No other Great Lakes shipwreck is more well-known than the Edmund Fitzgerald, which disappeared into a stormy Lake Superior on November 10, 1975, when wind gusts peaked at nearly 100 miles per hour and waves reached the height of three-story buildings. the Edmund Fitzgerald remains the largest shipwreck on the Great Lakes to this day.
Pennington delves into the various theories and opposing views of dive detectives who are still trying to solve the mystery of what led to the demise of the 29-man crew.
Audience members will be led from the launch of the ship to its final radio broadcasts, and from the Fitz's discovery on Superior's bottom to the raising of artifacts from its watery grave.
This program also includes a complete circle tour of Lake Superior's extraordinary shorelines.
A recent newspaper interview with historian Matthew Prigge:
Why has there been such a popular fascination with the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald?
It is my personal belief that the sinking of the Fitzgerald is the most known wreck on the Great Lakes because, in large part, of Gordon Lightfoot’s haunting ballad about this drowned ship in “an ice water mansion.” The song sold millions of copies immediately after the vessel’s loss.
Lightfoot’s lyrics were so mysterious. He sang about the Fitzgerald being “a bone to be chewed,” and about a “witch” in November who “came stealin’”. What did she steal? She stole lives.
Lightfoot also added a bit of science to his singing when he told listeners that Lake Superior “never gives up her dead.” Lightfoot’s words were both eerie (a lake grasping and holding its victims) and true. Superior’s waters are so icy cold that bacteria struggle to live. Typically, bacteria will eat a decaying body and gas will form. Then the body will bloat and float.
The primary thing the Fitzgerald is known for, obviously, is how it sank in 1975. But, even before its famous final voyage, it was a notable and (in certain circles) quite a famous vessel. Tell us a bit about the Fitzgerald as a working freighter.
The Edmund Fitzgerald enjoyed fanfare right from the moment of its birth in June of 1958. Over 10,000 people showed up to see the Fitz, the largest ship ever built on the Great Lakes up until that point, launched. The freighter was a favorite of boat watchers for the whole of its life and the giant had many nicknames: Big Fitz, Mighty Fitz, Titanic of the Great Lakes, and Queen of the Lakes.
To this day, the Edmund Fitzgerald remains the largest sunken ship on the Great Lakes.
The freighter primarily hauled iron ore pellets, which were picked up at the docks in northern Minnesota. The ship’s usual route was from the far western end of Lake Superior, through the Soo Locks, then south to the steel mills in Detroit, Michigan and Toledo, Ohio on the lower lakes. The Fitzgerald logged over a million miles in this way during its short life.
What has drawn you to these topics and, specifically, what has drawn you to the story of the Edmund Fitzgerald?
My interest in the Edmund Fitzgerald came as a result of my love for Lake Superior. Our family purchased a 100-year-old, vintage cabin just south of Superior’s southern shore seven summers ago and I began writing my forthcoming book, Where the Hammock Hangs: A Love Letter to the Woods and Waters Surrounding an “Up North” Cottage. The book includes extensive research on Lake Superior, which is the backdrop to both the Edmund Fitzgerald’s life and to its loss.Historic lighthouses, shipwrecks, mines, logging camps, and lodges are all subjects included in the publication, due for release in September 2016.
I was further drawn to the Edmund Fitzgerald’s story because of its tie to local history. As a Wisconsinite, I found these connections interesting:
Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company in Milwaukee owned the ship and named the freighter after the company’s president, Edmund Fitzgerald. But this was more than an honorary designation for a man sitting behind a desk. President Fitzgerald came from a family of men who were veterans in Great Lakes shipping. Edmund’s grandpa, John Fitzgerald, was a Great Lakes captain, and so were all five of his grandfather’s brothers. Edmund’s father, William Fitzgerald, owned the Milwaukee Drydock Company; he built and repaired ships there. William and John Fitzgerald both had ships named for them.
Edmund Fitzgerald was one of the founders of the Wisconsin Marine Historical Society, headquartered in Milwaukee. He extended great effort to preserve Wisconsin’s shipping history.
Nine Wisconsinites were on board the ship when it went under.
The Fitzgerald’s last port of call on November 9, 1975 was Superior, Wisconsin.
While the tremendous seas and terrible weather that night certainly doomed the Fitzgerald, there is no consensus as to how the vessel actually went down and various theories—from the cargo hatch covers coming open and taking water to the ship actually snapping in half while riding twin waves—abound. What do you think is the most likely explanation for the wreck?
Forty years have passed since the Fitz found its way to Lake Superior’s floor. We are still wondering what happened, and the only person who knows for sure, Captain McSorley, took that answer with him to the bottom of the lake.
I personally believe that monster waves played a significant part in the ship’s drowning. During one of McSorley’s final radio messages before his ship disappeared from the radar screen, he said he was fighting one of the “worst storms” he had ever been caught in. McSorley had been a lifer on the lakes, with a career stretching 44 years. His trip across Lake Superior on that fateful day was supposed to be his last before retiring.
Sunday afternoon’s program at the American Geographical Society Library will examine multiple theories regarding the ship’s demise:
Was the ship overcome by two or three massive waves and shoved under?
Were the ship’s hatch covers not properly locked down at the docks before the ship departed?
Were the hatch covers leaking?
Did the Fitzgerald hit a shoal, an underwater area of rocks and injure itself?
Did earlier accidents the Fitzgerald was involved in compromise the structural integrity of the ship?
Was there an engineering flaw in the ship’s construction?
Did the ship snap in half on the surface of Lake Superior, or break in two when the vessel slammed into the lake’s bottom?
Had the ship been “cursed” by two eerie omens when it was launched?
What can you tell us about the shipwreck site?
The drowned ship is in two pieces on the bottom of Lake Superior in water over 500 feet deep.
Half of the Fitzgerald’s broken body is inverted, facedown, and is located in an area of Lake Superior called the graveyard because of all of the wrecks which have gone down in the immediate area. The shipwreck is located in Canadian waters and is a protected sight. If you are caught trespassing in that cemetery you will be fined by the Canadian government. How much? One million dollars.