It is our honor.

How you figure?

The Anderson was a lot better ship. That boat had just been overhauled and added 120 feet to the ship. The Anderson was longer. The welds were all inspected and redone in 1974. The Fitzgerald was never really overhauled or redone. It was a stock hull from the git go. Old welds. The Fitzgerald had a lot of hull flex. I believe that she cracked and went straight to the bottom

Cooper had a lot better ship. The Anderson was just overhauled in 1974. They added 120 feet to her hull. All the welds were brand new. The Fitzgerald was a stock hull. Old welds.

Dont discount the 200 feet of the middle of the ship that was missing . Why did 200 feet of ship come apart like that. 20 foot waves going over the shoal like they did I dont know how they could have avoided slapping the bottom. They were listing after the shoals which meant there was more water entering the ship than they could expel. The captain knew it was a race to Whitefish bay and he may have madeitc had he not been pounded by the 3 sisters 35 feet high. The Anderson lost a beacan from its stack and it was sitting quite a bit higher thamn the fuitz. Being 729 feet long that means the bow was planted into the lake floor while the stern was still on top the water. I think the mid 200 feet blew apart when the bow hit the bottom at 35 mph. The stern could have rolled several times before it landed upside down and screws were still turning no doubt. The weight of the 35 foot wave was too much for a lower boat listing and the 15000 tons of taconite forced that bow half down pushing the air right out of the bow quarters. Most of the crew were in the stern and I bet it would be impossible to send out a distress call with the stern rolling.

I don't think the presenter is as well researched as many Great Lakes maritime historians are. I don't doubt he is a historian, but I don't think maritime is specialty. Thanks for the hatch cover information. I recently learned the last inspection report said the hatch covers didn't fit tight, but I hadn't heard why. A poorly done refit makes sense. I also hear that boats leaving port in a hurry often didn't fasten down all hatch clamps at that time. So, if the crew didn't fasten them all it was accepted procedure. It the procedure was at fault, no the Fitz's crew. Yes, one body was located, and even filmed from a distance. It was not recovered. I haven't found any confirmation of other bodies being found near the wreck site, there are unconfirmed reports from about the time Canada shutdown access to the Fitz. From my research into the wreck, there were multiple factors that likely lead to the sinking. The one that come to mind are: Fitz was a favor of the ship watchers but she was poorly maintained. One or more of several things was wrong with the hatch covers so they were leaking. The 2 large waves reported by the Anderson were probably part of the 'three sisters' rogue wave phenomenon. It was a nasty storm even without rogue waves, and because the waves in these lakes are closer than one the ocean, that means major strain on a boat's structure. Lastly, it's a big freaking dangerous inland sea... if you're caught away from shore when a serious storm blows in there is no where to run, no safe harbor to get to in a hurry. Of the 8 boats the Coast Guard asked to help look for the Fitz, only 2 were willing to go back out into that storm. Both captains admitted in later interviews, if they had seen a survivor they wouldn't have been able to stop without risking their own vessels.

It's been declared a grave site. I think expeditions to the wreck will remain suspended at least so long as people who knew the crew are still alive.

I must’ve missed hearing him say something to the contrary, I know Ric Mixter whose a expert scuba diver and Great Lakes historian who was on that ‘94 expedition said that actually it was the tug boat captain whose ship they used on the expedition told them he would cut them a deal on his fees if he and his son could go down in the sub to see the wreck and that’s when his boy spotted the body a little ways off the bow section

He was making reference to using cedar shake shingles on the east coast, because they are resistant to the salt water from the Atlantic Ocean.

There’s a video where a gentleman in I believe Toledo has deckhand Bruce Hudson who went down with the Fitzgeralds 1973 or 1974 Dodge Challenger and has kept in mint condition as a tribute to him

And the biggest boat that the USCG had in the area the USCGC Mackinaw was laid up in dry dock, imagine that the biggest Coast Guard Cutter in the Great Lakes squadron was already laid up in dry dock for refit in the most violent weather month on the Lakes, when mariners in distress would need her the most, to me that’s just sheer incompetence

Think of this also, the Fitz didn’t have the subdivisions in the cargo hold the way the Anderson did only deployable screen curtains every so often down the length of the hold which probably also led to higher flexing and thereby more stress on the keel

It might be fair to say the severity of the storm was unexpected and unprecedented. And, it wasn’t forecast. I don’t remember the weather part of the coast guard report but I’m going to go back and read it.

But it is so fun!

@@yagnesh84 Glad you stuck with it!

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