The Sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald Quotes

“The NTSB blamed the sinking on "the collapse of one or more of the hatch covers under the weight of giant boarding seas.”
― Charles River Editors, The Sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald: The Loss of the Largest Ship on the Great Lakes

“The Coast Guard report concluded, “The Commandant concurs with the Board that the most probable cause of the sinking was the loss of buoyancy resulting from massive flooding of the cargo hold.  This flooding most likely took place through ineffective hatch closures.  As the boarding seas rolled over the spar deck, the flooding was probably concentrated forward. The vessel dove into a wall of water and never recovered, with the breaking up of the ship occurring as it plunged or as the ship struck the bottom.  The sinking was so rapid and unexpected that no one was able to successfully abandon ship.”
― Charles River Editors, The Sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald: The Loss of the Largest Ship on the Great Lakes

“Both the National Transportation Safety Board and Coast Guard believe the Fitzgerald broke apart when the bow hit the bottom of the lake, and the Coast Guard’s report stated, “The proximity of the bow and stern sections on the bottom of Lake Superior indicated that the vessel sank in one piece and broke apart either when it hit bottom or as it descended. Therefore, the Fitzgerald did not sustain a massive structural failure of the hull while on the surface...The final position of the wreckage indicated that if the Fitzgerald had capsized, it must have suffered a structural failure before hitting the lake bottom. The bow section would have had to right itself and the stern portion would have had to capsize before coming to rest on the bottom. It is, therefore, concluded that the Fitzgerald did not capsize on the surface.”
― Charles River Editors, The Sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald: The Loss of the Largest Ship on the Great Lakes

“At the Coast Guard’s request, the Anderson returned to the place where she had last seen the Fitzgerald and began a search for survivors, and by 10:30, the Coast Guard radioed all ships in the area and requested that they join in the search. The William Clay Ford and the Hilda Marjanne tried to help but were hampered in their movements by the storm that still raged, and it was nearly 11:00 by the time the first Coast Guard search and rescue aircraft arrived.  Almost two more hours would pass before a Coast Guard helicopter finally arrived to assist with the search.  Along with a plane from the Canadian Coast Guard, the aircraft searched the area for three days and patrolled the beach along the lake’s eastern shore looking for survivors and wreckage.  They found paddles, lifeboats and rafts, but no survivors or bodies.”
― Charles River Editors, The Sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald: The Loss of the Largest Ship on the Great Lakes

“As it turned out, the two ships would not speak later. By this time, the Anderson was fighting for survival against wind gusts up to 67 miles per hour and waves reaching 35 feet, the kind of conditions that explain how no one could see the Fitzgerald slip under the waves. In fact, it’s possible the crew onboard the Fitzgerald didn’t realize what was happening either, because no one issued a distress call or manned any of the lifeboats. The crash of the giant ship breaking apart and going down would have been drowned out by the wind and waves swirling around the Fitzgerald too.  Regardless, when the crew of the Anderson looked at the radar just minutes after the last radio contact with the Fitzgerald, the ship no longer showed up. Thinking that perhaps the Fitzgerald was not appearing on radar because it had been screened by the storm, the Anderson tried repeatedly to contact the ship on the radio, but it was to no avail. The Edmund Fitzgerald had seemingly vanished without a trace.”
― Charles River Editors, The Sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald: The Loss of the Largest Ship on the Great Lakes

“By 7:00 p.m., the winds were blowing at almost 70 miles per hour, making the storm a hurricane, and a computer model later indicated that the worst winds and the highest waves (now up to 40 feet tall) were located at the very place where the Fitzgerald was fighting for her life.”
― Charles River Editors, The Sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald: The Loss of the Largest Ship on the Great Lakes

“McSorley: "Anderson, this is the Fitzgerald. I have sustained some topside damage. I have a fence rail laid down, two vents lost or damaged, and a list. I'm checking down. Will you stay by me ‘til I get to Whitefish?" Cooper: "Charlie on that Fitzgerald. Do you have your pumps going?" McSorley: "Yes, both of them.” It was at this point, according to a report issued later by the National Transportation Safety Board. that water began to pour “into the ballast tanks and tunnel through topside damage and flooding into the cargo hold through non-weather tight hatch covers”. This led the Fitzgerald to list to one side, even though the crew was running two of her six bilge pumps.”
― Charles River Editors, The Sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald: The Loss of the Largest Ship on the Great Lakes

“Speculation still continues regarding the worst conditions produced by the storm, but in 2005, scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) teamed up with the National Weather Service to create a computer simulation of what the weather conditions were probably like that night.  According to the simulation, by 4:00 on the afternoon of November 10, there were actually two storms hitting Lake Superior, and both had winds blowing in excess of 45 miles per hour.  Unfortunately, the worst winds were in the southeastern section of the lake, where the Fitzgerald was sailing. Since the Fitzgerald was so heavily loaded, it was already sitting lower in the water than it normally would, which would have exacerbated the effect of the waves on the ship.  Also, as the waves rolled over the top of the ship in one direction, they swirled around and pushed against the ship’s deeply seated hull.”
― Charles River Editors, The Sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald: The Loss of the Largest Ship on the Great Lakes

“Not only was the ship large, the Fitzgerald was also safe; she featured a well-equipped pilot house with the best equipment available, and her three holds were divided by 21 steel watertight hatches.  In 1969, the company installed a bow thruster that improved the ship’s safety and maneuverability, and over the winter of 1971-72, she was modernized with oil burners to replace her coal-fired engines.”
― Charles River Editors, The Sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald: The Loss of the Largest Ship on the Great Lakes

“When the time came to name the ship, the board of directors of Northwestern decided to honor their president by naming their new investment the Edmund Fitzgerald.”
― Charles River Editors, The Sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald: The Loss of the Largest Ship on the Great Lakes

“The ship later christened the Edmund Fitzgerald was the brainchild of the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Northwestern Mutual had been investing for some time in the mining and processing of iron and other similar minerals dug out of the ground around the Great Lakes, and in 1957, Northwestern Mutual became the first life insurance company in America to invest in a ship to haul the ore.”
― Charles River Editors, The Sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald: The Loss of the Largest Ship on the Great Lakes