caribou island six fathom shoal

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. In a similar vein, Paul Hainault, a retired Michigan Tech University professor, postulated a seiche caused the ship to scrape the bottom of Superior Shoal early that morning and the weakened hull eventually gave out. 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. 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. Grounded on Six Fathom Shoal. U.S. Coast Guard rescue vessel Woodrush took 21 hours to arrive on scene from the Duluth port. Captain Cooper, too, had always maintained that Captain McSorley knew his ship was compromised on the shoal, but had faith that his ship would make it to Whitefish Bay. On April 15, 1977 the U.S. Coast Guard released its official report of Subject: S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald, official number 277437, sinking in Lake Superior on 10 November 1975 with loss of life. While the Coast Guard said the cause of the sinking could not be conclusively determined, it maintained that the most probable cause of the sinking of the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald was the loss of buoyancy and stability resulting from massive flooding of the cargo hold. All the windows have been blown out and destroyed. The bodies have not been recovered. Gale warnings had been issued at 7 p.m. on Nov. 9, upgraded to storm warnings early in the morning of Nov. 10. Reporting to the Anderson, the Fitzs Captain Ernest McSorley revealed the list and had activated two large ballast tank pumps to control it. But I have to leave the decision up to you., Ill give it a try, but thats all I can do.. When the skies of November turn gloomy.. 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. 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. The first one flooded our boat deck. 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." )As if the aforementioned problems weren't enough, Northwestern Mutual had theFtizgeraldpartially rebuilt in her later years to handle thousands of extra tons of iron ore, which substantially raised the waterline, increasing the maximum draft of the ship, maximum weight of the ship and height of the deck above water. They would later make a turn to the southeast to eventually reach the shelter of Whitefish Point. The bad welds were confirmed by the Coast Guard, which approved repairs. TheFitzgeraldwould have extra steel plates installed between the hull bottom and her keel which would ensure the keel would no loner move freely from the hull and would stay fastened in place. Discover the Edmund Fitzgerald shipwreck in Lake Superior It is approximately 5.6 kilometres (3.5mi) long and 2.4 kilometres (1.5mi) wide, and 1,600 acres (647ha) in area. Within a few years, Loran was rendered obsolete by the pinpoint accuracy of the Global Positioning System (GPS), which uses satellites to answer virtually any navigational question an officer might have. Captain Dudley J. Paquette of the SS Wilfred Sykes sailed through the entire two-day storm, was part of the search effort and is a vocal adherent of the idea that the sunken ore carrier suffered stress damage at what he calls the hinge area where the greatest amount of flex is observed in a ships hull. 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. It's still not completely agreed upon whether the Fitzgerald broke in half on the surface or underwater. And around 7:15 pm, the pip was lost again, but this time, did not reappear. 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. and Sutcliffe, R., 1989. The Fitzgerald is about 16 miles ahead. Captain McSorley told Woodard that the ship has a bad list, implying that it had gotten worse since his earlier report to Captain Cooper. Instead they consist of bedrock ridges and interfluves that lie between northerly trending bedrock valleys, which are known as tunnel valleys. in 1980, Jacques Cousteau's famous Calypso arrived for the first manned dive inside an underwater vessel to the site. 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. The bow lies mostly buried in the mud upright pointing towards Whitefish Bay. Its likely that they didnt latch a lot of the hatch cover clamps because the crew was on Sunday overtime pay and they were so late getting covered up - and the weather was very nice at that time., Such speculation fits easily into the puzzle of the Fitzgerald tragedy. This took them between Isle Royale and the Keweenaw Peninsula. The Edmund Fitzgerald was bound for Zug Island, a heavily industrialized island in River Rouge, Michigan at the mouth of the River Rouge, where it spills into the Detroit River, near Detroit, and where it was set to unload a cargo of taconite iron ore pellets before heading onto Cleveland, her home port, to wait out the winter. Submit Yours. Captain Jesse Cooper, (J.C.) of the S.S. Arthur M. Anderson watches the Fitzgerald round Caribou Island and comments that the Fitzgerald is much closer to Six Fathom Shoal than he would want to be. Minor incidents included groundings and collisions between 1969 and 1974. The Lake Carriers Association was inclined to accept that Fitzgerald passed over the Six Fathom Shoal Area as reported by Captain Cooper. what is the real truth to this? As the afternoon dragged on, the storm worsened. The cause of the sinking is still a matter of much historic debate, both Ley and Sproule note. When originally built, it was visible for 16 miles (26km) and operated on a 30-second revolving cycle. Fitzgerald nearly reached Caribou Island, but the slower Anderson was behind, just approaching Machicote, almost four miles from West End Light. Since one theory is that the ship was damaged by grounding, within two years of the wreck all commercial vessels of 1,600 or more gross tons were required to have equipment that would warn the officers of shallow water beneath the hull. That would likely mean that it was at the forward end of the weather deck. Heavy snow begins to fall and the Fitzgerald is lost from. Part of that fascination, despite the longspan since the foundering of the big ore freighter, results from Gordon Lightfoots monster best-selling recording about the wreck and part likely springs from the inconclusive nature of any facts surrounding the sinking. 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. 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. The owners knew of the EF's structural problem, and had the steel already cut to effect yet another repair. The Great Lakes Ore Carrier SS Edmund Fitzgerald, Known to Lake Mariners as "The Mighty Fitz". But the ship's owners were insurance men, not mariners, who reconfigured her for even more iron ore. Disproven by: Captain's experience in the area, ballast tank location Rogue waves. Winter 2023 NMU School of Art & Design Senior Exhibition Reception, Edmund Fitzgerald: Decades of Speculation, Fascination and Grieving. The Coast Guard conducted an extensive and thorough search. At some point it all becomes moot, except for the 29 families who remain, and do without bread from their missing bread-winners. What is your present position?, Were down here, about two miles off Parisienne Island right nowthe wind is northwest forty to forty-five miles here in the bay., Is it calming down at all, do you think?, In the bay it is, but I heard a couple of the salties talking up there, and they wish they hadnt gone out., Do you think there is any possibility and you couldahcome about and go back there and do any searching?, AhGod, I dont knowahthatthat sea out there is tremendously large. So why not rebuild the ship? McSorely had also ordered the pumps to be turned on in order to keep the ingress of water out of the cargo hold.By 4:10 PM, the list had not gotten any better and theFitzgeraldwas still taking on water, effectively sinking. They have persisted where all others have perished. 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. it be nice if they stopped talking about White Fish Bay which is 15 (N) miles from where it went down. An entire generation now has no active memory of November 10, 1975, but the sinking of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald continues to fascinate, mystify and preoccupy young and old. Caribou Island, Caribou Island | Ticket Price | Timings | Address: TripHobo The supreme caribou myth ever told is about Santa and his sleigh, but having said that, this seems to be the most famous myth out of all the animal totems. A caribou hunting site, built by native people 9,000 years ago, has been discovered underneath Lake Huron. Because of the Great Depression, the island was not restocked and the island was more or less abandoned by the approximately 15 owners-in-common. Another wave just like the first one or bigger hit us again. Clark called the Fitzgerald again at about 7:22 pm. Forty-four years ago today on Nov. 10, 1975, 18 kilometres off Coppermine Point, and 60 kilometres north of Sault Ste Marie, Ont., the 222-metre iron ore carrier Edmund Fitzgerald, with a crew of 29 aboard, sank. Caribou, California - Wikipedia Of note, the NTSB report included a dissenting opinion that held to this theory. The retrofit was planned for November 12, 1975 upon completion of the1975 season. Although no findings concluded that the Fitz suffered grounding damage, the addition of depth finders on lake boats now gives officers information not previously required on their vessels. The misinformation that has been spread by the media then and now is a great example of how clueless the general public is going to continue to be unless they stand up for a full disclosure of information and laws that regulate punish and fine the profiteers of misinformation. Theorists have sized upon the permanent lay-up of the Fitzgerald sister ship, the Arthur Homer, in 1980 as indicative of structural deficiency both vessels. The following May, 1976, Woodrush was again on the scene to conduct a third sidescan sonar survey. The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead Since no Coast Guard vessel capable of sailing in the conditions prevalent in eastern Lake Superior was available in the vicinity of the wreck, maintenance procedures were amended to ensure that cutters would be in a ready condition during the spring and fall periods of bad weather. The search turned up no results for the first hour. I read a report about a phenomena called the Three Sisters-rogue waves. First mate Clark spoke to the Fitzgerald one last time, about 7:10 pm: Fitzgerald, this is the Anderson. 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. That's what underwriters do. The Naugatuck arrived at 12:45 pm on November 11, and the Woodrush arrived on November 14, having journeyed all the way from Duluth, Minnesota. Caribou Island is an uninhabited island in the eastern end of Lake Superior, 40 kilometres (25 mi) south of Michipicoten Island. Art & Exhibitions Let's not forget about the structural failure of the Carl D. Bradley on Lake Michigan in 1958. Whatever prompted that command just a little over an hour before the sinking, Paquette analyzes that it would have been catastrophic and visible from the pilothouse in the darkness of an early November evening. From what your reports are I can appreciate the conditions. The slow flooding supposedly went unnoticed by the captain and crew until it caused an imperceptible but fatal buoyancy loss and eventually sent the Fitzgerald plunging to the bottom. If theFitzgeraldwere to be dived, then it would be a technical dive as it is over 200 feet. The main deck behind the superstructure, which included the forward cargo hatches appears to have collapsed entirely and the sides of the hull are bending outwards. Touching Bottom At Six Fathom Shoal - DeviantArt Later, in a videotaped conversation with GLSHS, Captain Cooper said that he always believed McSorley knew something serious had happened to Fitzgerald as the ship passed over Caribou Shoal. Several of the lakes are maintained by beavers and all are several feet above Lake Superior. By that time the Anderson had reached the safety of Whitefish Bay to the relief of all aboard. As the wise man once said, you can't outlaw stupidity nor legislate morality. With no visibility in a hurricane-like storm and no radar to guide him, theFitzgeraldwas sailing blinded moving slower with every gallon of water entering her hull. Both theHomerandFitzgeraldwere the largest iron ore carriers built on the Great Lakes. 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. Theories - THE EDMUND FITZGERALD Others overlap in some ways. If the ship had "hogged" upon striking the. Affirmative. The Headstones originally hailing from Kingston, Ont. Tom Farnquist is also notably the foremost expert on the wreck of the S.S. Edmunds Fitzgerald. Ten miles ahead, Captain McSorley learned from Captain Cedric Woodard, a U.S. pilot aboard the Swedish-flagged Avafors, that neither the light nor directional radio beacon at Whitefish Point were working. Todays captain, however, has much more accurate and immediate information than did those sailing in 1975, when the Fitzgerald was virtually blind and wallowing in huge seas and heavy winds on its way from Caribou Island to its final resting place. Its usual route was from Superior, Wisconsin, to Toledo, Ohio, although the destination varied. The Anderson was just approaching Michipicoten, about three miles off the West End Light. As originally built,Edmund Fitzgeraldwas a coal burning steamship with a Westinghouse steam turbine driving a single four bladed propeller at her rear. Ftizgerald, like all Great Lakes vessels often had to pass through violent storms that rivaled those of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, with waves sometimes reaching upwards of 100 feet.Fitzgeraldhowever was also noted for her numerous problems. The Western Arctic Herd is one of the largest caribou herds in Alaska and the world. Improvements in personal lifesaving equipment have resulted in suits to protect sailors from hypothermia in Lake Superiors cold waters. Edmund Fitzgerald Timeline S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald Online NARA microfilm publication M1931, Index to Selected City Streets and Enumeration Districts, 1930 Census (7 rolls) reproduces a 57-volume typescript index to selected city streets and enumeration districts of the Fifteenth Census of the United States taken in 1930. He and his officers watched the Fitzgerald pass right over the dangerous area of shallow water. "It was designed to haul a certain amount and they kept getting the Coast Guard to increase the load line." Instead, the LCA theorized that the lost freighter had stumbled over the Six-Fathom Shoal at the north end of Caribou Island, sustaining damage that would prove to be fatal to the ship. In the fewest words possible, I say She never should have embarked on this cruise, but She had to. Six Fathom Shoal | soundingsjohnbarker 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. Caribou is included in the pages of the myths of Inuit. This island was considered an emergency landing airport (YCI) during World War II. What caused Edmund Fitzgerald to sink? Other information comes from an interview witn Captain Bernie Cooper shortly before his death in 1993. Again, though, I have to leave that decision up to you as to whether it would be hazarding your vessel or not. For the boating safety class Tom treated us to footage of some of the many shipwrecks that he has dove over his own career which included a full unedited version of the Jacques Cousteau expedition. Captain Jessie B. Near-hurricane force winds seemed to pick up strength throughout the day while visibility was greatly reduced. Great respect must be accorded to the wreck site, which still contains the remains of crew members and is considered a gravesite. Captain Cooper observed the Fitzgerald passing very close to the dangerous Six Fathom Shoal near Caribou Island on the east side of the lake at around 1520 on November 10. Although not a heavy weather vessel like a cutter, it is capable of handling larger seas than the Naugatuck, the harbor tug previously stationed at the Soo. 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.

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