Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

[Steve - K4HX]

The ship went down 10 November 1975.

[KL7OF]

On a related Great Lakes story,   There was a special events station on 14285 khz calling CQ from a spec events station celebrating the 99th anniversary of the STORM OF 1913......I didn't contact him for details.....The song..."The wreck of The Edmund Fitzgerald" is a must play for any band that plays the Red Dog Inn in Naknek, AK during fishing season...Lots of those fishermen also fish the great lakes...

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

They were running a special event station last year from one of the lighthouses/museums for the Big Fitz. Worked them but never sent for a card. Need to get some new ones made.

It was my freshman year in high school. I can still see old Harry Reasoner doing the nightly news in b&w, reporting on the sinking with a pretty lame drawing of a sinking ship in the background. Was a big deal at the time. CG report still blames loose latch covers, but Bernie Cooper of the Aurthur Anderson and others think McSorely scraped the bottom around a shoal that was mis-marked on the charts. Definitely not the kind of thing that was expected in the final quarter of the 20th century.

Reminds me of the last big super storm aka the Perfect storm of '91 and the Andrea Gail.

[Jeff W9GY]

Several theories abound as to the cause of the sinking.  The official CG report indicates water entering hatch covers that were not properly secured after the ship was loaded in Superior, Wi.  The theory I favor is The Fitz may have struck a shoal off Caribou Island, causing water to begin flooding the holds.  Wave troughs, combined with the ship being loaded and
low in the water could have caused it to strike the bottom.  When the  ship got heavy enough from the flooding, it just "submarined" into a wave and never came back up.  Since all 29 perished, we have no way of knowing what happened that night.  

[Jeff W9GY]

Another victim of the "Witch of November" on the Great Lakes, but there was one survivor to tell the story:

http://lakelandboating.com/morrell/

http://sanilaccountynews.mihomepaper.com/news/2009-11-04/News/Shipwreck_still_haunts_sole_survivor.html

This same storm left me stranded in a car stuck in a snow drift outside of Marquette, Michigan.  I believe the Mackinaw Bridge was closed due to terrible weather conditions shortly after I drove over it from the lower penninsula.

[Ken - K2UPI]

Living in the N.E. (near Syracuse), we often had good propagation between 2 and 4 Mc during the Fall and Winter months. In the evenings some of us would monitor radio traffic on the Great Lakes.  I never heard the "Fitzgerald" (she may have been using v.h.f.) but later I copied transmissions between ships searching for her and well remember the storm that ensued.....interesting times.

Ken / K2UPI

[Jeff W9GY]

Ken, the report I read in the Calumet, Mi. library (which has a good collection of Great Lakes related material) indicated that the Fitz. was equipped with VHF at the time of it's sinking.  I sure remember that storm --- really kicked thing up even here in N. Central Indiana!

[k3sqp]

I was working at an inland waterways marine station at the time.( WCM Pittsburgh)
we monitored 2182kc all evening. Heard lots of communications but no one heard the Fitzgerald.

Frank
K3SQP