caribou island six fathom shoal

Theory 2: Six-Fathom Shoal Perhaps the most widely accepted of the several theories about the loss of the Fitzgerald is that the ship crossed Caribou Island's Six-Fathom Shoal, which nestles off the north end of the island with water as shallow as 26 feet. In the Duluth News-Tribune, another former crew member, Jim Woodard, claims the Fitzgerald was a "wet" ship. In 1977, the U.S Coast Guard pinned the sinking on massive flooding of the cargo hold caused by faulty or poorly fastened hatch covers. An unpopulated island at the eastern end of Lake Superior, 40 km south of Michipicoten Island, named Caribou Island. He could clearly see the ship and the beacon on Caribou on his radar set and could measure the distance between them. None. Size & Medium. They believe that caribou is the most significant creature to hunt. The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down The interior is low scrub and bog with small lakes, Little Italy, Hambone, and Deer Lake among many unnamed ones. Captain Cooper maintained that he watched the Edmund Fitzgerald pass far too close to Six Fathom Shoal to the north of Caribou Island. Near-hurricane force winds seemed to pick up strength throughout the day while visibility was greatly reduced. It was not long after thatFitzgeraldvanished from theAnderson'sradar. Captain Cooper reported winds from the NW x W (305 ) at a steady 58 knots with gusts to 70 knots, and seas of 18 to 25 feet. Until 1959,Edmund Fitzgeraldheld the record for the longest ship on the Great Lakes. The mystery is compounded by mud covering key parts of the wreck and a legal prohibition on further dives imposed by the Canadian government. [3][8][9] Samples dredged from a shoal northwest of Caribou Island and close to one of these valleys resemble Jacobsville Sandstone. Gale warnings had been issued at 7 p.m. on Nov. 9, upgraded to storm warnings early in the morning of Nov. 10. Gaines, who began is career at the Saturday Review, the storied American weekly magazine that had started out as The Saturday Review of Literature in 1924, is now a Paris-based writer, would go onto become the first editor in chief of People magazine, as well as the editor of Time magazine, and also to serve as regional editor for the Americas, and then global editor-at-large for Reuters. Furthermore, she had few watertight compartments and was rumored to be overloaded beyondwhat her designers had meant for her to carry. Photo by user "Greenmars" on Wikimedia Commons. Many theorize the ship unknowingly struck the poorly marked 6 Fathom Shoal on the island's north side, but that has never been conclusively proven. Cooper later said he watched the Edmund Fitzgerald pass far too close to Six Fathom Shoal to the north of Caribou Island. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. However, Northwestern Mutual apparently decided to remedy the problem regardingFitzgerald'sloose keel. However, the Westlake, Ohio-based Lake Carriers Association, representing U.S.-flag vessel operators on the Great Lakes, responded in a letter to the National Transportation Safety Board in September 1977 disagreeing with the Coast Guards suggestion that the lack of attention to properly closing the hatch covers by the crew was responsible for the disaster. The comment that this industry stopped completely are false. Almost none of the bodies including that of Captain McSorley were ever found. After enough persuasion, Cooper agreed to take theAndersonback out to sea followed by the LakerWilliam Clay Ford. Images of the Fitz's 1958 construction and launch. She was under command of Canadian born and highly experienced ship master Captain Ernest M. McSorely. 3:30 PM Radio transmission between the Fitzgerald and the Anderson Corrections on previous comments I feel compelled to add. May god rest the souls of the 29 men who perished that fateful night, The iron ore freighter is only about 9 nautical miles from Pancake Bay off highway #17 Ontario Canada, it sits in Canadain waters. By this point, McSorley knew his ship was in serious trouble and opted to head full steam towards the natural protection of Whitefish Bay to ride out the storm and protect his ship and crew from further damage.By 6:00 PM, the storm had worsened and its likely theFitzgeraldwas riding even lower in the water, due to much larger 35 foot high waves, heavier damage caused by the waves and an even larger amount of water in her hull the pumps seemed unable to cope with. All were lost to the depths of Lake Superior. The ship would bend and flex in sometimes un-natural means and the keel would at times be lifted over two inches above the bottom ofFitzgerald'shull during a violent storm. However, divers found no recent damage to the shoal after the wreck and the ship's exact course could only be estimated because the Fitzgerald radars were inoperable and the Anderson kept inexact course records during the journey. Officers and candidates in navigation classes and manufacturer schools receive up-to-the-minute training in using the latest equipment and in interpreting information that equipment provides to keep their ships out of harms way. Caribou Island was considered for an emergency landing airport (YCI) during World War II but it was never built because of the proximity of the twin cities of Sault Ste. It lies entirely within the territorial waters of Canada although only about five kilometres from the international border between Canada and the United States. The Arthur M. Anderson, an ore carrier in the U.S. Steel fleet, had been trailing and providing navigational information to the Fitzgerald because the Fitzs radars had malfunctioned about four hours earlier. Captain Ernest M. McSorley had loaded her with 26,116 long tons of taconite pellets, made of processed iron ore, heated and rolled into marble-size balls. This theory was advanced by the Lake Carriers Association (LCA) after the U.S. Coast Guard report and seems to be the most popular among mariners and armchair wreck investigators. Why the Edmund Fitzgerald remains a cultural touchstone, Follow the final journey of the Edmund Fitzgerald, 17 miles to safety: Edmund Fitzgerald by the numbers, A NOAA model showing the storm that sunk the Edmund FItzgerald, Garret Ellison covers business, environment & the Great Lakes for MLive/The Grand Rapids Press. Significantly, within a few minutes of passing the shoal, the Fitzs Captain Ernest McSorley reported a starboard list, missing vents and a fence rail down. Captain Cooper of the Anderson mentioned the possibility of a stress fracture in his testimony before the marine board and also included it in his personal story of the wreck in James R. Marshalls Shipwrecks of Lake Superior. Coast Guard aircraft were on the scene by 10:55 p.m. Commercial vessels in the protective waters of Whitefish Bay were requested to form a search effort and several, including the Anderson, did venture out of shelter to search the storm-tossed seas for survivors. There had to have been something happening on the deck that a mate thought they had to get control of - even if it meant putting lives in danger.. Furthermore, any chance of using the wreck itself as a means of understanding what happened is next to impossible as the Canadian government has banned all diving operations period to the wreck since the recovery of theFitzgerald'sbell in 1993. it is likely that the world may never know the true ending of theEdmund Fitzgerald. Beyond these improvements on board the ships, the marine weather reports have become more sophisticated and accessible, with detailed charts now printed out electronically in the pilothouse. At 3:30 pm that afternoon, Captain McSorley radioed Captain Cooper and said: Anderson, this is the Fitzgerald. Ahif you want me to, I can, but Im not going to be making any time; Ill be lucky to make two or three miles an hour going back out that way., Well, youll have to make a decision as to whether you will be hazarding your vessel or not, but youre probably one of the only vessels right now that can get to the scene. See more. This theory is the thought that the Fitzgerald hit the bottom near Caribou Island, ripping a hole in the ship. Cities by ZIP Code. No limit on the Perch, so we returned pretty low in the water. You can listen to it here at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8LBkYjniTU. Either of these explanations fails to address the fact that the ship had a list, which would not be likely if water were invading the large central cargo hold, but would be if water were leaking into ballast tanks or a tunnel along the side of the hold. Enter the text you see in the image below. He kept losing sight of the Fitzgerald on the radar from sea return, meaning that seas were so high they interfered with the radar reflection. She would be travelling in tandem with the ore freighter Arthur M. Anderson under command of Captain Bernie Cooperto the Soo Locks at Sault Ste. These tunnel valleys were excavated by subglacial meltwater at the base of the Laurentide Ice Sheet along pre-existing fractures and joints that exist within the bedrock floor of Lake Superior. By stretching more than 1 mile (1.6 km) north of the island Caribou north point, a dangerous reef is presently known as "Six Fathom Shoal." Caribou definition, any of several large, North American deer of the genus Rangifer, related to the reindeer of the Old World. Marie at 7:39 p.m., continued to try to raise radio contact with the big ship. McSorley and Cooper agreed to take the northerly course across Lake Superior to avoid a storm that was developing to the southwest, so they would be protected by highlands on the Canadian shore, taking them between Isle Royale and the Keweenaw Peninsula. Couseau had theorized a surface break up, which sounds similar to the Merril several years later. and Sutcliffe, R., 1989. Marie, Ontario, only about 8090 miles SE. Fitz40th.com - Six-Fathom Shoal Updates During a taped | Facebook The spring after the Edmund Fitzgerald was lost, the U.S. Coast Guard sent remote cameras more than 500 feet down to it. TheEdmund Fitzgeraldwas a "Laker" type iron ore bulk freighter launched on June 7, 1958 by the Great Lakes Engineering Works in River Rogue, Michigan for the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company one year after its near sister shipArthur B. Homer. 18335 N. Whitefish Point Road All the windows have been blown out and destroyed. Aware of a building November storm entering the Great Lakes from the great plains, Captain McSorley and Captain Cooper agreed to take the northerly course across Lake Superior, where they would be protected by highlands on the Canadian shore. The debate rages to this day. There have been about half a dozen dives to the site since the shipwreck in 1975. This depiction shows the Edmund Fitzgerald touching bottom as she passes over the Six Fathom Shoal on the . The Fitzgerald suffered from structural problems, Ex-Fitzgerald crew member George Burgner claimed in a deposition that unrepaired cracks and weakened metal on the ship caused the loss, according to the "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" by Fred Stonehouse. He said that he was going along like an old shoe; no problems at all., Well, again, do you think you could come about and go back and have a look in the area?, Well, Ill go back and take a look, but God, Im afraid Im going to take a hell of a beating out there Ill turn around and give er a whirl, but God, I dont know. 109 W. Superior St. #200 Duluth, MN 55802 218-722-5002 edit@LakeSuperior.com. They passed several miles offshore from Split Rock Lighthouse, on Minnesotas North Shore. My understanding of the dives was showed hatches were closed least belied to be so and was the low ship by full cargo in the water and the sea waves and cargo shift caused her go down- no matter what the cause it's all so tragic- I know not the ship nor any of the crew or families but i can certainly feel their loss- it is a very sad story - and the song very accurate to what is known about the ship wreak- many lost at seas' and many more will- it's just sad. Marie, Michigan, and Sault Ste. Technology aims to prevent Fitzgerald-scale disasters - The Detroit News Beyond that, Captain Bernie Cooper of the Anderson commented in testimony that his radar showed the Fitz to be closer to the shoal than he wanted his ship to be. On May 20, 1976, the words Edmund Fitzgerald were clearly seen on the stern, upside down, 535 feet below the surface of the lake. The now unmanned lighthouse which is owned by the Canadian Coast Guard is located on a tiny adjacent island called Lighthouse Island a few hundred feet across and positioned 1 mile (1.6km) west of the southern tip of the island. The lateral continuity and consistent and parallel direction of the tunnel valleys indicated that they are carved from friable sandstones that underlies the floor of most of eastern Lake Superior. On this voyage, Fitzgerald was fully loaded with iron ore. It shouldn't have. Yes, she almost certainly hit the shoals. "6 wolves on Lake Superior island saved from starvation by Canadian-U.S. team | Globalnews.ca", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Caribou_Island_(near_Michipicoten_Island)&oldid=1136093001, This page was last edited on 28 January 2023, at 18:26. The Fitzgerald was disappearing and reappearing on the Andersons radar the height of the waves was causing interference. Between 1959 and 1975, the life of theEdmund Fitzgeraldwas routineand mostly uneventful, clocking nearly 750 succesful round trips, though was occasionally greeted by positive and negative events. Caribou Island (near Michipicoten Island) - Wikipedia I am from Sault Ste Marie Michigan and a former student of the founder of the great lakes shipwreck historical society Tom Farnquist. The 1976 hit single "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" by musician Gordon Lightfoot is the reason why theEdmund Fitzgeraldis currently the most famous shipwreck on the Great Lakes. The Headstones originally hailing from Kingston, Ont. What's obvious is that wind and waves played a big role in the sinking. The following May, 1976, Woodrush was again on the scene to conduct a third sidescan sonar survey. Understandably the footage was edited out of respect for the dead and the families. The Anderson was just approaching Michipicoten, about three miles off the West End Light. Another explanation offered from the many undamaged hatch clamps is that the clamps were never latched in the first place. The Edmund Fitzgerald started its tragic journey 47 years ago today Add to Cart. Six-Fathom Shoal Updates During a taped conversation with his office, which was made a part of the record, the ANDERSON's master stated that the FITZGERALD "passed right over that 6-fathom spot." The. A caribou hunting site, built by native people 9,000 years ago, has been discovered underneath Lake Huron. Dave Sproule, a natural heritage education and marketing specialist with Ontarios Department of Environment, Conservation and Parks Land and Water Division in Sudbury, has written Lake Superior is a weathermaker so big it creates its own weather [9][10], This article is about the island in eastern Lake Superior. Another sonar survey was conducted November 22-25. $45.00. A shallow reef 2.5 miles (4.0km) to the southwest of Caribou Island Lighthouse lies only 11 feet (3.4m) below the lake's surface. That finding was quickly challenged by the Lake Carriers Association (LCA) and by many seasoned sailors. Caribou: Did You Know? - National Park Service Kids & Family, Search Events However, it resonates. The iron ore freighter Edmund Fitzgerald sank to the bottom of Lake Superior during a hurricane-like storm on the night of Nov. 10, 1975. "We always had to go down and pump them out.". About: Caribou Island (near Michipicoten Island) Weather conditions continued to deteriorate. With regards to iron ore shipping on the Great Lakes, it most certainly is still taking place. 'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+"://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs"); A Great Lakes Information Network partner, 2020 Lake Superior Publishing LLC. If the ship had "hogged" upon striking the shoal, it could have caused the topside damage reported by Fitzgerald captain Ernest McSorley in the hours before the sinking. What is known is that 29 men lost their lives in the cold waters of Lake Superior and that their families continue to mourn in private amid the celebrity of the shipwreck. First mate Clark spoke to the Fitzgerald one last time, about 7:10 pm: Fitzgerald, this is the Anderson. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. A small three room cabin was built on the east shore of Lake Superior adjacent to Deer Lake and the Amphibian base. At the time of the foundering, there was no requirement for depth-finding instruments on commercial vessels. From what I know, the Fitzgerald sank 45 years ago as of posting this comment, soon to be 46. Photo Credit: Greenmars (Wikimedia Commons: Link) With the catastrophic damage to the ship and the way the ship is buried in the mud and the windows blown out and the collision with the bottom is there any possibility of a rogue wave catching the floundering ship and driving it to the bottom. The flooding of the cargo hold took place through ineffective hatch closures as boarding seas rolled along the spar deck.. As with all of the other theories, it may well be that we will never know the total story of this wreck - leaving each theory, for now, as good as any other. In addition to taking on water after *potentially* hitting bottom near Six fathom Shoals earlier this afternoon, the. He is particularly intrigued by the command that Woodard overheard. ZIP Code by Address. That's what underwriters do. They are the last of their kind exposed to the human development and predation on the mainland. Officers from the Anderson observed that the Fitzgerald sailed through this exact area. Captain McSorley told Woodard that the ship has a bad list, implying that it had gotten worse since his earlier report to Captain Cooper. Cannon, W.F., Green, A.G., Hutchinson, D.R., Lee, M., Milkereit, B., Behrendt, J.C., Halls, H.C., Green, J.C., Dickas, A.B., Morey, G.B. A 2010 television episode of Dive Detectives simulated the effect of a 56-foot wave on a scale model of the Fitzgerald. Eight minutes at the Fitz was all that he earned for his four-hour dive because of the necessary decompression. Again, Captain Cooper of the Anderson provides fuel for this theory, as he relates in Marshalls Shipwrecks of Lake Superior that slightly before 7 p.m. we took two of the largest seas of the trip. The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead The B-side on the single was The House You Live In.. Known for the best burgers in Fullerton, Islands also offers delicious tropical cocktails and fries that are fresh cut daily with the skins left on. As the afternoon wore on, radio communications with the Fitzgerald concerned navigational information but no extraordinarily alarming reports were offered by Captain McSorley. Not the same yard, but what if it was rebuilt, same cargo, same shape, same functionality, but a new keel? He and his officers watched the Fitzgerald pass right over the dangerous area of shallow water, Ley wrote. Winter 2023 NMU School of Art & Design Senior Exhibition Reception, Edmund Fitzgerald: Decades of Speculation, Fascination and Grieving. Antlers of males weigh an average of 17 pounds and can reach 29 pounds! The Fitzgerald being the faster took the lead, with the distance between the vessels ranging from 10 to 15 miles. And around 7:15 pm, the pip was lost again, but this time, did not reappear. The Coast Guard conducted an extensive and thorough search. I, respectfully, can't and won't feel the magnitude of this tragedy by those directly affected. The NTSB hewed to the Coast Guard line somewhat, agreeing that that non-weathertight hatch covers probably caused flooding during the trip, but the board ultimately concluded the probable sinking cause was "sudden massive flooding of the cargo hold due to the collapse of one or more hatch covers." The Great Lakes Ore Carrier SS Edmund Fitzgerald, Known to Lake Mariners as "The Mighty Fitz". The U.S. Coast Guard and National Transportation Safety Board both issued official investigation reports that many dismiss in favor of a theory favored by the Lake Carriers Association. Theories - THE EDMUND FITZGERALD These records are part of the Records of Bureau of the Census, Record Group (RG) 29. The situation was worsened when McSorely reported to Cooper that his radar was gone. [1] They issued a letter to the National Transportation Safety Board in September, 1977. "They were killing the boat," he said. Do the math. He could clearly see the ship and the beacon on Caribou on his radar set and could measure the distance between them. The Coast Guard cited reports of damage to the Fitzgerald's hatches that were planned for winter repair. Phantom Fireworks is the leading retailer of consumer fireworks in the U.S. Phantom provides the widest range of consumer fireworks in all categories. Film, Art & Exhibitions Looks like he was right on this one. Soon after, McSorely on the Fitzgerald reported taking topside damage and a list. But I have to leave the decision up to you., Ill give it a try, but thats all I can do.. Only one man has undertaken a scuba dive, using special air mixtures in his tanks. Gale warnings had been issued at 7 pm on November 9, upgraded to storm warnings early in the morning of November 10. Contacts were strong enough to bring in the U.S. Navys CURV III controlled underwater recovery vehicle, operating from Woodrush. U.S. Coast Guard rescue vessel Woodrush took 21 hours to arrive on scene from the Duluth port. By this time, snow and rising spray had obscured the Fitzgerald from sight, visible 17 miles ahead on radar.. By that time the Anderson had reached the safety of Whitefish Bay to the relief of all aboard. Has anyone ever calculated how much shorter the normal route across Superior would have been had the Fitzgerald not changed course? The CURV III unit took 43,000 feet of video tape and 900 photographs of the wreck. Twenty-nine men were lost when the Fitzgerald went down. The "Big Fitz"as she was affectionately known by her crew, also boasted several private staterooms for corporate guests of Oglebay Norton and Northwestern Mutual. He reduced speed to allow the Anderson to close the 17-mile gap between them. Because the ship had no depth sounding technology, the crew had no way of knowing that incoming water was pushing the ship lower in the water until the flooding exceeded the height of the iron ore in the holds. Capt. Turning to Edmund Fitzgerald's sinking, the above article lets us in on several 'dots', which, when connected, tells why The Pride of the American Side met an avoidable, but preordained death. [5][6], A dangerous reef known as "Six Fathom Shoal" stretches more than 1 mile (1.6km) north of the north point of the island, and is rumored to be the one the SS Edmund Fitzgerald shoaled on prior to sinking. One man lived to tell about what happened unlike the Fitz. Captain Cooper asked McSorley if he had his pumps going, and McSorley said, Yes, both of them.. The protective visor over the wheelhouse windows has been completely flattened down and there is a lot of similar damage throughout the superstructure of the bow, indicating theEdmund Fitzgeraldmet a very violent and catastrophic end. Further searches with sonar turned up what appeared to be a giant vessel on the bottom in two pieces the rough size of theFitzgerald. Water intrusion came less than 30 minutes later. None, of course, were found and only floating debris gave clues that the Fitzgerald and its crew were lost. But the ship's owners were insurance men, not mariners, who reconfigured her for even more iron ore. Despite having been built in Michigan and having operated mostly around Michigan,Edmund Fitzgeraldwas homeported in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.Size wise, both theArthur B. HomerandEdmund Fitzgeraldwere impressive even compared to oceanic ships, with an outstanding length of 711 to 729 feet. Previously suggested possibilities are that a hatch cover washed off or the heavy deck crane or the spare blade for the propeller broke loose and crashed about. Edmund Fitzgerald Timeline S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald Online It was considered a private hunting preserve through the early 1900s. In addition, Coast Guard cited reports of damage to the Fitzgerald's hatches that were planned for winter repair. At the time of her launch in 1958, the SS Edmund Fitzgerald was the largest freighter on the Great Lakes. According to Captain Cooper, about 6:55 pm, he and the men in the Andersons pilothouse felt a bump, felt the ship lurch, and then turned to see a monstrous wave engulfing their entire vessel from astern. With mounting apprehension, Captain Cooper called the Coast Guard once again, about 8:00 pm, and firmly expressed his concern for the welfare of the Fitzgerald. There are no more Iron Boats. However, the Lake Carriers Association vigorously disagreed with the Coast Guards suggestion that the lack of attention to properly closing the hatch covers by the crew was responsible for the disaster.
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