SS Edmund Fitzgerald

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

3 hours ago, Tiberius said:

Isn't it true there's no agreement on why she sank? 

 

They might have split up or they might have capsized
They may have broke deep and took water
 

Many believe that the boat was too close to Caribou Island shoal, and with the variance in water depth due to heavy seas, the Fitz 'bottomed' on the shoal.  Captain Cooper (trailing in the 'Arthur M. Anderson') reported that his radar showed the Fitzgerald very close to the shoal area. 

Edited March 9, 2022 by Ridgewaycynic2013

[ExiledInIllinois]

2 hours ago, Ridgewaycynic2013 said:

Many believe that the boat was too close to Caribou Island shoal, and with the variance in water depth due to heavy seas, the Fitz 'bottomed' on the shoal.  Captain Cooper reported that his radar showed the Fitzgerald very close to the shoal area. 

Didn't they go down there with a rover and find like every other cargo hatch was unsecured... Insinuating that maybe the crew didn't get the vessel ready properly enough for heavy weather.

 

???

[DrW]

4 hours ago, Wacka said:

It endured, but at the bottom of the sea.

 

This reminds me of a statement in an article about preserved Santa Fe steam locomotives:

"There are two surviving AT&SF 2-8-2 "Mikado" type locomotives. These two locomotives (numbers 3167 and 4076) were lost in a flood in 1952 and are now sunk in the Kaw River in Topeka, KS."

 

https://www.steamlocomotive.com/locobase.php?country=USA&wheel=2-8-2&railroad=atsf

[T&C]

32 minutes ago, ExiledInIllinois said:

Didn't they go down there with a rover and find like every other cargo hatch was unsecured... Insinuating that maybe the crew didn't get the vessel ready properly enough for heavy weather.

 

???

I've heard that the shoal was formed by the shells of invasive mussels... predators learned how to open the buggers up and just feasted.

[ExiledInIllinois]

Just now, T&C said:

I've heard that the shoal was formed by the shells of invasive mussels... predators learned how to open the buggers up and just feasted.

Quagga mussels.   Billions on bottom of Lake Michigan,  but Eddie Fitz sank in Lake Superior... Upstream of Lake Michigan. 

 

https://www.mlive.com/news/2016/09/why_havent_zebra_and_quagga_mu.html

 

"In any other Great Lake, that would be unheard of. But scientists say that Lake Superior has successfully repelled the invasive dreissenid mussels thanks to a unique combination of temperature, chemistry and food availability."

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

35 minutes ago, ExiledInIllinois said:

Didn't they go down there with a rover and find like every other cargo hatch was unsecured... Insinuating that maybe the crew didn't get the vessel ready properly enough for heavy weather.

 

???

References?  I have never seen that reported.  I seem to recall some hatch covers were reported blown off of the bow section that settled upright, but this was explained by internal pressure in the cargo hold causing that.  The stern settled keel up, and I believe some speculate that a deep enough bow breech into a wave could have driven the boat to 'submarine' at a steep enough angle that the bow struck bottom, and the stern snapped off.

[ExiledInIllinois]

Just now, Ridgewaycynic2013 said:

References?  I have never seen that reported.  I seem to recall some hatch covers were reported blown off of the bow section that settled upright, but this was explained by internal pressure in the cargo hold causing that.  The stern settled keel up, and I believe some speculate that a deep enough bow breech into a wave could have driven the boat to 'submarine' at a steep enough angle that the bow struck bottom, and the stern snapped off.

I caught it somewhere on like History Channel show... Will see if I can reference it.