Sure wish I would have known you were this close I would have loved to meet you and thank you in person for what you do. I live a 1.5 south of Macomb. Thx for another piece of history.

You do awesome work have you ever thought of doing something on history of deer seasons or hunting traditions cabins of Michigan hunting camps.just curious I think I would do a great job at a documentary of it.thanks for sharing your stuff always enjoy them

Monopoly. I want to find the Original real game, not the "change rules as you play" newer versions😊

Thank you HMM for sharing your trip to Macomb. I've never heard of this town before, but your freestyling really gave a good feel for what the town is like. Lizzie Magie's story of how she invented the Landlord's Game (Monopoly) is cool . I enjoyed that game very much with my family back in the day. Probably just everybody has played it before. The Lincoln history tidbits were cool, much of it is new to me being Canadian. Loved the old buildings too...the courthouse which appears to be undergoing renovations, the Sports Corner, the train station (looking forward to the next video). the (former) Randolph House Hotel and Lizzie's birth home. That one looks in sad shape though, it definitely could use some landscaping work, looks like someone still lives there or recently did? I hope your "Small Town America" videos inspire people to not only visit these towns, but other small towns and historical sights. I've went to local (to me) museums in both St. Catharines & Port Colborne, Ontario in the past couple months and enjoyed both very much. Lots of fascinating Welland Canal and local history in general. Particularly moving was the Welland Canal Fallen Workers Memorial by Lock 3 which honors the 137 men who died while building the current (4th) Welland Canal.

Thank you Mr Walton for Sharing these stories. As teen ager we move to Huron Oh in 1976. Was fascinated with the lake freighters and the hulletts that unloaded them. Big fan of yours! Love the information! Thank you!

As a 36 year old Michigander and Great Lakes history, nut I want to thank you for the videos.

Excellent history lesson! I like little towns like that. Thanks again for your hard work

Great work mystery man u should be proud and I'm honored to learn all u kno about the Fitz keeping it alive the guys are heroes they deserve to be honored thank u sir!!!

Fascinating!

Nice job Don

The Fitz wasn't a ship, it was barge, wholly inadequate to withstand the weather that day.

My wife worked in the concession stand when she was 16 yrs old , I attended a few races there in my youth , great memories . Thank you for the video

Thank you for sharing! Awesome video! That town square is a treasure!

@7:24 It's always cool to be able to see someone's handwriting. Now, would I be incorrect in assuming most people wouldn't care to stylize block print this much?

U have done these guys in depth and I'm truly honored to hear all u tell about these heroes cause that's what they are never let them die in memory true shame !.

No mention of WIU?

Looks like a really nice little town, with some amazing history. Thanks for the tour HMM, I really appreciate your videos!

HMM, Thanks for the History Lesson of Macomb, IL. Absolutely Fascinating! Be Safe and Safe Travels My Friend. Randy

👍👍i see it's not quite halfway down there... west of Peoria. Would be a neat town to visit,for sure.. perhaps if i ever start traveling again 🤣 thanks for sharing feller,wish all your videos were longer..but, we'll take what we can get,thank you 👍👍👊

Too the country Is kinda crazy right now you should check out the rock island arsenal pretty neat got some cool stuff to see. But is also a active military base but they let people on the island.

I could listen to you talk about anything. I sure hope for more edmund fitzgerald stuff but I know theirs only so much that can really be discussed with very little concrete facts. She sank is agreed on how it all went down completely other story. And captain Darrell is awesome to I could listen to him read cook books. And this isn't far from me I've been their alot as a kid they used to have a sprint car track. And my uncle raced em.

Hey, HMM- WELCOME TO ILLINOIS! Great video! Btw, you’re messing with me again…. Besides the Fitzgerald , you hit upon three of my loves today- Illinois history, old architecture, and - ABRAHAM LINCOLN 😻😻😻 He’s been an obsession of mine for over 30 years. Been collecting Lincoln items for at least that long, dating from 1860s to present. You said you like bells- wish you could’ve heard this- went down to Springfield for Lincoln’s bicentennial birthday in 2009. I was standing right outside his home, waiting to go in for a tour. It was a bright and sunny day, when suddenly, all the church bells in Springfield rang. It lasted for two full minutes… it was unreal! I still get the chills thinking about it😻😻😻 Keep up the good work!

I once worked in a very old building. Patronized a hardware regularly in another very old building. Both places still stand. They're treasures.

WIU is also the only public university in the US to use the Fighting Leatherneck, USMC knickname

I follow you for the Fitzgerald series and never thought you would come to my town!

Don, something I find myself doing anytime I go through a small town is to look at the buildings in the town square area….upper levels, and specifically for what is/was the local Masonic Lodges. Being a “Traveling Man” myself, it’s fascinating because in a lot of the smaller communities, you’d find a lot of the history of the area…..

Great story. Thanks for the tour !

WIU!

Love these small town videos. Glad you're starting them up again. We could sure use Abe running the country .

Currently live there thank you for sharing

Thanks for sharing

Question for you are Mr Walton what your theorie on the pilot house door being open I really think someone tried to get out but I just wondering what you guys think

Sounds like a lot of pressure to get that load sent.

👍

Under that load of tackonite there was a load of wet iron ore pellets.The result is that the load shifted because pellets act like ball bearings when wet.I know because I sampled that very load for moisture when I worked for INCO.

My cynical thinking leads me to believe that the owners knew the ship was beyond saving, and rather than scrap it, they send the crew into a storm (overloaded) hoping it'll sink to collect the insurance money.

It was over loaded.

Laying the keel on unstable ground?! Therein lies the beginnings of a ticking timebomb! It sounds like this was a careless job right from the beginning.

It is very sad that history is not taught like it used to be. Now, we have states trying to erase history because it might upset someone. ugh. I have been to Chicago many times for various events and I love the city, even knowing about the notoriety and its history. I knew about the Eastland, as a Ship enthusiasts. I do have a question. Why is the Eastland considered a great laker?

Great information from Captain Darrell, but unfortunately, unless people are allowed to begin diving and searching the wreck site, everything is just conjecture. I know it is like finding a needle in a haystack, but if the extra prop blade could be found and its location would be key (finding this will probably never happen). I watch these videos because of Captain Darrell!

I love Captain Darrell Walton and this channel. Ilove the way he tells the stories and the attention to detail and facts. I am a TItanic enthusiast and I want to discuss a few things , particularly the binoculars, or "glasses" as they were called in both inquiries, and whether they would have prevented the disaster. The lookouts weren't given "glasses" because the best way to spot icebergs was with the naked eye and 3 sharp rings of the bell to warn the officers on deck that there was an obstacle in the ship's path, like what Lookout Fleet did. Binoculars would have hampered someone's perifieral vision and the binoculars are for INSPECTION of an object rather than the DETECTION of an object. You don't want your lookouts spending VALUABLE seconds adjusting the binoculars and fooling with them, trying to figure out what is in the ship's path. I find that in my study of this disaster, there is quite a bit of CYA and passing the buck. After all, this was the Pride of the White Star Line, and the 2nd of the Olympic Class fleet and a ship advertised as "PRACTICALLY" unsinkable. All ships in that time were considered, "unsinkable,"as the Lusitania was considered ABSOLUTELY unsinkable, as the lifeboats were considered transport vessels to take passengers from the stricken vessel to the rescue vessel, as Lifeboats were not seen as lifesaving devices at that time. As for the coal fire, Coal fires were quite common in ships like the Titanic. This particular coal fire did burn in WTG, starting in Belfast and was eventually put out on Saturday night, the night before the accident, on the 13th. It had nothing to do with the collision or the sinking , as it was a small smoldering fire. The way the ship was built, meaning the quality of the steel, the quality of the rivets, the way the bulkheads were designed, had nothing to do with the sinking. The fact that she lasted 2 hours and 40 minutes, nearly 3 hours, after suffering enough damage to sink a battleship, was a testament to how WELL she was built, in my view. I also think we need to get rid of the fantasy that Captain Stanley Lord was able to get on his proverbial White Horse (TheCalifornian) and ZOOM through the ice field and put all 2208 passengers and crew aboard his 447' freighter. His 2nd Officer Herbert Stone and Apprentice Gibson were on that watch and KNEW that per the British Inquiry, where the rules were read, that "rockets, stars, shells, of ANY COLOR in small intervals at night meant DISTRESS." Per their own testimony, they knew, particularly Stone, when read the rules, and questioned about the rockets he saw that night. While Lord, the Captain is fully responsible for the ship, STONE had the watch, and he should have INSISTED to LORD that he was seeing distress rockets. Stone and Gibson both agreed on the stand at the British Inquiry that on their watch they told one another that "a ship is not firing at sea for nothing and something must be the matter with her." They also said," The ship had a list and a big side out of the water, and her lights looked queer." Well, why didn't one of THEM go wake up the wireless officer? They had the watch. In my view, Lord 's sin was not trying. He certainly is not the evil murderer as he is portrayed by many, nor could he have saved everyone. it took him about 4 !/2 hours to get through the ice, per his own testimony at the US Inquiry in the early morning. I think Captain Smith's ignoring the iceberg warnings and his wanting to fast through the ice, which was commonplace at the time. Smith knew where the ice was. He could have charted a course to go AROUND the ice field. he didn't do that. He could have put extra lookouts. He didn't do that. He could have prepared the boilerrooms to prepare for a possible collision. He didn't do that either. He didn't do any of these things these thing to have possibly mitigated the disaster.

Is the rest of the crew in the bow or the stern

Highly probable. I was on a frigate that had visible cracks in it above the water line. Had to go into dry dock. Got plates welded above, on and below the cracks. But the navy knew about those. Had mounted strain gauges and counted them. When the count got high enough in to the dry dock we went. Because then they knew then where to add extra and thicker plates. The 1st ship I was on barely survived the Carter administration. Only got 80% of the faults corrected in 83-84 dry dock. It was removed from service in 1989 after 20 years of service because the mast snapped off in a storm. I bet there are the same conditions in some of the fleet now. 70-90 knot winds and 90 foot seas are no joke. Not the best place to test hull strength. Kinda like the reason a 20 year vehicle that has been in Michigan for 20 years is all weather risky ride.

It's history and it should be available for certain things.

I’ve said it a hundred times my theory is that the Fitz grounded along caribou took on water that caused the list and the fence rails down, with water weight in the bow when the three sisters waves lifted her stern the weight in the bow drove her bow down into the bottom which caused her to break in half ! I can picture it in my head like I’m watching a horrible movie !

The boat was helmed by the harbor pilot at the time of crash. This was clearly an accident caused by poor decision making on behalf of the harbor pilot.

At 3:03 the picture showing the ship's bottom tells the tale about how the ship broke up. The keel was the last of the structure to break as evidenced by the bottom plates twisted up at the break on the now upside-down stern. Had the ship nosed down and struck bottom at the bow before the deck plates parted, those bottom plates would have been sheared off as if stretched to failure. Instead, those bottom plates show that somewhere between the lake's surface and the lakes bottom, the stern had already bent down at about 90 degrees with respect to the bow section when the bottom plates broke. So, the keel had made a 90 degree turn pretty much straight down before the ship reached bottom. The break was closest to the stern. The aft end of the cargo hold would have flooded quickest while the prop briefly was pushing straight up and lifting the aft end at the break in the deck, up and causing the bow to nose down and turn starboard. The broken structure may have been seen briefly jutting upward above the lake surface while both the stern and bow were under water. This explains why most of the taconite is near the bow and why the hatches were blown out at the forward end. There is more. This was a hogging event in what was an "after sea". The "hogging" wave that caused the break in the deck then pushed the hanging stern toward port. This push turned the still attached bow hard to starboard. The bow was side sea but was still turning. Then, the next wave crashed down over the wheelhouse after the ship had turned nearly backwards- hence the water damage (visor and bulwarks) on the starboard and forward house. Water from this same wave blew right through the wheelhouse windows front to back. It bent the pilot house equipment masts aft as well. Finally, the bow struck bottom and blew out the tank sides on the bow. It seems like the bow and stern are still connected on the bottom. There may not have been anything more than large power cables that had been run through the starboard side upper, forward to aft, passageway. It's getting late, Mike Akridge.

If it broke apart on top of the water, would they be closer together at the bottom or no?

Is there a possibility that the log book (stored inside the Edmund Fitzgerald pilot wheel house) has already been removed for analysis from the sunken ship during the last expedition and therefore no more dives are necessary or allowed to the ship wreck?

My father red flagged that ship two weeks prior to it's doom , Coast guard coverup . the new solid state radar was not working , it was out of synk