[3][8][9] Samples dredged from a shoal northwest of Caribou Island and close to one of these valleys resemble Jacobsville Sandstone. There have been about half a dozen dives to the site since the shipwreck in 1975. Wold, R.J., Hutchinson, D.R. Ancient hunting ground found hidden in Lake Huron | Tech Times None, of course, were found and only floating debris gave clues that the Fitzgerald and its crew were lost. Some theories are nonsense relating to UFOs or a Great Lakes Bermuda Triangle in the area where the ship sank. Officers and candidates in navigation classes and manufacturer schools receive up-to-the-minute training in using the latest equipment and in interpreting information that equipment provides to keep their ships out of harms way. Fullerton Islands Restaurant Fullerton. Many theorize the ship unknowingly struck the poorly marked 6 Fathom Shoal on the island's north side, but that has never been conclusively proven. Do the math. Burgner said a shipyard worker showed him evidence of old keel weld breaks during the 1972-73 winter lay-up that were brought to McSorley and dismissed. Weather conditions continued to deteriorate, Ley wrote. This timeline chronicles the last voyage of the Edmund Fitzgerald - Boreal SS Edmund Fitzgerald - Wreck Location Map & GPS Coordinates - Shipwreck Disproven by: Captain's experience in the area, ballast tank location Rogue waves. I have never been able to get that shot out of my head to this day 35 years later. Water intrusion came less than 30 minutes later. Don McIsaac observed last July that Gordon Lightfoot, who wrote The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald is from my hometown, Orillia. McIsaac, executive vice-president and chief financial officer of Cirrus Aircraft, based at headquarters in Duluth, Minnesota, added, From where I sit now, I can see the port the ship last left.. Upon reaching Whitefish Bay, theCoast Guard requested that any freighter waiting out the storm in Whitefish Bay go out to search for theFitzgeraldand her 29 man crew as the Coast Guard itself was unable to reach the scene immediately. The island was acquired completely by the Roys A. Ellis family in the 1960s and was transferred to the Mellon Conservancy Trust of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in the early 1980s to never be developed. Caribou, California - Wikipedia TheAndersonwasn't in much better shape, its engine room leaking consistently and its superstructure often being submerged entirely under water every time a wave hit. But it also added time and nautical miles to her course in the middle of shifting, increasing winds and waves -- FROM THE WEST -- behind her. Captain Cooper maintained that he watched the Edmund Fitzgerald pass far too close to Six Fathom Shoal to the north of Caribou Island. Because all 29 men aboard the Fitzgerald went down with the ship -- which was there one minute and gone the next -- the best accounts that investigators could rely on were those of sailors in the vicinity of the ship during the storm, or who had contact with the Fitzgerald somehow in the weeks prior to her final voyage. My understanding of the dives was showed hatches were closed least belied to be so and was the low ship by full cargo in the water and the sea waves and cargo shift caused her go down- no matter what the cause it's all so tragic- I know not the ship nor any of the crew or families but i can certainly feel their loss- it is a very sad story - and the song very accurate to what is known about the ship wreak- many lost at seas' and many more will- it's just sad. In the Duluth News-Tribune, another former crew member, Jim Woodard, claims the Fitzgerald was a "wet" ship. Jesse B. Cooper told an audience in Wisconsin the Anderson was struck from astern that evening by a pair of huge waves, which rolled over his ship and continued on toward the Fitzgerald. Had she sailed two days later, empty, for repairs (very good timing, actually) none of this would have happened. The Coast Guard then initiated its search for the missing ship. There was no answer. However, divers found no recent damage to the shoal after the wreck and the ship's exact course could only be estimated because the Fitzgerald radars were inoperable and the Anderson kept inexact course records during the journey. Of course, the Lake Carriers Association (LCA) blamed grounding on the not-well-marked Six Fathom Shoal northwest of Caribou Island. * The ship had run aground on a reef during the worst of the storm (likely the reef in question was Six Fathom Shoal near Caribou Island). Coast Guard aircraft were on the scene by 10:55 p.m. Commercial vessels in the protective waters of Whitefish Bay were requested to form a search effort and several, including the Anderson, did venture out of shelter to search the storm-tossed seas for survivors. At 3:30 pm that afternoon, Captain McSorley radioed Captain Cooper and said: Anderson, this is the Fitzgerald. By its last voyage, the freighter had made about 748 round trips. Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement (updated 4/4/2023), Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement, and Your Privacy Choices and Rights (updated 1/26/2023). While conditions were bad, with winds gusting to 50 knots and seas 12 to 16 feet, both Captains had often piloted their vessels in similar conditions. Interesting question. [2], According to the available information, Caribou Island consists of a mixture of glacial sediments and Precambrian sandstone. Discover the Edmund Fitzgerald shipwreck in Lake Superior Her track along the north shore was standard in inclement weather -- to shelter a bit from north winds. Perhaps the greatest change that came in the aftermath of the Fitz disaster is in navigational equipment. The same problems were reported aboard theHomer. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. Cooper started to fear the worst and contacted the Coast Guard alerting them to theFtizgerald'sdisappearance. Diving on the wreck has been completely banned by the Canadian goverment by all means including ROVs and manned submersibles as the wreck is entirely located within the territorial waters of the Canadian province of Ontario. The comment that this industry stopped completely are false. Soon after, McSorely on the Fitzgerald reported taking topside damage and a list. Great respect must be accorded to the wreck site, which still contains the remains of crew members and is considered a gravesite. Cooper asked McSorley how they were doing. The ships were nearing Whitefish Bay. The Edmund Fitzgerald started its tragic journey 47 years ago today Since then, there have been about a half dozen dives to the wreck using deep-diving equipment. With the load she was carrying as she was driven down would it not shift forward and drive the ship down at a rapid rate causing so much damage? Lowell, who died in 2016, started out as a journalist in the turbulent 1960s and 1970s, and had already covered politics, and civil rights events and disturbances, for the Detroit News, then Newsweek; including events like the 1967 Detroit Riot, the May 1970 Kent State shootings in Ohio, and the September 1971 Attica Prison riot, as well as covering organized crime, labour, and the auto industry, by the time the Edmund Fitzgerald sunk in November 1975. They are the last of their kind exposed to the human development and predation on the mainland. That would likely mean that it was at the forward end of the weather deck. They have persisted where all others have perished. None. eCFR :: 33 CFR 151.66 -- Operating requirements: Discharge of garbage The U.S. Coast Guard and National Transportation Safety Board both issued official investigation reports that many dismiss in favor of a theory favored by the Lake Carriers Association. Edmund Fitzgerald - "Touching Bottom At Six Fathom Shoal". All rights reserved. The heavy seas overwhelmed a ship that had already lost freeboard and was listing. Im checking down. [1][3] In addition, exposures of gently dipping, friable Jacobsville Sandstone, have been reported from Caribou Island. Caribou Island is an uninhabited island in the eastern end of Lake Superior, 40 kilometres (25 mi) south of Michipicoten Island. By early the next morning, theAndersonandFitzgeraldencountered a powerful November gale with winds up to 50miles an hour. )As if the aforementioned problems weren't enough, Northwestern Mutual had theFtizgeraldpartially rebuilt in her later years to handle thousands of extra tons of iron ore, which substantially raised the waterline, increasing the maximum draft of the ship, maximum weight of the ship and height of the deck above water. As the afternoon wore on, radio communications with the Fitzgerald concerned navigational information but no extraordinarily alarming reports were offered by Captain McSorley. 43 and 1/2 years later the feeling of that morning is still vivid in my mind. It is not known ifFitzgeraldhad struck bottom on the shoal or another nearby outcropping, but upon passing Caribou Island, the problems started. Would like to offer any help I can. I am from Sault Ste Marie Michigan and a former student of the founder of the great lakes shipwreck historical society Tom Farnquist. The NTSB hewed to the Coast Guard line somewhat, agreeing that that non-weathertight hatch covers probably caused flooding during the trip, but the board ultimately concluded the probable sinking cause was "sudden massive flooding of the cargo hold due to the collapse of one or more hatch covers." No. With regards to iron ore shipping on the Great Lakes, it most certainly is still taking place. That would seem to indicate that their instruments convinced them that water was leaking into the tank area. A bit later, McSorley reported that his radars werent working and requested that the Anderson keep track of his route and give him navigational aid. Winter 2023 NMU School of Art & Design Senior Exhibition Reception, Edmund Fitzgerald: Decades of Speculation, Fascination and Grieving. Officers from the Anderson observed that the Fitzgerald sailed through this exact area. As of the 2010 Census, the town had a population of 0. The ship would bend and flex in sometimes un-natural means and the keel would at times be lifted over two inches above the bottom ofFitzgerald'shull during a violent storm. The story is about Inuit hunting the toughest Caribou until only . Conjecture by proponents of the Six Fathom Shoal theory concluded that Fitzgerald ' s downed fence rail reported by McSorley could occur only if the ship "hogged" during shoaling, . It is rumored that the light house keepers poached caribou and beaver. America's #1 Fireworks Retailer| Phantom Fireworks Gale warnings had been issued at 7 p.m. on Nov. 9, upgraded to storm warnings early in the morning of Nov. 10. I watched those two waves head down the lake towards the Fitzgerald, and I think those were the two that sent her under.. Only one man has undertaken a scuba dive, using special air mixtures in his tanks. Ed Peewee Charles Ringwald and the late Terry Clements, a Detroit native who had played guitar for Lightfoot since the early 1970s, came up with the haunting guitar and steel riffs. Instead they consist of bedrock ridges and interfluves that lie between northerly trending bedrock valleys, which are known as tunnel valleys. The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald was released as a 7-inch 45 rpm A-side single in August 1976, taken from Lightfoots album Summertime Dream released that July. If the ship had "hogged" upon striking the shoal, it could have caused the topside damage reported by Fitzgerald captain Ernest McSorley in the hours before the sinking. They said, however, they were inclined to accept that the Fitzgerald passed over the Six Fathom Shoal Area as reported by Cooper. The official Coast Guard board of inquiry came to the conclusion that the Edmund Fitzgerald sank as a result of massive flooding of the cargo hold, saying that this likely resulted from ineffective hatch closure. Noting that many of the hatch clamps photographed on the sunken freighter show little or no damage or distortion, the report states that this could result from improper maintenance of the adjustment bolts that put tension on the hatch covers and secured them to the top of the coamings around the hatches. released a very fine and very different tempo cover of Lightfoots The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald last March 15. Another wave just like the first one or bigger hit us again. The lateral continuity and consistent and parallel direction of the tunnel valleys indicated that they are carved from friable sandstones that underlies the floor of most of eastern Lake Superior. GLSHS three expeditions to the wreck revealed that it is likely she submarined bow first into an enormous sea, as damage forward is indicative of a powerful, quick force to the superstructure. Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald: Why Did S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald Sink Within days, the location of the wreck on the bottom of the lake was pinpointed by U.S. Navy aircraft and the following spring the Coast Guard positively identified the wreckage using underwater photography. This island was considered an emergency landing airport (YCI) during World War II. All the windows have been blown out and destroyed. The mystery is compounded by mud covering key parts of the wreck and a legal prohibition on further dives imposed by the Canadian government. Caribou Island (near Michipicoten Island) - Wikipedia
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