What Sank the Edmund Fitzgerald?

[@Autum-MrsPinkHairedChristian]

When Gordon Lightfoot passed away the next November 10th the bell at the Seaman’s Chapel near Detroit was rang 30 times. 29 for the crew of the Fitz and 1 for Lightfoot.

[@wizard_of_poz4413]

That's badass

[@cherylhulting1301]

That's perfect. What a great remembrance.

[@vengefulones6435]

I bet mcsorley greeted him,for his honoring song. Their immortality secured.

[@Joeybagofdonuts76]

Many people don't know that Gordon gave the proceeds from that song to the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum.

[@tacrat_actual]

Mariner’s Church in Detroit, it is the church mentioned in the song and rang the bell in Gordon’s honor when he died. I knew the bishop that rang the bell back in 75 when the ship sank

[@alexrompen805]

Can we all take a moment to respect the utter balls of IRON of the crew of the Anderson and Clay Ford to go BACK OUT into that kind of storm to try and save the Fitzs crew?

[@KnobViewFarms-vf2pd]

Very very brave mariners the Great Lake mariners treat each other like brothers and sisters they are like a big happy family watching out for each other and doing things for each other the mariners of the big lakes hit different

[@e-train765]

You can find the radio transmissions between the Anderson and the Coast Gaurd here on KZbin. Even through radio, you can hear the ferocity of the storm that night

[@thomasj1791]

What I find interesting is that the Anderson was 6 years older than the Fitzgerald and it was lengthened 120 feet during the 1974-75 winter layup period. The additional length made the Anderson slightly longer than the Fitzgerald but the Fitzgerald was 5 feet wider giving them more stability than the Anderson. The Anderson is still in service as of January 2025

[@audreyjohnson4599]

The Fitzgerald was often overloaded, as was mentioned, and on her last trip, she had maintenance requirements that were put off by the owners until her layup for the winter, so she wasn't exactly in top condition to weather the storm. By the way, all the lakers (freighters) are referred to as she even with male names. Tradition.

[@DaughterofLir]

Yes, in fact she passed through the Soo Locks about 7 hours ago on her way to Two Harbours. I think that means she'll pass over The Fitz in a few more hours. That's kind of unsettling to me somehow.

[@tylerbuckley4661]

@thomasj1791 well ya have to look where the fitz had many problems one rumor had it that steel plates were put in before the loaded up and when they ran aground at six phathom shoals just made it worse remember Fitz radioed in they were missing the bilge covers and the deck railing and they were listing they were just racing the incoming water it was just a matter of time before the inevitable happened

[@atomicwedgie8176]

The Anderson has 5 compartments, whereas the Fitz only had 3. The Anderson was built stronger.

[@chvfd687]

There's talk of the AMA being laid up long term.

[@mycawk7171]

This story always gives me chills. Even the song The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald gets me everytime.

[@KnobViewFarms-vf2pd]

Don’t feel bad about it does me to and it should it’s a great folk true story about such a sad gruesome moment on the lakes that ship is a legend and I will live on and the legend will never die

[@EphemeralProductions]

That song is the only reason anyone knows ANYTHING about this ship. lol. Gordon lightfoot put it into the pop culture history

[@devildog2328]

Same here i remember this when I was in 6th grade.😢

[@johnlockelmao4238]

Dude the playing is so clean, loved to hear it.

[@ronsin9490]

I agree. I didn’t expect to see or hear that. As a long time player and fan of Gordon that was a very welcome surprise. Very well done.

[@Mohagany]

As someone who grew up on Michigan's Lakes, this wreck is the one most people know, because it took a perfect storm of unfortunate events to happen. lot of great lakes wrecks are running aground or collisions, with most of the open water wrecks being large storms in the early 1900s. For a ship this size to sink at a time where these things were much less common with no clear cause has made it one of the biggest mysteries of the region. And for those that don't know, Lake Superior may as well be its own ocean. It sails in a much different way than most lakes.

[@goingdark5992]

3 sisters

[@dianebeier8379]

Indeed. I live on Lake Superior

[@EphemeralProductions]

@@Mohagany it might as WELL be an ocean! It’s so bloody big! lol

[@srgzachattack1594]

It's an event putting profits over lives the ship should of been fixed up

[@eaglescout1984]

"Does anyone know where the love of God goes when the waves turn the minutes to hours?" Such a great song. And yet, such a tragedy that had to happen for it to be written.

[@BigBeardedBetsey]

You mean hours to minutes.

[@Michrailfan]

As a Michigander, this video is incredible! I’ve watched dozens of videos and have read multiple books about the Edmund Fitzgerald and this is the BEST documentary I’ve seen of her. Great work June First.

[@RosieGaelic]

I live on the Pacific coast. Seeing videos like this there seemingly is no difference between your Lake versus our ocean visually. I am surprised that when naming the body of water it wasn’t like Superior Ocean, or Sea.

[@Michrailfan]

@@RosieGaelic The main difference really is wave dynamics. The great lakes have a lot more "Chop" (Waves are closer to another in a storm). While the ocean has massive, rolling waves.

[@Byanairofficial]

I really like, how you played “Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”. It gives some atmosphere to the disaster :). Really good explanation video!

[@RyanKlapperich]

Great video! Ive see a lot of Fitzgerald docs and this is the first time I've seen someone discuss the unique weather and wave conditions of that evening. Very interesting!

[@ottosaxo]

That beautiful old weather chart at 11:40 shows the moment when the peak of the windstorm was located in the trough along the Chicago/Milwaukee region. A new trough can be seen, crossing the coast of the Upper Peninsula down to the northwest of Wisconsin, probably veering to the southern flank of the core within the next few hours, and this one might have brought the moment of fate. I drew so many weather charts listening to the sea weather reports before the age of internet, the only tools were the radio, my own barometer, a self-drawn map on a pasteboard, a piece of chalk and a duster, hastily making nasty white clouds in front of the house door before it was time to sit down and listen.

[@zombienursern4909]

I live a five minute walk to the beach of Lake Erie. As a teenager, we often watched the Fitzgerald come into dock and get unloaded by the Huelett shovels. I can still see her in all of her majesty. 😢

[@KnobViewFarms-vf2pd]

That’s so sad to think about I bet that was a sight to be seen such a big beautiful chunk of floating steel with a great crew that must be so memorable watching this THE LEGEND LIVES ON. LEGENDS LIVE ON AND LEGENDS NEVER DIE

[@pc_buildyb0i935]

Here's what put the Fitz down; 1 - The ground upon which the choice Great Lakes Engineering Works slipway was built was very swampy, even though it had been built up and continuously flattened over and over - this led to the concrete and steel flexing along certain areas and providing an overall uneven building surface. A ship the size of the Fitz had never been built by the yard nor in that manner before, and she was built during a time "eyeball engineering" saw the most widespread application. That is, the Fitz's keel and hull overall were somewhat deformed from the get-go, meaning the hull wouldn't disperse stresses evenly and key fracture points would occur over time. This has been observed in numerous other similarly-built vessels over time, which are known to form seemingly random "stress cracks". This is part of the reason why. 2 - The design lacked any transverse watertight bulkheads, with the ship only having screen bulkheads. Due to the massive, mostly empty hull and without the reinforcement of lateral bulkheads throughout the length of hull, the Fitz was more prone to flexing and twisting in big seas and would flex and twist further than a vessel that had proper transverse bulkheads installed throughout the hull. This flexing and twisting of the steel not only put excess strain onto the hull and caused faster wear and stress cracking, but it also slightly warped the steel over time. One of the listed repairs needed once the Fitz would be in dry dock (scheduled some short time after her final voyage would begin) was an overhaul including hatch cover replacements. In some areas, the steel was so warped that the hatch covers couldn't be sealed completely. This is not on the crew nor the captain. 3 - A key inspection from local welders noted the Fitz had earned a few stress cracks during her career which had been repaired over time - it's not the fact they were improperly repaired but moreso the fact these stress fractures occurred at all, indicating the steel wasn't holding up very well with the design loads the ship was being given during her trips. On top of this, in a few cases, her pilothouse windows would bust due to the warping of the steel frame in that part of the ship, and new windows had to be installed with frames re-welded. This was a further indication of just how much punishment the ship was weathering. 4 - At the last unloading before her final cargo loading (River Rouge, Zug Island) the crane lifting the taconite pellets out of the Fitz's holds snagged on 20 feet of steel plating sealing the ballast tank from the hold. While dock workers reportedly offered to weld it back over, they claimed McSorely refused, saying they were on a tight schedule and would have the repair done once the ship was later in dry dock. This is well before McSorely knew about the storm - had he known at this point, he most likely would have accepted the assistance. 5 - The Fitz didn't have any sum pumps in her cargo holds, only water pumps in her ballast tanks. This is a flaw in the design - flooding in the cargo holds cannot be relieved. This is supported by McSorely's note over the radio later on that he was taking on water despite both his ballast pumps being active and ties into another point - the Fitz almost certainly grounded on the Caribou shoals, damaging the keel and ripping open one of the ballast tanks. With a heavy influx of water and loose, unwelded deck plating in the hold, the ballast tank began to overflow, causing a list, and the overflow from the ballast tank then began to flood the cargo hold. 6 - For the condition she was in, and her design spec, the Fitzgerald was technically overloaded on her last load. With a heavier load than she could safely take, and an already stressed and fatigued hull, the vessel would be at a high risk in rough weather. With heavy seas washing over the decks and pounding the hull and hatch covers, the ship was subjected to even more stress. McSorely surely understood this, and powered up full to try to rush to Whitefish Bay before the weather took them out (as he had fence rails down due to the hull's twisting, water in the holds, and a bad list already at this point). 7 - The Fitz was almost certainly struck by Cooper's rogue waves and sent underwater. The pilothouse windows would have imploded, the water pressure would have blown the hatch covers in one by one, and the ship would have taken a nosedive down to the bottom. She struck hard on the lakebed and the stress broke the ship in two, with the stern likely capsizing due to a combination of rapidly flooding holds and shifting cargo weight. As the stern capsized and went down, the rest of the impartially flooded cargo holds experienced implosion as the hatch covers gave in, spilling the taconite pellets all over the bottom around the wreck, before the stern finally settled on the bottom next to the bow. The Fitz wasn't done in by any one factor but a bad combination of multiple issues.

[@kalkuttadrop6371]

Point 7 is basically what happened to the MV Derbyshire

[@rickking6757]

The actual audio of Cooper being asked to turn around and go look for survivors was bone chilling. You could tell in Cooper's pause that he didn't want to go back out but knew he had to.

[@Echo4Sierra4160]

The Edmund Fitzgerald was 728 ft long. The depth it's at is 528 ft. It was in a massive storm, I'm guessing it came down from a massive wave and buried its bow into the lake bed which is why both halves are right next to each other. When the Daniel J. Morrell sank the stern was found 5 miles away.

[@kammyvanboven866]

Great job as a Great Lakes resident and boat nerd, I am happy with your work. You caught and brought up small things like the fence rail down that point to possible big issues and did not just rely on the standard obvious things such as hatch covers. Then again, I like your tornado videos and how thorough you are in them.

[@tedebayer1]

In the 90s I was a property manage (in Ontario Can), and one of the tenants, Mr Anglin, who I got to know quite well, told me of that day. He was on the ship trailing the E Fitzgerald. He was a retiree when I knew him, spending over 30 years on the lakes, after a career in the Canadian Navy (WW2 vet). In his one room he had a large display of his history, medals, and a quite large replica model of his last ship the Anderson. He knew all the dimensions, tonnage etc. He told me the story of that day, how rough the waters were, how scared they were, and of seeing the lights ahead of the E Fitzgerald and then nothing. Anyways, great old guy, always friendly and smiling, stories were a tad long, but looking back I wish I had heard more of them. He passed away in 2004 at age 88.

[@Weez412]

One of the better documentaries I have seen about the Fitz.

[@pjesf]

The topic of the Edmund Fitz never interested me but when it’s a June First video I’m there. Nice job, Ethan 👍🏻

[@mattrodgers4878]

This is probably the most informative short documentary that I have seen on this story. Well done!!

[@SamukelSpace_Official]

I can't imagine what that ship went through. That storm was insane, the winds and everything. Nice Video!

[@BEARTUBE]

I’m reading a book right now called “Might Fitz” by michael Schumacher, it perfectly paints a picture as to what the crew where going through when the tragic events took place, highly recommend it if your into the fitzgerald

[@KnobViewFarms-vf2pd]

Yes you are right and imagine what the crew was thinking mentally they didn’t know there were gonna die that night they were prob wandering what was for dinner that’s so sad to think about what they was going through there troubled heads during the storm. The legend lives on

[@FullLengthInterstates]

welcome to the wonderful world of transportation safety investigation! severe weather often plays a huge role, but there are many other factors. if you're interested in long form deep dives from government consultants, I recommend the entire back catalog of recorded board meetings on the NTSBgov youtube channel. unfortunately, no arxhived videos from before 2011 on the ntsb channel, so I'm always extra interested when someone references an NTSB report from before 2011.

[@kalkuttadrop6371]

I do wish they reopened the investigation and temporarily dropped the ban on approaching the wreck, we have the tech to solve this nowadays. The original investigation was also just kind of rushed, number of reasons, but given how many of the older ships have been retired by now there's probably less pressure to be generous. It's in Freshwater, wreck should still be in half decent shape, we aren't exactly looking for anything tiny away.

[@michaelloving2793]

Thanks for this, great job! I’ve been fascinated by this story since I heard it as a kid, and this clears A LOT up for me.

[@hollykiebler9502]

An engineer, meteorologist, podcaster, story-teller and musician?? I look forward to everyone of your videos. TY for being dedicated and sharing your talent and insight - you are an amazing young man.

[@BigBeardedBetsey]

Stop kissing arse.

[@jennifermichelleswanson3797]

I was 10 years old when the mighty Fitz sank. I remember hearing about the sinking of the mighty Fitz. My dad took us, the family, to the great lakes to see the big ships sail by many times. I can remember seeing the mighty Fitz and thinking to myself that she was huge. May the 29 souls rest in peace. My belief is that the three sisters, three rouge waves, took her down and sank her. If the ship had run aground there WOULD have been a long debris field. The debris is centered where the mighty Fitz sits at the bottom. So, I don't think she ran aground. Plus, the mighty Fitz had a double hull. But regardless of everything, the mighty Fitz sits at the bottom of the coldest and the deepest of the Great Lakes. As Lake Superior is 1,333 feet deep and it's a spring fed lake as well. When the Gordon Lightfoot song came out, it brings tears to my eyes knowing that 29 people lost their lives on the mighty Fitz. One of the crewmen told his wife, 'If something were to happen it will be quick, as the lake is very cold.'

[@JL-yl8gd]

The fitz was not double hulled.

[@shanewoods1980]

Yea I don’t where you got your info on the Fitz being double hull but that is no accurate at all

[@raylocke282]

I use to sample iron ore pellets from the Fitz for moisture content.Wet pellets sqirm around when wet and causes the load to shift like on ball bearings.Result ,well Davey Jones Locker is the result.

[@LyleJr]

I've seen almost everything on the Fitz Ethan and I have to say you did a great job. Gordon actually changed the song twice, first to remove the thought the crew were to blame because of the hatch covers. Then for the "musty" old church as the pastor that rang the bell invited him to the church to see it was a good and non musty church. 😂 The real culprits in this tragic event were the shipping company and the government for placing blame on the crew.

[@itinerantpatriot1196]

My Dad knew a lot of the guys on the Fitz, including the Captain. He was a supervisor on the docks in Detroit but for a time he worked for a company that helped maintain the lake boats and was part of the team that did a refit for the Fitz in the late 60s. The day that ship went down was a tough day for him. Later, when my friends and I would camp off Whitefish Bay I would look out over the water and think to myself, the Fitz is out there somewhere, a tomb lying at the bottom of that cold lake. RIP guys.

[@PaganWanderer072]

Wow a channel of a special interest of mine covering another topic that is also a special interest of mine. Double win! PS. My family in Wisconsin tells stories about this very storm even nowadays. Love from the Ozarks 🎉

[@nyanbinary1717]

Ditto on the special interest! I clicked on this video so fast.

[@BigBeardedBetsey]

Wow!! Could you be more obvious that you're a home o?

[@PaganWanderer072]

​@BigBeardedBetsey wow can you be more obvious that you're hurting so badly you think this is an acceptable response to a complete stranger? I wish for calm and peace in your world, and that you are able to let go of the hatred that has found a place in your heart.

[@Eric_Hutton.1980]

Fifty years ago this coming November 10th.

[@martinschulz9381]

A ship that long, with that much weight in that bad of a storm, there's no doubt in my mind that it simply broke in half. All it takes is one bad wave to compromise the ship. Also, in that time they routinely overloaded those ships. Good video.

[@JaxonSmithers]

Thanks for bringing the meteorological synopsis into this. Obviously a critical part of the story.

[@hughjass1044]

I was 13 in 1975 and not much of a Gordon Lightfoot fan but I was a sea cadet and aspired to be a mariner and that ballad really got to me. 50 years later, it still does.

[@Kaidhicksii]

Didn't know you were also into shipwrecks! Based. My theory of what doomed Big Fitz is simply a combination of issues. Overloading (the ship had a max deadweight capacity of ~26,000 long tons and was constantly carrying over that throughout her career, including her final voyage), hull fatigue, grounding on Six Fathom Shoal, then getting bodied by one or two rogue waves, sending her into a nose dive to the bottom, where the impact might have been enough to completely shatter her midsection, hence why we see nothing left of it in the wreck. May her crew and Gordon Lightfoot (who's been gone for 2 years now; still crazy for me to believe) continue to rest in peace.

[@ZachPfeiffer]

It was not the hatch covers. As someone who has worked on these freighters before, clamping those down is an easy, but serious task, and I can't imagine that a crew like the Fitzgerald's would have just not done it right on their last run of the season.

[@kalkuttadrop6371]

Even perfectly good hatch covers can fail, see MV Derbyshire.

[@ZachPfeiffer]

@@kalkuttadrop6371 I know. But to insinuate the Fitzgerald's crew just didn't do it or didn't do it right is absurd.

[@mrquackadoodlemoo]

Rest in peace, Gordy. You were a legend who wrote a mythical song.

[@BEARTUBE]

Right now im reading the book “mighty fitz” by michael schumacher and it perfectly describes how the fitz went down and also what happened to the crew members during the sinking. Not only that, but the book also goes in depth on what the other ships were doing during the whole event. I highly recommend it if anyone is really into the Fitzgerald Side note: After the Fitzgerald went down, when ever there is a storm all ships must lay anchor and to not try pushing through it because “on that night, they learned that the big ships can also go down”

[@jonbonesmahomes7472]

NOONE knows what happened exactly and how she went down.

[@HemiCat2020]

The Loss of the Fitzgerald is something that Helped us Today to Protect our ships, Even if the Witch is so unpredictable

[@PhantomCat-wm8dt]

everytime i hear about this ship i can't help but think about the song

[@topgrain]

​@PhantomCat-wm8dt Is that because the song is where you first heard about the ship? For millions (me included) it was.

[@PhantomCat-wm8dt]

@@topgrain yes

[@BEARTUBE]

After the fitz went down, when ever it storms on the lakes, vessels are required to lay anchor because it is quoted “on that night, they learned that the big ships can go down too.”

[@FutureRailProductions]

I want to hear a full cover now. Nice work June 1st.

[@snorri0411]

man I'd love if we could get the song as a bonus... great vid as usual!

[@dtdimeflicks6708]

Her last captain was from my hometown and a friend of my mom lost her father in the wreck.

[@rebelliousraven]

I believe when they went down in the 90s with cameras the throttle was not checked down it was full steam ahead. The belief that it sank from hatch failure is a debunked, i believe. There was the shoal question but also structural problems from a previous grounding and general issues with how it was built.

[@TheStarshipGarage]

Gordon Lightfoot’s song made me obsessed with this ship.

[@spencerdant]

I am telling every upper midwesterner I know about this video right now

[@mattrodgers4878]

One question I have had for a long time that nobody has been able to answer: Captain McSorley radioed that he had vents lost or damaged. My question HOW did he know that? Him saying they were lost (meaning no longer present) or damaged (meaning they were technically there, but no longer doing the intended job) either way it sounds to me that he couldn’t visually see them, but knew something wasn’t right. My other question, McSorley says he is “checking down” (slowing down) to allow the Anderson to close the distance between them. If I remember correctly, the NTSB investigation said the ships telegraph was in the full ahead position.

[@tinecrinec4769]

Could be that one vent was damaged, another was lost.

[@VideoHostSite]

As I recall, it was the Witch of November come stealin'.

[@dannyisonyoutube]

Every person who grew up on the Great Lakes knows the story of "The Mighty Fitz" and her crew of 29 men. Awesome video! 👍

[@davebrock4463]

Superior, they said, never gives up her dead When the gales of November come early

[@facepillownap]

FYI you can get a $20 E. Fitz tee from the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum with free shipping.

[@KnobViewFarms-vf2pd]

Great mini documentary and demonstration me being a lake boat nerd and being one who studies the lakes and their ships and history I loved this video it was the grab some lays chips and a Dr Pepper and enjoy great job I’ll be looking forward to more laker wrecks and mystery’s and great job playing the guitar so accurate everything in this video is so accurate

[@EphemeralProductions]

The thing that needs to be remembered is the Fitzgerald is one of MANY ships that have sunk on that lake. It’s one of many that have the same story. (Meaning sinking in bad weather on one of the many sudden intense storms that pop up on the lake)

[@Timsmith-c1l]

Nicely done. The Avafors was upbound in ballast (empty) with two other vessels, Benfri and Nanfri.

[@Rose-SingingWolf]

Growing up around mariners, & having lost some good friends out there, I always get a little teary eyed when I hear that Lightfoot song. God Bless all those who sail the lakes and the seas.

[@dna9896]

Awesome video! ⭐

[@redwolfpiping5701]

The ships carried heavier and heavier loads, stressing their hulls, the fitz is believed to have hogged as Cooper stated, similar incident happened with two other vessels earlier, and hogging in heavy seas is what brought the end to Fitz

[@jonbonesmahomes7472]

I always love to see another video on the Big Fitz. We will never know why it sank. RIP all 29 people who died that day.

[@ColinAerospace]

I have a picture of the Arthur m. Anderson. My dad also had the funeral of one of the crew members who was on that ship that night.

[@mbspoobah]

thank you, I believe you nailed it. Your points about the weather and at 12:12 about their location can not be emphasized enough. In my opinion this was a relatively weak ship, in one of the worst storms at one of the worst locations on the lake, and to this she succumbed. Now what does this NOT mean? It means that no outside source (grounding) was required to sink her, and that hatch covers were not the cause. What it DOES mean is that her structural weakness had caused the water onboarding in and of itself, that she was losing buoyancy, that the list had become a "bad list" and that one more bad wave event was enough to keep the bow down.

[@Jay_Mac1775]

On the 2020 anniversary of her sinking the Arthur M Anderson did a master salute while entering Duluth as a tribute to Fitz

[@nora687]

love the minecraft iron piece lol, also i didn’t know it went into service on my birthday in ‘58 so that’s cool!

[@keithwagg4112]

Loved the guitar and radio voices in this :)

[@Fat_Jag]

Can we get a full June First cover of Lightfoot?

[@EphemeralProductions]

You can probably find many others from other musicians on YT. All of which probably play as good or almost as good as Ethan.

[@SierranAviation151]

Most people forget the second set of words after "We are holding our own" it goes like this: "We are holding our own, going along like an old shoe"

[@iiiigarciaiiii]

Is this Celtin Henderson and Chris Riske voicing the dialogue?

[@CeltonHenderson]

🤫

[@qovenviing]

This video is fantastically crafted. Love it!

[@emo__runner]

Every November the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerlad becomes my whole personality, like every good upper midwesterner 🫡

[@rainsweptflower]

great job. thanks.

[@justinmyers8613]

I agree with capt. Copper on his theory about what happened. He was in the same storm with almost the same kind of ship.

[@Samueldonovan2007]

A June first video essay in the Edmund Fitzgerald!!! Lets go. Already stated, but great playing too. Never seen a reverend tele…what are you playing through?

[@letitrest4662]

They'd gone through Six Fathom Shoals. It's been theorized and sounds reasonable that because of the load she was carrying, the extreme pitching, and the areas of relatively shallow water in the Shoals, that she struck ground and broke deep.

[@tylerbuckley4661]

I trust Bernie Coopers estimate on what sank the mighty Fitz

[@teressamirault4729]

Awesome job! Awesome video!

[@DittoBlast]

What is the song you were playing in the beginning?

[@ischmidt]

Gordon Lightfoot's "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald".

[@TNS17]

Summer load lines in winter, ship overdue for repairs, and a winter storm, what could go wrong?

[@ShaneMcSorley-gg3vf]

Rest in peace uncle Ernest!❤

[@bruceheida5838]

There were no design tables for a ship as large as the Fitzgerald. Designers may have extrapolated outside the design tables. That does not always work. It would be interesting to see a stress analysis of the Fitzgerald. That winter was an experiment with year around Great Lakes navigation. I would expect a company to keep there largest ships operating for maximum profit and not plan to send one of them into dock for repairs unless there was major damage. Also, there was a photo of the Anderson's starboard life boat when she arrived in Cleveland showing extreme damage from waves. If I remember correctly, the boat deck was 32 feet above the water.

[@CrackTheCodeYT]

With the teaser I thought it was going to be El Faro but you got me with the Fitzgerald

[@ohioanempire]

I know it's not some hugely famous event but could you please do an episode on the march 13th-15th 2024 tornado outbreak?

[@bitey-facepuppyguy2038]

High quality stuff here. Congrats.

[@Kat-tr2ig]

I was going to riot if you didn't include Gordon Lightfoot's song. The Fitz is part of the Great Lakes culture and legends. I grew up near Lake Erie and as a young child heard many stories about the ship and the Lake that Never Gives Up Her Dead

[@HM2SGT]

*You can see a fascinating video here on YT of a simulation with modern equipment. I can't remember what Maritime school has the simulator, but it is on gimbals and jacks and moves with computer input, video screens show what the bridge crew would have seen & felt... the whole thing was educational, entertaining and sobering.*

[@milojanis4901]

Unless you live in a Great Lakes state, you really have no idea how large they are. Ive actually had people ask if you can see across them😂😂 Including Isle Royale National Park, the Lake Superior shoreline is over 2,700 miles long!!!

[@mkaz4232]

Right? I grew up on Lake Erie I try to explain this to ppl all the time, they hear “Lake” and just think it’s some kind of small calm body of water. Lake Erie kills like 20 ppl a year

[@princeblackelf4265]

The more I research the Fitz the more I am reminded of that one line from Nope. WHat do you call a bad miracle? What do you call a tragedy that is created by the perfect several layered series of perfectly terrible events? Because that's what happened to the Fitz, just the most perfectly bad luck you could have

[@russell2910]

It's math. How heavy the ship is times how much the ship floats minus how deep the water is plus .004 per mile per hour the boat is traveling, plus or minus a few for the variable involving how many fish are under the ship and if any of them are helping. If that number is greater than the weight of the water in the lake and it rains, you will die.

[@BobDennison]

Big Fitz is legend .

[@johnjettfothergill4231]

I have not researched this topic in any real depth other than watching a few YT videos two months ago when the 49th anniversary of the loss of the Fitzgerald came around. Nothing I watched though mentioned the odd circumstances surrounding the scrapping of the Arthur B. Homer. Highly suspicious!!!

[@phillipmeyer4059]

Even for the ocean although not uncommon 30 foot waves are big, for a lake they are huge. A coast guard searcher commented that it was the worst weather he had ever seen in his life including the North Atlantic.

[@17thRepublic]

Bro combined my 2 favorite interests (shipping and storms) and cooked 🔥

[@bharathyadav1589]

Angle of repose greater for the cargo.. i guessed it once he said it was the ore they were carrying

[@johntrotta5375]

Why did this video not feature the song?

[@ischmidt]

It did? JF played it himself, even.

[@GunnarTucker-up5gd]

Can you please do cedarville and morrell and bradley

[@Big_Sierra]

Insta sub. Excellent presentation, and nice guitar playing!

[@eiya2003]

Could only just now watch the video, but as soon as I saw "Edmund Fitzgerald", it was an instant click

[@BennyBunghole-tk7ts]

There is some great interviews with Capt. Darrell Walton on youtube about the Fitz. His father was a chief engineer on the Fitz and his uncle went down on the Fitz. He provides some great insights. Definitely worth checking out.

[@MidTennPews]

I was a merchant sailor for awhile. The Fitz is one we never spoke of.

[@BType13X2]

The problem with the bottoming out at Caribou' shoals theory its that this is one of the first things the coast guard investigated. They set in divers looking of any sign that a ship had run aground on them and this ultimately led in the charts being remade for this stretch of water. Turns out the shoals were 1km or more away from where it was thought they ran aground. And when I mean they investigated I mean they investigated this carefully because of how the insurance industry works with boats. If they had struck the shoal than the ship was lost due to poor navigation and no fault for demanding a later end of season run could or would be pinned on the ships owners.

[@sherryoglesby148]

Well done!

[@michaelimbesi2314]

The loss of the Fitzgerald has basically been solved, thanks to recent work by Sean Kery and Ben Fisher. Her ballast tank vents likely acted as a siphon to suck water trapped behind her fish rail from the deck into the ballast tanks, causing her to develop the list McSorely reported. Eventually, one of her hatch covers gave way, allowing the waves rolling over her deck to flood into her forward cargo hold. That sealed her fate, and is why she never sent a distress call. Based on their flooding analysis, from the moment the hatch cover gave way to the moment the bow hit the bottom of the lake, 530’ down, was only 2 minutes and 27 seconds. Kery, Sean and Fisher, Ben; A Forensic Investigation Of The Breakup And Sinking Of The Great Lakes Iron Ore Carrier Edmund Fitzgerald, November 10th 1975, Using Modern Naval Architecture Tools And Techniques, CSC Papers, 2013 (presented at the SNAME Marine Forensics Symposium)

[@TaurusMoon-hu3pd]

982 mb makes for a scary 🌀😳