What Happened To The Edmund Fitzgerald? 

I did another video on the Fitzgerald, and I promise its better! Anyways I take a bit of a different look on the tragedy in that one. Here's a link to the other Fitzgerald video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-uDkXCUFxeNw.html

I remember the first time I heard of the Edmond Fitzgerald was the Gordon Lightfoot song which has one of the most powerful lyrics ever written. "Does anyone know where the love of God goes when the waves turn the minutes to hours". Still gives me chills whenever I hear that song and that lyric.

She had a broken keel, she was over loaded for a winter run. Only had 3 large holds unlike most that had 5. 2 less bulk heads made her very tender. Basically a broken, over loaded wiggle worm out in the worst storm in years. The Fitz had no chance. Keep in mind it went down in less time then it took to watch this video

One of my Grandfather's good friends was a crewman on the Fitzgerald. He told me all about this tragedy when I was a kid. Rest in Peace to all the lost😢.

I lived in the area at the time of the sinking. I was pregnant & one month from my " due date". The night the Fitz sank, my husband & I were visiting neighbors. The wind was blowing so hard it took effort to stand up against it. Later the meteorologists said gusts hit 100mph (hurricane strength). I told my husband that evening " I pity the guys on the Lakes tonight" not ever expecting this to happen. Long story short, I had emergency run to hospital the next day & 2 days later my son was born. I believe the barometric pressure hit a record low during this God awful storm.

The ship passed a friend of mine who was fishing in a boat near Duluth on a lake that was perfectly calm. By the time he was ready to head in for the day, he couldn't see over the waves, and thought he wouldn't make it back home. It takes an extremely powerful storm to sink a 730 footer. I remember it making national news, and everyone was in total disbelief.

For whatever reason, the Fitz was taking on water faster than it could be pumped out. This strongly suggests the hull was compromised, either by stress fractures or bottoming out. The only problem with the shoaling theory is that 1)there is no visible damage, scratches, or scrapes on the capsized stern and 2)subsequent dives to the shoals failed to provide any evidence of damage or traces of paint. The damage to the bow suggests it broke apart on the surface, the bow going down at a 90 degree angle, detached from the stern, The layers of taconite pellets found on top of the bow more or less prove this. The way the wreckage is strewn about the lake floor suggests it tore apart and broke up like a green stick fracture. This strongly suggests that stress fractures, small at first but then the ship was ripped apart by those 2 monster waves, the stress fractures lined up on a ship that described as having a rotten keel and 2 of the workers at that steel plant in River Rogue swore they passed off defective welds. All weather McSorley "can't make no money sitting at anchor" 'beat the shit out of the Fitz ' which by the cook's account, never should have passed the 1975 inspection because of the condition of the ship and all the broken welds that held the rotten keel he was shown. So for whatever reason, she was taking on water, McSorley knew the thing was sinking when he slowed down to let the Anderson catch up to her. Those 2 monster 50 foot waves drove the bow under, and the ship was ripped apart like a greenstick fracture.

I’ve always agreed with Captain Coopers theory that it hit the shoals and possibly overtaken by the 2 rogue waves that the Anderson experienced earlier.

"The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" is one of my top favorite songs, but it really sent shivers down my spine when I first learned it was based on a true event. That the cargo they were carrying was capable of absorbing additional water to contribute to the sinking is alarming!

A thoughtful and well told story of the Big Fitz. It will be up to the younger generation to keep her story alive and keep her crew from being forgotten. Well done.

My great grandpa worked on that ship a lot in Toledo at the shipyard. He’ll tell you all day that she went up a wave too big when she came down the bow hit the bottom of Lake Superior, since it was 500 foot deep and she was 729 foot long, and the torque from the engines running at high RPM and out of the water ripped the back portion of her off. And that’s what I believe happened.

The fact that captain McSorely informed captain Cooper that his ship was lisping and had the need to run both dewatering pumps after a "questionable" pass at Caribou sholes is telling. A cargo that absorbs water, previous inspection reports stating cracks present in the keel, and a call to the Anderson for navigational aid because of faulty radar... One could assume the radar was questionable before the run at the sholes and led to the "closer than I'd take this ship" statement from Capt. Cooper. Many a Great Lakes marianer believe that the Fitz hit bottom at Caribou sholes.....she took on water faster than she could pump it out on the "Break" accrossed the lake. Waves recorded that night were 20' in open water and building higher in the shallows upwards of 30'+ Slipping lower and lower until she swamped the cargo deck and internal air pressure could have blown one or more hatch covers off.....she would go down fast enough to break in half when it hit bottom. And it did! We are holding our own! ....was not a usual response from the "usually cheerful" Capt McSorely....that is a nother telling of the seriousness of the ships plight. Years later I stood on whitefish point during a November Nor-Easter and read the 29 names on the memorial.....the wind pushing 40 knots and waves breaking 20" The verse of Gordon Lightfoot's song running through my head...."Does anyone know where the love of God goes when the waves turn the minutes to hours" Lived here my whole life, Superior is a cold unforgiving lake...even in July And August you can die from exposure to the water... I was a teenager when it went down....seen the Fitz at the locks....it was as big as the lock in length and width. Biggest ship on the lake.

Being a sailor who has been on Lake Superior many times it’s really hard to say what happened but in my opinion she ran aground and broke up along with the massive seas that can form the Fitz and her crew never had a chance three long and two short for the crew !

It's difficult to say a bulk freighter on The Great Lakes is elegant. But the Fitz was. Rest in peace to all her crewman.

Sorry for my mispronounciation of the Fitzgerald (I said Fix-gerald) and also the Fitzgerald was built for Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company and then was leased by the Columbia Steamship Company for 25 years. So sorry for my mistake….

I crossed the Mackinac Bridge this past weekend. A freighter was passing underneath and I took a couple pictures hoping to enlarge to see the name. It was the Arthur M. Anderson. The legend. The ship with its brave crew who heroically and selflessly went back out into that nightmare to look for the Fitz. To look at that ship as it smoothly crossed under the bridge… I was in awe of what it had been through and survived.

Wow........ even the song written about the ship still gives me chills to this day... All respect for the crew and their families.

My father was a captain on those tugboats named after the states you see in some of those photos in Superior. He has a photo framed with his father on one tug next to the Fitz. Within 1 year, the Fitz and tug would sink and his father passed away.

No ship is unsinkable, no matter how well engineered it is...if it floats, it can sink...

A very experienced crew. Quite familiar with November waters so I can’t buy into the loose cargo hatches idea. I truly believe that she took on water from the massive waves and could not recover , getting slammed to the bottom by massive waves and breaking. Lake Superior is no joke when it’s angry! Awsome and wicked! The greatest lake!

I was a deckhand on a Iron Ore boat in the late 90's. Our flat keel had also broken away from the hull in a couple of the ballast tanks, we called them the chimes these support structures for the flat keel. The main hatch way is built into a box. High hull sides on the main deck to protect you from waves when you exit the hatch way. If waves are coming from the stern they will pile up in this box. If you get enough water and force in this box I can see it ripping open the hatch way. The cargo hatches would have been secured, they had more than enough time to do it. Cargo hatches leak even if they are 100% secured. We had to tarp one of the cargo hatches because it leaked. What sank that ship? Everything put together, broken keel, over loaded, Ripped open hatch way, taking on water in a ballast tank, and the final thing a huge wave. She was heavy on the bow in a rough storm they would not have noticed. Huge wave drives the bow under, she takes on more water, the bow never comes back up.

The Fitz wasn't scheduled to make that run. At the last minute the Edmund was put in service, it had keel problems and was actually scheduled to be sent for repairs. To make matters worse it was also overloaded by 20%. As the video describes the Fitz probally hit the bottom and caused the ships keel to fail. Sadly, for the survivors' families the Insurance companies only paid a few hundred dollars to the families each and pushed for the wreck site to be off limits. If they had found out the truth, the Insurance companies may have had to pay Thousands more per family. Ships have broken up due to rough seas before. I read where a Tanker was broken in two by 2 large waves, the center of the ship was unsupported enough that the hull split. The Bow section drifted in the seas for over 80 miles before sinking, scary how powerful the Ocean is.

It was loaded over winter draft by three feet.

I was going to college in Sault Ste Marie Ontario in 75. My girlfriend and I left the college around 4pm, and took the bus home. The wind was howling, and as we moved along, various windows were pulled out or destroyed by flying debris. The house we lived in (2nd floor) shook like it had the palsy and a crack opened up in the outside wall, in the corner of the bedroom. We heard about the missing ship when we turned on the radio and made breakfast next day.

I've never heard that anyone ever called her "unsinkable", or the "Titanic of the Great Lakes". I would be interested in knowing your sources on those two remarks. All of that aside, I think your presentation, narration, and graphics were top shelf, and you should pat yourself on the back for a presentation well done. By your voice I can tell that you are still "young", at least compared to me (60), but if your intent is to do video documentaries, or even business presentations, you're off to a very good start! You can take my critique for what it's worth, but I am impressed by your professionalism. BTW, I "liked" and "subbed" to support your efforts, Sir.

Great job, Conner! I lived in Michigan when this happened. Quite sad, and memorable.

In 1978, an inspector from the NTSB was denied permission to board and sail on the Edmund Fitzgeralds sister ship, the Arthur B. Homer. To me it was obvious why the NTSB had more than just a passing curiosity about the Homer, possibly on the lookout for any signs of a design or construction defects of the vessel, since the Homer also was plagued with integrity issues concerning the ships keel. Two years later the Homer was pulled from the fleet and never sailed again. It was quietly scrapped in 1986, it's rather peculiar that a relatively young boat was suddenly and permanently taken out of service.

This storm wasn't just a Superior Storm, it also effected Michigan as well. Little known fact, Lake Michigan also had epic swells as a result of this storm, matter of fact, 2 fishermen were swept off a local breakwater the same day, and drowned. I watched it, in horror, from shore

I have to say your research and organization of the information are impressive! Your presentation of the information taught me things about this very tragic event in such an excellent way! Well done!

She sank with all hands without a single distress call. This implies the actual sinking happened very quickly and supports the rogue wave theory the best. She was probably damaged from the shoals, and the waves came along and were too much for her to handle. She probably would have made it to port if it had been just the damage from the shoals.

There have been numerous theories but, the one which sounds most plausible (to me at least) is catastrophic hull damage from bottoming out in the shallows allowing water to seep in. Eventually, it broke in half and sank in seconds being so overloaded.

Great job on your video, Connor! Thank you for telling the story of the Fitz and keep up the good work!

Grew up in Algonac, mi. and saw this ship once a week during the shipping season. Was always looking good. No mystery here, worst storm ever, loaded to the max, shallow water, just too many things not right that day. God bless the crew.

You did a great job of showing the communications between McSorely and Cooper. There has never been any doubt in my mind that they both knew early on that the ship was in danger. Cooper was always careful after the sinking to avoid expressing any conclusion about the cause of the sinking.

I never knew the story of this ship before but it’s fascinating. Great work on the video.

Great video. You did a great job explaining the details, it was enjoyable and informative.

Well done in research, visuals, and commentary. Keep up the great work.

I'm gonna subscribe cuz of this video. I could tell you were a little nervous through certain parts of this video but it takes a lot of courage to even post something anyway. I love the sinking of the Fitz and you did a great job. With more time creating content you'll get more confidence. Great job.

I think they hit the shoals and moments later simply submarined to the bottom thus raising the stern which torqued off , capsized and sank to within the few hundred yards of the bow. Granted my hypothesis is biased because the first story I ever saw on The Fitz in 2005 featured a CGI animation that suggested precisely that. Although it was CGI seeing a 729 foot vessel basically duck dive & disappear stuck with me these 17 years. On this particular commemorative anniversary there are so many new Mighty Fitz videos that clearly there is mystery surrounding this legend

In 1974, i worked at Republic Steel river docks and got to help unload takintite iron from the Edmond Fitsgerald.

You did an excellent job on this. There was information I was unaware of.

I think the best explanation is that something tore the vent covers off. Those vents are for the ballast tanks. It could have been something heavy floating on the water, such as a log, or the spare propeller blade tore loose and hit the vent covers on its way overboard. Either way, with those covers missing, water would have started entering the ballast tanks on that side of the ship. Since the ship is designed to flex, this would have caused a torsional bend in the hull, putting tension on the shell plating and keel that grew worse as more water penetrated. This would be the list that McSorely described. Once the rogue waves caught up to her, they would have made her flex one last time, causing the shell plating to explode out, leaving the keel and spar deck holding her together. Naturally, the bow fills with water and quickly plunges, with the stern following, capsizing as it does so. Courtesy to Douglass Hollister for this theory.

Thank you- Good presentation. Didn't realize that the ship's hull was constructed in pieces, separately, then welded together. I agree with Capt. Cooper of the Arthur Anderson. Fitzgerald reported fence and vent damage and a starboard list at 3:10 p.m. in the afternoon. She was sinking from that point on. For several hours, the Fitzgerald's pilot house kept pounding down into each new wave. They kept coming up again and again. Finally, they went down into a wave and didn't come back up. She was overloaded and flooded with water. At that point, she went like a submarine to the bottom in one piece. The collision caused the center of the boat to compress like an accordion. Torque from the propeller and ballast tanks caused the stern to invert. I go along with the surviving families not to have any further dives. But no one has been down there since 1995. I wonder how much rust and deterioration has occurred since then? Not a lot has changed and there are no "smoking gun" clues to find. The Fitzgerald likely hit the shoal and the damage to the hull may have occurred in the front of the boat (now buried in mud) and the middle (which disintegrated when the bow hit bottom). Kudos to Gordon Lightfoot who sincerely wanted to honor these men. Very few would still remember the Fitzgerald had it not been for this brilliant song.

They beat the ship up for years and years, overloading her and sailing in very heavy seas. Company negligence if you ask me. Same as the Carl D. Bradley.

"Titanic of the Great Lakes"! I can't imagine that Great Lakes mariners (who tend to be, if not superstitious, then respectful of lucky, and unlucky omens) would ever bestow such an obvously unlucky nickname as Titanic, upon their own ship. There are few things more awful to think on than a watery death in an icy, raging sea, but at least it was rather quickl Twenty-nine men met that death on that fateful evening, but their deaths also became part of our shared history. RIP Gordon Lightfoot, thank you for retelling their fate in song.

I always felt sorry for the guys in the engine room

Hi Conner, I have enjoyed several of your videos. Nice to know a younger person is interested in ships and history. I remember the Detroit News reporting of the loss, I was 11, 12 on the 18th of that month in 75. The event caught my interest. I read several books about freighters, shipwrecks, and the Great Lakes System. I have never believed she broke up on the surface. Early reports suggested she was to close to "Six Fathom Shoal". I believe she "shoaled", and took on water at terminal rate, due to ruptured plates, allowing ballast tanks to flood, adding thousands of tons of weight in a short amount of time. She settled low in the water, and with a following sea, including the reported "Three Sisters" series of waves, forced her bow down, green water over the cargo deck, many more thousands of tons of weight in a matter of seconds, and not enough buoyancy to shrug it off. I think she took a nose dive and was thrust in to the lake bed still under power. The impact would cause the hull to shatter as it appears. Notice in the drawing of the wreck, the vertical hull plates, at a point of disconnection, curve inward. The thrust of the still turning propeller caused the stern section to rotate as it sank, thus settling in an inverted position. I will never believe hatch cover clamps, or nicks in the combings, were a factor. Lost tank vent covers would let water in so they might have contributed to the sinking. Hard to understand how water over the deck could damage the vents, but that is the power of the sea. The railings are wire ropes, and if they were down, as reported by Captain McSorley, they would only break under tension, which means she "Hog Backed". He, and the crew, must have felt such a force as grounding, the question is, why did the Captain not report it. My opinions are simply that, although, formed by other influences of study by other researchers. I think the ships bell should have been left aboard. James Bell

Great analysis! So happy this story is still alive. Thank you

Well done! To add to the legend the Anderson is still plying the route to this day and there are YT vids of her entering Duluth. Had the Fitz survived perhaps we'd be watching her too

Grew up around the Great Lakes at the time of the sinking of the Fitz.... and, yes it was known as the 'Titanic of the Great Lakes'. Well done, well done! 👏

My theory is the flexibility in the vessel and the added weight from taking on water cause the vessel to snap when hit by the road wave. Which is why the crew didn't have time to get on to life rafts and there was no distress call given.

Disasters at sea always convey such powerful feelings. Ships are such magnificent products of human ingenuity, so when one of them sails out into the blue horizon and never returns, one gets the feeling that all our works and achievements are nothing compared to the hand of God.

I really enjoyed the particulars in your report. The only crit I'll lay out is the volume shifts up and down as you put segments of recording together. Thanks for your work.

She bottomed out and then nose dived, accordioned, and broke in two.

Wes Oleszewski said it right that there are so many theories it has become static, just an unsolved mystery of the lakes. We'll have to with in acceptance that we won't know an answer. Great video, by the way!

I believe the hatch covers of canvas leaked enough water into the absorbent and already heavy Taconite and created such a load on the hull, which is essentially a beam, that it broke apart near where the bending moment of the hull was greatest…perhaps near one of the main hatchways. The hull failed and broke apart at the section nearest the greatest bending moment. I have also heard that none of the main hatchways had radii in their corners. The radii would have helped distribute the bending more evenly through more of the hull. It was instead converted to enough torsion to stress the hull enough to separate.

I have read two books on this event. I think they wouldn't have made it to their sinking location had the shoal compromised the hull. I think, and McSorely confirmed hatch covers missing, that she took green water into the hold long enough to list, McSorely also cited listing, and the waves finished her off quickly leaving no time for a distress call.

listing to one side means that one side was flooded. that means one side had damage and water was coming in.

Robert Foote. .THANK you for sharing. VERY INSIGHTFUL. I TOO WAS A TEEN when she went down, my heart sunk all the way to Massachusetts. MY neighbor was a Merchant Marine.

An excellent video. I certainly hope you continue to do historical videos.

Have anyone ever considered metal fatigue? I mean that she was very flexible... 17 years of bending the hull with loadings, storms etc. could have taken a toll on her aswell... So lets say metal fatigue + hard grounding + heavy weather = disaster at some point... After she broke a part she allso lost electrical power at the forward part of the ship explaining no distress call... Rapid movements of the vessel caused by breaking a half and extremely high waves could explain that no one or allmost no one were able to escape the ship. If anyone was able to escape then lake took him and he was lost at sea. So I belive that this disaster occured because of combination of several different factors. By the way this type of ship building (different sections welded together) was not so new way of ship building... Liberty ships from ww2 were allso made like this 😉 Anyways good work 😉

i live near lake superior i was 15 when it sunk i remember the song on the radio over and over again. The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald if you really want to know research and find the truth. i hope you seek Jesus today. he is the way the truth and the life.

Well done. Excellent documentary and records. Thank you..

You sound young. I can tell this is one of your first documentaries.. Hey, I’ll subscribe.. Hope to see you grow and improve. You’re on the right track, bro. Improve your delivery and take more chances with your videography. A bright future!

I personally feel it was a combination. The high water entered through some way shape or form, Which brought the head down, Then a big wave came and pulled her under. Ship tragedies are never a single item, but a collection.

Great job Connor! You have some pictures I've never seen of the Fitzgerald. Very well put together video!

I've seen reports sayin there were issues with the way the Fitz was built. Imporper and shoddy welds with handfuls of welding rod shoved into gaps where plate steel should've been attached too ribs/beams which were mentioned by a couple of machinists who sailed the Fitz in summers prior too her sinking. Certainly being the first too be built in the modular manner vs the older more proven way of from the keel up could have led too her fate too. Nowadays pretty much all ships are built in a modular manner as the technolgy evolved and improved. There's a vidoe of a tanker that broke apart in the Sea of Japan if memory serves. The ship split in two and floated for several hrs before sinking allowing time for the crew to be rescued. Really good job with the vid youngman!

God bless those men who went out to search against certain doom...

A very well made and presented account. I appreciate the effort that went into finishing this. I also appreciate another generation showing interest in preserving history.

Here's something I just found out recently. In 1994, during an exploration of the ship, a body was found. It was in the sand by the bow.

The storm is now classified as an inland hurricane. This is a storm that if you were there, you would never forget it. That storm hit Toledo just hours after the sinking.

Good job kid.... Like you said, this is how legends are born... Slight tweaks every time the story is told. I was 10 ish when this happened living on the great lakes. Having had a taste of their weather while 20 miles from shore will better help you understand the magnitude of this storm....

My thoughts and prayers are with the families and the crew of the ship used to always listen to this song when I was offshore me and my captain love it

Dead men tell no tales. Everyone passed the buck because alot of money was at stake and nobody wanted to take the blame.

Great Job Buddy!! Very informative 👏 Very well done

Great summary! Thorough and marvelous research!

Most likely was crippled from the shoal & for certain she went down nose first into the bottom and broke in half after the impact. The bow damage points to evidence of a hard nose impact and the bow and stern are very close together on the bottom, if she broke apart on the surface the stern would have traveled a little bit further and much father apart from the bow.

I agree with the bottoming out theory and those waves finishing them off

I grew up in Wisconsin Milwaukee Every other Sunday we would visit Grandma and Grandpa, Driving into Milwaukee i-94 i saw the Edmund Fitzgerald at bay That ship was massive. Hearing the sing i shed a few tear drops.😢

The song will forever keep this tragedy remembered. I'm not from the US, hearing of Gordon Lightfoot's passing I looked the song up. RIP Gordon Lightfoot.

Good job on the video. I am a 1st mate on the Great Lakes, who has an old interest in the Fitz. I am in 100% agreement with your theory in how she sunk, and I have maintained that position based on my personal experience of the area the Fitz transited and my own research.

My theory is she went over one rouge wave and was pitched down with her bow under and the other one broke her back . Flooding blew the hatch covers from escaping air. This explains to me the way she lies on the bottom. She might have been damaged by the shoals or just from the storm. This would have the effect of the rouge waves breaking her back and splitting her even easier.

Good job on this video. It's very informative.

As a historian, all of these theories pretty much played into the demise of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Let’s think about it. 1) Bottoming Out: As the Captain of the Arthur M. Anderson said in an interview, he believed that the Fitzgerald had either bottomed out or had what was known as a “stress fracture”, which was a fracturing of the hull due to the immense stress of the storm. If these shoals were as uncharted as the authorities said they were, this is definitely a very likely scenario. This would be the starting factor for the sinking. 2) Rogue Waves: The Captain of the Anderson also said of the waves. These monster waves ravaged his vessel, but they were lucky nothing worse happened due to their change in course. With the Fitzgerald, bottoming out would’ve put them low in the water, which meant that these waves could’ve swamped the ship so hard that it drove them down. The Anderson’s Captain mentioned that he believed, “They bottomed out, and the waves drove them into the bottom. Them thinking they were plowing through a wave, they rode it all the way down.” This also explains the sudden silence and no distress call for help. 3) Water Coming In: Remember about the pellets that the Fitzgerald was carrying. If the waves on Lake Superior knocked the vent covers off, this could’ve meant that water was seeping into the cargo holds, and the cargo itself was taking water in. This would’ve made pumping the water out excruciatingly difficult. Also, if the hatch covers had been damaged, it could’ve meant that the clamps holding them down were not fastened correctly. This could’ve been a reason why the Fitzgerald would’ve bottomed out on the uncharted shoal. Putting all of these into play, the entire theory surrounding the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald is this: “Being heavily laden with its cargo, the Fitzgerald was low in the water, not a good thing when it’s very stormy. She most likely bottomed out on the shoal, which would’ve ruptured the hull of the ship from below. With water coming in and both pumps in use, it would’ve been very difficult for the ship to remain steady in the increasingly unsteady seas. Finally, the waves that hit the Anderson also hit the Fitzgerald, sending her straight into the bottom of the lake.” All of these factors played a part in the sinking. Will we ever know the whole story? Most likely not. But with the evidence we are given, we can take them into account to reconstruct what most likely happened from a broader perspective. This is what I believe happened. Some will agree, others will not. But the important thing is that the Edmund Fitzgerald be given closure for the turn of events surrounding her disappearance nearly fifty years ago.

Best thing about living in Port Huron......................watching the big ships up and down bound.

Good job Connor! I like that you provided how much more the iron ore would weigh with it water logged. I've not heard that fact in other documentaries.

I grew up in Rogers City Michigan, the port of Calcite, the home of the Carl D. Bradley. The Bradley went down in heavy seas on Lake Michigan; she was due for a new cargo hold and was in Manitowoc, WI when the order came across to return to Calcite for one more load. She never made it. The Fitz had as a skipper a "heavy weather captain" as did the Bradley. Both company men working for corporations focused on profit and loving the challenge they took it on; they both perished, this being the last trip for McSorley as he was due to retire. Sadly, the combination of heavy seas, stressed out hulls and following orders led to the demise of both boats. I subscribe to the theory of the waves driving down the forward end. She was overloaded to summer draft, the taconite absorbed water, hence additional weight and these factors combined with the Three Sisters coming down the deck and slamming into the forward end contributed to the Fitz ultimately losing buoyancy and going down. A sad way to see the end of a beautiful ship that for years served her owners well. Brittle steel, rusted ballast tanks, over stressed by pitching and rolling and ultimately both skippers were merely doing their jobs on a boat they loved counting on her getting them home safely. Both were due for dry dock repairs and neither made it.

quick correction: The Fitz wasn't the first ship to use this method of construction. The American liberty ships of WWII were consturcted in the same way w/separate hull sections being joined together to save time, $, and facillitate production. The Japanese before wwII were also buying old worn out freighters , cutting them apart and rewelding the good sections to get working ships. It was these cargo carriers many of which were "made in USA" but "assembled in Japan" which took the brunt of US bombs and torpedos.

The ship’s riveted hull had weakened over years of use and sheered/unreplaced rivets. It had no business being used in heavy weather. Let alone a storm of such magnitude. The only reason there’s a mystery as to why it sank is insurance payout. If the company were to admit to the true state of the ship’s seaworthiness at the time of the sinking they’d lose their asses financially. No mystery there. It was greed that sank a less than seaworthy ship that night.

What you didn’t include in the part of the launch is that she broke the forward lines and struck the wall on her port side damaging seven plates. I know it happened I was there with my Mom and Dad, Captain Clement F. Morreau. His ship was in the yard for bearing repairs, I was home on leave from the Navy. My ship was also in Brooklyn Naval ship yard for repairs. I agree with your theory on the sinking.

It is so nice to hear word for word like the other videos that I've listened to, good video.

Great job on this video. I really liked it. Thanks FD

Great video. I've always thought the design was unseaworthy; not built for bad weather. A ship of that length should have been ten feet wider in the beam. I heard somewhere that divers examined the Caribou Shoal after the sinking and did not find any gouging to indicate that a big ship had struck bottom there. I don't believe that it dipped its nose into a wave and then the propeller drove it into the bottom--if the bow had dipped, the propeller would have been out of the water and unable to push anything. I always found the Coast Guard conclusion that the hatches were not properly fastened to be convincing. Finding so many clamps on the bottom that were undamaged indicates that those clamps were never fastened.

Apparently when launched it damaged a bunch of hull plates, and after the champagne they started to knock out the supports but after 20 minutes it still didn’t move they had to rest the crew. And tried again this time she slipped into the water with I believe 7 or 8 damaged hull plates.

I remember that storm....I was in college at Marquette University, and it was a horrendous storm on Lake Michigan as well.

You might be incorrect when you said that the method in which The Big Fitz was built had never been done before. During WW2: "A standard Liberty ship contained no less than 97 prefabricated sections, including hull "chunks" lifted into place with portholes, mirrors, radiators and other living accommodations already installed. Each was 441 feet, 6 inches in length, 56 feet in width and about 10,920 deadweight tons."

I thought it was very informative. i loved it. I did not care care for the Complaints of the Stupids in comments. They knew what you meant and just wanted to complain. good job

I agree. She was already in trouble after striking the 3 Fathoms Shoal and the two large (rogue) waves encountered by the Anderson also hit the Fitzgerald and finished her off. Great presentation! Just subscribed. Good luck with your channel!

I think the modifications made to the Fitzgerald in the decades after it was launched, and the deferred maintenance contributed to its sinking. A less overburdened ship or a better-maintained ship would have had a much better chance of survival.

You told me much I never knew. Excellent research & presentation. Thanks !!!