SOUNDINGS

No. 12 · Great Lakes ore freighter

SS Edmund Fitzgerald

Lost 10 November 1975 · Lake Superior · about 160 m

The largest freighter on the Great Lakes when she was built, the Edmund Fitzgerald vanished in a Lake Superior storm in 1975 with all 29 crew.

Flag
United States
Built
Great Lakes Engineering Works, Michigan, 1957–1958
Length
about 222 m
Aboard
29
Lives lost
29
Survived
none
Position
46°59.9′ N, 85°06.6′ W
Lies at
about 160 m, clay and mud
Whitefish PointWhitefish BayLake Superior86°W85.5°W85°W84.5°W46.5°N47°N020 nautical milesSS Edmund Fitzgeraldabout 160 mN
Lake Superior, about 17 miles north-west of Whitefish Point.
SS Edmund Fitzgerald underway (US Army Corps of Engineers)
SS Edmund Fitzgerald underway (US Army Corps of Engineers). Unknown photographer, US Army Corps of Engineers, between 1958 and 1975 · Public domain

For seventeen years the 'Fitz' carried iron ore down the lakes. On her last trip she ran into one of the worst November storms on record, with another freighter close behind her the whole way.

Cause. She foundered in a severe storm after taking on water. The exact cause (hatch covers, shoal damage, huge waves or a structural failure) has never been settled.

Plate · elevation, starboard side

The ship

EDMUND FITZGERALD AB

Load waterline

A The pilothouse and forecastle
B The after house, funnel and lifeboats

Elevation, starboard side

The last hours

Ship drawn to scale; the water below is not.

  1. 9 November 1975, 14:15

    Out of Superior

    She left Superior, Wisconsin, under Captain Ernest McSorley with about 26,000 tons of taconite ore pellets, bound for the Detroit area. A storm was forecast.

  2. 10 November, morning

    Into the storm

    She and the freighter Arthur M. Anderson took a northerly route along the Canadian shore. Winds reached near hurricane force, with waves of up to about 10 m.

  3. About 15:30

    Damage reported

    McSorley radioed the Anderson that a fence rail was down, two vents were lost and the ship had a list, and asked the Anderson to stay close.

  4. About 16:10

    Radar out

    Both of her radars failed. The Anderson began guiding her by radio towards the shelter of Whitefish Bay.

  5. About 19:10

    Holding their own

    Asked how they were doing, McSorley replied that they were holding their own. It was the last message from the ship.

  6. About 19:15

    Gone from the radar

    The Fitzgerald vanished from the Anderson's radar without a distress call. The Anderson and others turned back to search, and found only boats and debris.

25 m · 14 fm
50 m · 27 fm
75 m · 41 fm
100 m · 55 fm
125 m · 68 fm

At 160 m the pressure is about 17 times what it is at the surface.

1Pilothouse2Bow section, upright3Hull broken up, ore pellets scattered4Stern section, upside down
  1. Pilothouse
  2. Bow section, upright
  3. Hull broken up, ore pellets scattered
  4. Stern section, upside down

Elevation, starboard side, as found.M clay and mud · about 160 m

As found

Where she lies

She lies in two main pieces: the bow upright in the mud, the stern upside down about 50 m away, with the middle of the hull broken up between them and ore pellets scattered across the site. In 1995 her bell was raised and replaced with a replica engraved with the names of the 29 crew.

Found

Located on 14 November 1975 by a US Navy aircraft with a magnetic anomaly detector, and confirmed in 1976 with the navy's remote-controlled vehicle CURV-III.

Today

A gravesite in Canadian waters, protected under the Ontario Heritage Act. Her original bell is a memorial at the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum, Whitefish Point.

Sources