the legend lives on from the chippewa on down

[michelle]

this november 10th marks the 50 years since the the big fitz the titanic of the great lakes went down with all 29 crew members back on november 10 1975 

i have been interested in the mystery behind what really caused the fitz to go down  for several years and  there is no shortage of theories
and it is really the only shipwreck i have ever had any interest in the other one i also find interesting is the ww2 us navy heavy cruiser uss indianapolis  ca-35

and i do not think we will ever get a definitive answer so it will remain a mystery and that  mystery and the late gordon lightfoot's song the wreck of the edmund fitzgerald will keep the memory of this ship and it's crew alive well after the last of the crew's direct family members and anyone alive and old enough to remember the event and comprehend it are gone so in that way i hope it never gets solved 

but the part of me that always enjoys when a mystery is finally solved hopes they will at some point allow new scans be made  with side scan sonar or some other device that can render high res scans and be able peer  though the mud and silt to see the lower half of the bow that is buried  without anybody in a submersible or deep water diving going down to the ship and hopefully maybe allow a rov robot to go down to the wreck  and retrieve the log book which would also reveal what was happening before leaving the last pickup site and heading out into the lake up to and during the storm till the ship went down due to the captain or first mate would have written down what ever the engine room or other areas of the ship would phone up to the bridge while underway and during the storm till the ship went down and what was was going on with the ship during those last runs to pick up the iron ore

well the acapella group home free released their cover of the wreck of the edmund fitzgerald along with music video for it 9 days ago 
and their cover gives me the same chills that gordon's version does 
and the music video films on the great lakes frieghter ss william a irvin which was turned into a museum ship docked in duluth minnesota as well along the coast  along superior  near duluth
also there is talk that maybe the ss arthur m anderson might get turned into a muesum to prevent it from being scraped since it may not pass it latest 5 year inspection this ship has a connection to the big fitz and a part of it's story of it's last fatefull iron ore run 

 

[bobss396]

I believe it was a hatch cover that came loose somehow. There was a special on it, forget if it was Discovery or Nat Geo.

A buddy of mine was in the Great Lakes US Coast Guard training program at the time. His ship answered the distress call. They got out to the area... nothing. 

He said it was the heaviest and roughest water he had ever been out on.

[michelle]

2 hours ago, bobss396 said:

I believe it was a hatch cover that came loose somehow. There was a special on it, forget if it was Discovery or Nat Geo.

A buddy of mine was in the Great Lakes US Coast Guard training program at the time. His ship answered the distress call. They got out to the area... nothing. 

He said it was the heaviest and roughest water he had ever been out on.

the hatch cover was not it plus those hatch covers weigh 7 tons each and while not all of the  kesner clamps were down mainly cause  they could not be used cause years of paint applications and poor maintenance  over the years while layed up between seasons and inspections had rendered them useless 
the only distress call  concerning the fitz was from the captain of ss arthur m anderson after they lost contact of the fitz both on radio and radar screen 

 

[LDO]

Slight hijack…

The Mariners church where they rang the the bell 29 times rang 30 times the year  Gordon Lightfoot died. 
 

https://www.freep.com/story/entertainment/music/brian-mccollum/2023/05/02/gordon-lightfoot-mariners-church-detroit-bells/70175392007/

I saw that documentary about the Edmund Fitzgerald also. 

Edited yesterday at 03:08 PM by LDO

[Volzfan59]

I was a kid when the big Fitz went down. Due to my pop’s job, we were living in Escanaba, MI then. Love the song and watch every documentary and YouTube video I come across.

[stavanzer]

1 minute ago, Volzfan59 said:

Love the song and watch every documentary and YouTube video I come across.

Me too!

I've been fascinated by the story since I first heard the song. Like you, I have watched and read many things about the Fitz.

I believe that we will never know the whole story.

[Andria H]

Doubtful anything is left of the logbook after 50yrs underwater. 

I too am fascinated by the Big Fitz 

[NOBLNG]

Much more haunting to my ears.

 

 

Edited 22 hours ago by NOBLNG

[stavanzer]

Sorry.

The Gordon Lightfoot Version is just better.

They aren't bad. Just not as good as the original.....

[Dave Ambrose]

There have been divers on the Edmund Fitzgerald. If I remember correctly one of the cargo hatches was open. I don't remember if they were able to ascertain why it came loose. 

[Dave Van]

 

[michelle]

7 hours ago, Andria H said:

Doubtful anything is left of the logbook after 50yrs underwater. 

I too am fascinated by the Big Fitz 

they recovered and restored a journal from the titanic that had been in the wreck for almost a hundred years and it was still readable
and they also recovered the logbook in 1981 from another great lakes ore ship the ss daniel j morrell  that  broke in two and went down in  1966  on lake huron with 26 of it's 29 crew as 3 made it to the life raft but only one of those three survived due to his lack of clothing he had on at the time he dove off the ship into the water while the other 2 men already in the life boat  froze to death due to their wet and heavy clothing they were wearing freezing into ice in the freezing temps 
 

[johnyrotten]

2 hours ago, michelle said:

they recovered and restored a journal from the titanic that had been in the wreck for almost a hundred years and it was still readable

I remember seeing something about that,it was a young kid's journal if i remember correctly, the handwriting was all still legible. Icy cold water and no oxygen seems to be what preserved it. 

[michelle]

 

8 minutes ago, johnyrotten said:

I remember seeing something about that,it was a young kid's journal if i remember correctly, the handwriting was all still legible. Icy cold water and no oxygen seems to be what preserved it. 

and superior is ice cold  also  and the nature of it prevents bacteria that causes both deterioration of wooden and steel hulled vessels as well as bodies of people that go down in the ships from decomposing to much and bloating and floating to the surface  which is why they say the lake never gives up her dead
as well other stuff like fabric and paper  though i think ships log books pages are  from mid to late 20th century through now are made with a heavy duty high end type paper that can make it hold up even if it get soaked and the covers are made of a high end material that can be waterproofed 
the 5 log books that were recovered from the wreck of the ss daniel j morrell were able to be restored and the readable since they were written with a pencil over a ink pen they did have each page freeze dried though before the restoration was done and the pages rebound with a new binding 

[bobss396]

The song got a lot of air play, although it was long. I still get shivers when I hear it play.

[bobss396]

10 hours ago, Dave Ambrose said:

There have been divers on the Edmund Fitzgerald. If I remember correctly one of the cargo hatches was open. I don't remember if they were able to ascertain why it came loose. 

The TV special i saw alluded to an open hatch that let water in.

It was enough, they alluded to the ship being bridged up on 2 waves and the weight deep in the hull snapped it in two.

[John M.]

I was 13 when the Fitz went down with all hands lost. A great loss to the families, relatives and friends of the crew members. I recall a documentary from 1995 where the Fitz's bell was recovered and replaced with one that listed the names of the crew members. As the names of each of them were read off on the salvage ship, the Fitz's bell was struck once for each name mentioned. It was quite moving. 

Edited 7 hours ago by John M.

[ranma]

If he Gales of November did this to a life boat , one can only imagine what the Freighter was battered with from them. Photo's of the wheel house show that it got beat badly.

[Mike 1017]

Thanks for sharing, Michelle. Gordons song is the most soul haunting ever recorded I like the Acapella Version

Live Long and Prosper 

🖖

[espo]

There is a museum in the UP, upper Michigan, dedicated to the Coast Guard and of course the Edmond Fitzgerald. Unfortunately, it is not located on the way to anywhere it seems, but well worth visiting and extremely well done and enlightening into how life was at the time.