SS Edmund Fitzgerald Final Voyage and Wreck

SS Edmund Fitzgerald underway.

 

The Fitzgerald left Superior, Wisconsin, at 2:15 p.m. on the afternoon of November 9, 1975, under the command of Captain Ernest M. McSorley. She was en route to the steel mill on Zug Island, near Detroit, Michigan,[with a cargo of 26,116 long tons of taconite ore pellets and soon reached her full speed of 16.3 miles per hour. Around 5:00 p.m., the Fitzgerald joined a second freighter under the command of Captain Jesse B. "Bernie" Cooper, the Arthur M. Anderson, destined for Gary, Indiana, out of Two Harbors, Minnesota. The weather forecast was not unusual for November and the National Weather Service (NWS) predicted that a storm would pass just south of Lake Superior by 7:00 a.m. on November 10.

The SS Wilfred Sykes loaded opposite the Fitzgerald at the Burlington Northern Dock #1 and departed at 4:15 p.m., about two hours after the Fitzgerald. In contrast to the NWS forecast, Captain Dudley J. Paquette of the Sykes predicted that a major storm would directly cross Lake Superior. From the outset, he chose a route that took advantage of the protection offered by the lake's north shore in order to avoid the worst effects of the storm. The crew of the Sykes followed the radio conversations between the Fitzgerald and the Anderson during the first part of their trip and overheard their captains deciding to take the regular Lake Carriers' Association downbound route. The NWS altered its forecast at 7:00 p.m., issuing gale warnings for the whole of Lake Superior. The Anderson and the Fitzgerald altered course northward seeking shelter along the Canadian coast where they encountered a massive winter storm at 1:00 a.m. on November 10. The Fitzgerald reported winds of 52 knots and waves 10 feet high. Captain Paquette of the Sykes reported that after 1:00 a.m., he overheard McSorley say that he had reduced the ship's speed because of the rough conditions. Paquette said he was stunned to later hear McSorley, who was not known for turning aside or slowing down, state, "we're going to try for some lee from Isle Royale. You're walking away from us anyway ... I can't stay with you."

At 2:00 a.m. on November 10, the NWS upgraded their warnings from gale to storm, forecasting winds of 35–50 knots. Until then, the Fitzgerald had followed the Anderson, which was travelling at a constant 14.6 miles per hour  but the faster Fitzgerald pulled ahead at about 3:00 a.m.[41] As the storm center passed over the ships, they experienced shifting winds, with wind speeds temporarily dropping as wind direction changed from northeast to south and then northwest. After 1:50 p.m., when the Anderson logged winds of 5 knots, wind speeds again picked up rapidly and it began to snow at 2:45 p.m., reducing visibility; the Anderson lost sight of the Fitzgerald, which was about 16 miles ahead at the time.[

Shortly after 3:30 p.m., Captain McSorley radioed the Anderson to report that the Fitzgerald was taking on water and had lost two vent covers and a fence railing. The vessel had also developed a list.[ Two of the Fitzgerald's six bilge pumps ran continuously to discharge shipped water. McSorley said that he would slow his ship down so that the Anderson could close the gap between them. In a broadcast shortly afterward, the United States Coast Guard (USCG) warned all shipping that the Soo Locks had been closed and they should seek safe anchorage. Shortly after 4:10 p.m., McSorley called the Anderson again to report a radar failure and asked the Anderson to keep track of them. The Fitzgerald, effectively blind, slowed to let the Anderson come within a 10-mile range so she could receive radar guidance from the other ship.

For a time the Anderson directed the Fitzgerald toward the relative safety of Whitefish Bay; then at 4:39 p.m., McSorley contacted the USCG station in Grand Marais, Michigan, to inquire if the Whitefish Point light and navigation beacon were operational. The USCG replied that their monitoring equipment indicated that both instruments were inactive. McSorley then hailed any ships in the Whitefish Point area to report the state of the navigational aids, receiving an answer from Captain Cedric Woodard of the Avafors between 5:00 and 5:30 p.m. that the Whitefish point light was on but not the radio beacon. Woodward testified to the Marine Board that he overheard McSorley say, "Don't allow nobody on deck", as well as something about a vent that Woodward could not understand. Some time later, McSorley told Woodward that "I have a 'bad list', I have lost both radars, and am taking heavy seas over the deck in one of the worst seas I have ever been in".

By late in the afternoon of November 10, sustained winds of over 50 knots were recorded by ships and observation points across eastern Lake Superior. The Anderson logged sustained winds as high as 58 knots  at 4:52 p.m., while waves increased to as high as 25 feet  by 6:00 p.m. The Anderson was also struck by 70-to-75-knot gusts and rogue waves as high as 35 feet .

The last communication from the doomed ship came at approximately 7:10 p.m., when the Anderson notified the Fitzgerald of an upbound ship and asked how she was doing. McSorley reported, "We are holding our own." She sank minutes later. No distress signal was received, and ten minutes later the Anderson could neither raise the Fitzgerald by radio, nor detect her on radar.