Legend lingers of Edmund Fitzgerald

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PERRYSBURG – It’s remembered in song and spirit around Northwest Ohio, but intrigue still
surrounds the unsolved mystery of the Great Lakes.The SS Edmund Fitzgerald lives on at the bottom of
Lake Superior, tantalizing those at the Chamber of Commerce’s monthly luncheon last week. On the heels
of several campaign forums that preceded the election earlier this month, the event was a welcome change
from political subjects.Carrie Sowden, archaeological director of the Great Lakes Historical Society,
reviewed the ship’s story and evaluated some of the common theories of how it came to sink Nov. 10,
1975. Speaking at the Carranor Hunt and Polo Club, she shared her brash opinion on the U.S. Coast
Guard’s explanation of how the "Fitz" went down during a strong storm on open water.The agency
maintains that while heading from Minnesota to Detroit in the face of high winds and 35-foot waves, bad
hatches allowed water inside that eventually flooded the cargo hold."The National Transportation
Safety Board, the Lake Carriers’ Association, and basically every other person I know, that I talk to,
thinks that it’s hogwash," Sowden said of the official explanation of the wreck.Launched in 1958,
the Edmund Fitzgerald was the largest ship of its day, built at 711 feet to take advantage of the size
of the Great Lakes locks it would use. Named for the president of Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance,
the first U.S. company to insure a Great Lakes freighter, it could only dock in certain ports, hauling
iron ore and other "premium loads" across the region, Sowden said.Leaving Duluth, Minn., on
Nov. 9, the ship’s experienced captain, Ernest McSorley, evidently wasn’t worried about the storm
forecasted along the route. He was slated to retire at the end of the shipping season, not far
off."This is a guy who spent a lot of time on the lakes. He knew the lakes, he knew the weather
patterns, and he knew this boat. He had been captain of this boat for three years. He knew what it could
handle, he knew its foibles, he knew how strong it was. He’d seen it through a lot of
weather."McSorley knew how to approach the storm, staying along a northern route to avoid the
stronger winds and traveling with another boat, the Arthur M. Anderson, as the storm whipped the water
and shrank visibility to nearly nonexistent.The Fitzgerald began to take on water and endure equipment
failures, eventually losing both radar units and navigating blind with the help of the other ship.
Sowden explained that the two boats stayed in contact, and McSorley reported in several times. He said
they had problems but were "holding their own."The Anderson’s captain then encountered two
large, sudden waves."Ten minutes later, the Fitz disappears off the radar and is never heard from
or seen again," Sowden said.The Anderson looked for survivors and evidence of a wreck but uncovered
nothing. Several days later, the missing ship was located via sonar in two pieces at the bottom of the
lake, not far away from its destination at Whitefish Bay near the Canadian border.All 29 crew members
died, and the ship still sits more than 500 feat beneath the surface, in two pieces and surrounded by
the iron ore it hauled. Its bell was salvaged in the 1990s, but the wreck remains off-limits and is only
accessible by submarine.Sowden suggested three possibilities, all or none of which she said could have
caused the disaster. While staying north and without radar, the ship may have been blind to a well-known
shoal, an underwater sand bar or mountain range.The two waves reported by the Anderson may also be a
tell-tale sign.The large Fitz could have been lifted up by both waves simultaneously. With its middle
unsupported, the ship could have broken under the stress.Or, it may have gone up one wave and, while
descending, been pushed underwater by the second, wrecking against the bottom.Sowden said she believes a
combination of the "shoal" and "push" theories may have been what doomed the Edmund
Fitzgerald."I believe that if the Fitz wasn’t already leaking, listing, downed fence rails, downed
radar, and something like this happened, it would have recovered. I’m imagining that by this point the
Fitz is riding very low in the water and is unable to recover from something like this."This is
going to happen very quickly. You are going to have no time to call for help. … For the fact that
(McSorley) didn’t ask for any help, and he never called and said ‘We’re going down,’ that’s what I
really believe happened."After explaining the legend and how it may have come to be, Sowden invited
the audience to learn more about this and other ship lore by visiting the National Museum of the Great
Lakes, set to open in downtown Toledo in April."We actually have a very significant collection of
Fitzgerald artifacts."

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