19:11|| Front Page Top

#8 PIMF!

Posted by FOTSGreg">FOTSGreg 2006-11-10 19:36|| www.fire-on-the-suns.com]">[www.fire-on-the-suns.com] 2006-11-10 19:36|| Front Page Top

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