GIANT WAVE - The Lighthouse - page 86

Lakes'untilthefollowingyearwhenanevenlargervesselwaslaunched,therebytaking
the title. The Edmund Fitzgerald gained a reputation among boat watchers, for her cap-
tain was always piping various types of music through the ship's tannoy system as she
made her way through the various locks around the Great Lakes. The Edmund Fitzger-
ald was known affectionately by her nicknames of Fitz , Big Fitz or Mighty Fitz for the
various records the ship had broken.
Seamen are known for their superstition and the launching of the Edmund Fitzgerald
was accompanied by some ill omens. It took three attempts to break the champagne
bottle on her bow and it took shipyard workers a full thirty-six minutes to release the
keelblocksfortheactuallaunchtotakeplaceandimmediately afterthelaunchshecol-
lided with a pier.Foran ore carrier,she was well fitted out with what was considered to
be virtual luxury for the crew, including deep-pile carpets in their quarters and drapes
over portholes. The ship also carried passengers as company guests. They were treated
to candlelight dinners with the Captain and served by waiters in mess jackets. With
some irony, in 1969 the Edmund Fitzgerald received a safety award which covered
eight years of operations without a member of the crew having a single day off on ac-
countofworkrelatedinjury.However,sheranagroundthatsameyear,andthenthefol-
lowing year struck another vessel, the SS Hochlelaga. In 1970, 1973 and 1974, she hit
the wall of a lock and in 1974 she lost her bow anchor in the Detroit River. Whilst none
of these accidents were necessarily considered unusual, it could be argued that she had
become an accident-prone vessel, despite the relatively minor nature of some of them.
On9February1975,the Edmund Fitzgerald ,withacrewoftwenty-nine,lefttheport
of Superior, Wisconsin, carrying a full cargo (26,116 long tons 19 ) of ore pellets to the
steel mill on Zug Island, close to Detroit. She was joined on the journey by another
GreatLakesorecarrier,SS Arthur M Anderson ,whichhadlefttheportofTwoHarbors,
Minnesota, for Gary, Indiana. The two ships then proceeded together and the follow-
ingday,theyranintoastormwithhurricane-forcewinds.Accompanyingtheextremely
high winds were waves up to 35ft high. Shortly after 7.10 p.m. the Edmund Fitzgerald
suddenly sank, 17 miles from the entrance to Whitefish Bay, near to the cities of Sault
Ste Marie, Michigan and Sault Ste Marie, Ontario. She sank in water which was 530ft
deep and all hands on board perished. No bodies were ever recovered.
A number of theories were put forward as to what caused this large ship to sink. One
of the theories which is considered to be the most plausible is a combination of giant
wavesandtheweather.Atthetimeofthesinkingthe Edmund Fitzgerald hadenteredan
areaonLakeSuperiorwhichhadveryhighwinds(the Arthur M Anderson hadreported
winds up to 57mph) with some waves reaching up to a height of 47ft. A computer sim-
ulation was run in 2005 which showed gusts of wind up to 86mph in the area where the
Edmund Fitzgerald sank.