On the 10th of November, 1975, one of the largest ships to ever sail the Great Lakes and the largest ship to ever sink on them, departed Wisconsin to sail across Lake Superior in route to Detroit Michigan. But as she left port, she sailed directly into a November storm that claimed every single life on board. But what happened in those final pivotal moments?
VIDEO HERE (30:17 minutes)
I was with my grandfather and we crossed the Mackinac Bridge just before it closed on the night the Fitz went down. One of her lifeboats and the ships bell are on display at the White fish Point museum.
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ReplyDeleteBeen on Lake Erie shore during winter storms. Waves hit breakwalls, throw up sheets of water that are driven by wind and freezing temps, and form ice crystals .... picture being pelted with rock salt. That stuff accumulates on ship rigging, decks, pipes. If left to accumulate, it'll make thousand footers begin to list.
Was home from Okinawa that day and the weather was shitty. Watched it on the ten o clock news. Many of the men were from Superior where I was from. Never will forget it.
ReplyDeletePaul J
It only takes a 1/8" coating of ice on a ship's superstucture to roll the ship. I did time beating ice off the outside of a Coast Guard cutter in the Bering sea with a baseball bat. ...Great fun!!!
ReplyDeleteHubris. It has caused more death in the human race than any other word.
ReplyDeleteI remember this well! As a 9 year old boy this was fascinating. I collected newspaper articles and magazine clippings on the Fitz. Thanks for the link..and the walk down memory lane!
ReplyDeleteShe was owned by Northwestern Mutual Life. Named after their Chairman/CEO.
ReplyDeleteIf it wasn't for the song, I would not know about the ship.
ReplyDeleteTwas the Witch of November come stealin.
ReplyDeletePretty amazing video. Learned a lot that I did not know.
ReplyDeleteI saw a video years ago that showed animation of a plausible cause. Ship rides up a large oncoming swell and, as it descends the back side, at a nearly vertical attitude, the prow crashes into the shallow bottom (thus accounting for the nose damage mentioned) and the unsupported aft half breaks off. I bet I will never be able to read the name of this ship without hearing Gordon Lightfoot.
ReplyDeleteLC LtC
A few ore carriers have just disappeared on worlds oceans.
ReplyDeleteA long swell leaves either centre or bow and stern alternatively unsupported.
Stress increases where structure has sudden changes in size, such as bridge and living quarters, and this combined with unrecognized welding problems and how sub zero temperatures affect the welds means the hull will just suddenly split.
An ore cargo means instant dive.
Not sure how many of you have direct experience of these ships, so thought I'd give a little insight. I am retired military (USCG) and after I got out, I sailed for a short while (summer of 98) aboard a Laker as an AB (Able Seaman, Limited) and learned quite a bit about the industry. First off, the standards held in the maritime military services do NOT apply there. When we stood a watch, we checked for fire, flooding, etc and were thorough. Not so much in the MM.... Some guys never made their rounds, but goofed off. Some made only one or two during their watch. A few were conscientious. Secondly, inside these ships the cargo holds don't go all the way to the keel as in older vessels. Imagine the pint milk boxes we got as kids, turned upside down, hugely increased in size, with hydraulic doors down at what had been the top. Beneath them runs a mammoth conveyor belt, running all along the cargo area, and from there up another series of conveyors, to get to a crane like apparatus, with a final conveyor belt, that takes the ore off the ship, at whatever angle the operator needs. Each of those inverted "milk boxes" are cargo holds, gigantic in size, covered by a steel hatch with dogs (dogs being the handle/wedges being what the dog handle mates with) that have to be lifted via a hoist/crane, and each dog individually tightened, by hand. Remember what I said about the level of professionalism not being the same? Keep that in mind. If those dogs aren't tightened adequately, and you are fully loaded, and hit rough seas, you will take on water. It doesn't just sit in the hold however, it will flow down into the lower hold, down past the conveyor. Now since you cargo one trip may be coal, then stone, then taconite, etc etc, all of which can be dusty as hell (you look like those photos of 1930's coal miners after a shift unloading, running the doors down there) imagine what shape your bilge pumps, which may or may not have maintenance, will be, or how easily they can be clogged by that crap. Pump shits the bed, or flooding overtakes their capacity because someone didn't dog those hatches properly, and you start to list, badly. Now you are in trouble. There is alot of space, a HUGE amount of space, left free down in the cargo hold area, and water, not really being encumbered much, will slosh freely around that conveyor. My old ship was 862' long, with (WAG) 100' for the bow area/forward superstructure, 600' cargo hold area, then 162' for the engine room and aft superstructure area, with a bulkhead at both ends. That's it. If you start flooding in your cargo holds, you need to just get the fuck topside and hoist those lifeboats outboard and get away, or use the rafts, cause you ain't savin her boys. A shipmate of mine was the wheelsman on the Anderson that night, the ship being not too far ahead of the Fitzgerald. We often sailed over the Fitz, and he told me about the sinking. He said he and the 3rd Mate (I think he said the 3rd, might have been the 2nd, too many years ago) were on watch and the Mate noticed a larger wave than usual hitting them, lifting the stern upwards, consequently pushing the bow downward, then reversing the process, and when he (my buddy) looked at the radar, the Fitz was gone. What do I think happened? I don't know. I know she was flooding, and that was her undoing right there. That could have happened because someone fucked up and didn't dog those cargo hatches well enough, or didn't stand their watch properly, then again welds could have opened, or a weak spot in the hull wasn't found until it gave way, there's no way to know. She could have hit something, and started flooding, or been riding two wave crests and broke in two, or a combination of some of these. The sea is a wonderful, beautiful mistress, one that is fickle as hell and who fits in well with the meme of "Crazy Chicks", and will absolutely kill you given a chance. Make one mistake and your done.
ReplyDeleteThanks. That is informative. Glad you survived. Some bad stuff occasionally on Superior.
DeleteWould be good to see a video of the ships loading and unloading. The boats pull into Superior and are filled in 8 hours. Used to take a couple days for the older ships. The new ore boats are huge in comparison to the Fitz.
ReplyDeleteWhat happened is Gordon Lightfoot became set, for life.
ReplyDeleteDejoh Denny
ReplyDeleteSorry for the blip. Years ago was a guest on the great laker (ore boat) named the Ryerson. Owned by Inland Steel. Sailed from East Chicago to Esconaba Michigan. A memory I'll never forget.
DeleteYears ago, I was a guest on the great laker ( ore boat) Inland Steel owned Ryerson. We sailed from East Chicago to Escanaba Michigan. Unbelievable experience. I'll never forget it. Seeing the Chicago skyline from the middle of Lake Michigan was unreal.
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