caribou island six fathom shoal

Five years later in 1980, Jacques Cousteaus famous Calypso arrived for the first manned dive inside an underwater vessel to the site. 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. Conflicting theories about the cause of the tragedy remain active today. Fullerton Islands Restaurant Fullerton. Sawyer AFB in the UP of Michigan, crew member on a rescue helo. Crafts eCFR :: 33 CFR 151.66 -- Operating requirements: Discharge of garbage The search turned up no results for the first hour. The battered ship despite the odds continued to soldier on towards Whitefish Bay. 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. Captain McSorley told Woodard that the ship has a bad list, implying that it had gotten worse since his earlier report to Captain Cooper. The flooding of the cargo hold took place through ineffective hatch closures as boarding seas rolled along the spar deck.. However, Northwestern Mutual apparently decided to remedy the problem regardingFitzgerald'sloose keel. 3:20 PM Anderson reports winds coming from the Northwest at 43 knots. Only one other vessel, the William Clay Ford, was able to leave the safety of Whitefish Bay to join in the search at the time. Around 3:00 in the afternoon, both ships had passed Caribou Island, Ontario, home of the notorious Six Fathom Shoal, a sharpy rocky outcropping more than capable of tearing into the hull of a deep draft vessel in stormy weather. George Stegner recalled last year how he was on duty that night: I was on duty this night. Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society and Emory Kristof, National Geographic Magazine. What also can be stated with certainty is that sometime between 7:10 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., the Fitzgerald simply disappeared into Lake Superior about 15 miles from the shelter of Whitefish Bay just west of Sault Ste. GLSHS three expeditions to the wreck revealed that it is likely she submarined bow first into an enormous sea, as damage forward is indicative of a powerful, quick force to the superstructure. But we were talking to him about seven and he said that everything was going fine. He again voiced grave concern that the Fitzgerald was missing at 8:32 p.m. Search and rescue efforts started immediately after Coopers second call, but the nearest Coast Guard vessel that could sail in the huge seas was the Woodrush, stationed 300 miles away in Duluth, Minnesota. 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. If you think you can safely go back up to the area, I would request that you do so. 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. An unpopulated island at the eastern end of Lake Superior, 40 km south of Michipicoten Island, named Caribou Island. and Johnson, T.C., 1982. The laker, the pride of the American side, was still bigger than most, and had been the largest freighter to sail the Great Lakes when it was launched in 1958. He and his officers watched the Fitzgerald pass right over the dangerous area of shallow water, Ley wrote. Until 1959,Edmund Fitzgeraldheld the record for the longest ship on the Great Lakes. Others overlap in some ways. Soon after, McSorely on the Fitzgerald reported taking topside damage and a list. He is particularly intrigued by the command that Woodard overheard. [9][10], This article is about the island in eastern Lake Superior. Minor incidents included groundings and collisions between 1969 and 1974. 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 two ships were in radio contact. None, of course, were found and only floating debris gave clues that the Fitzgerald and its crew were lost. 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. By late afternoon, the Anderson's captain was noting wind gusts up to 70 knots and waves up to 8 metres. "I've often wondered whether these two particular seas might have been the ones that finally did the Fitzgerald in, because they were really huge," he said. ZIP Code Lookup | USPS Technology aims to prevent Fitzgerald-scale disasters - The Detroit News I wouldnt be surprised if a hatch cover came off, because I loaded right beside him in Superior on November 9 and the deck crew was still putting on hatch covers when they left the Superior Entry into Lake Superior, Captain Paquette says. Also, a larger, more powerful tug, the Katmai Bay, is now stationed at Sault Ste. The last radio communication between the Fitzgerald and the Anderson was at 7:10 pm. 5. The unedited video of the expedition did not show a complete body how it did show a clear shot of a leg along with the shoe of the unfortunate crewman. In the fewest words possible, I say She never should have embarked on this cruise, but She had to. They have persisted where all others have perished. Fitzgerald, there is a target 19 miles ahead of us. Understandably the footage was edited out of respect for the dead and the families. Having been a consultant and active member of the original Jacques Cousteau expedition in 1980 along with the raising of the bell 1994 expedition. No reply from the Coast Guard. He could clearly see the ship and the beacon on Caribou on his radar set and could measure the distance between them. The bodies have not been recovered. Touching Bottom At Six Fathom Shoal - DeviantArt The debate rages to this day. $45.00. Since then, there have been about a half dozen dives to the wreck using deep-diving equipment. Another wave just like the first one or bigger hit us again. I have never been able to get that shot out of my head to this day 35 years later. Twenty-nine men were lost when the Fitzgerald went down. I read a report about a phenomena called the Three Sisters-rogue waves. He could clearly see the ship and the beacon on Caribou on his radar set and could measure the distance between them. The shoal in fact may have been mis-mapped as it appeared to jut out a mile further than official maps showed, and the Fitzgerald may have hit it in this one-mile stretch. [1] But the ship's owners were insurance men, not mariners, who reconfigured her for even more iron ore. Recovered, means retrieved from the depths. 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. A 2012 sonar image shows theFitzgeraldto have deteriorated heavily since 1993. By this point,McSorely was heard over the radio hollering at his crew to stay off the deck and remain inside the vessel. The heavy seas overwhelmed a ship that had already lost freeboard and was listing. 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. The retrofit was planned for November 12, 1975 upon completion of the1975 season. 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. In addition, Coast Guard cited reports of damage to the Fitzgerald's hatches that were planned for winter repair. But almost certainly the suits would have saved the lives of some crewmen in the wrecks of the Carl D. Bradley and the Daniel J. Morrell, the two previous Great Lakes wrecks where most of the crews were lost.. He could clearly see the ship and the beacon on Caribou on his radar set and could measure the distance between them. 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. However, it resonates. What sank the Edmund Fitzgerald? : r/UnresolvedMysteries - Reddit 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." [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. 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. Broke in two and sank in minutes. The island was acquired completely by the Roys A. Ellis family in the 1960s and was transferred to the Mellon Conservancy Trust of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in the early 1980s to never be developed. 109 W. Superior St. #200 Duluth, MN 55802 218-722-5002 edit@LakeSuperior.com. Captain Cooper tries again. His assumption is obviously shared by others in the maritime industry, but changes instituted after the loss of the Fitzgerald are meant to help to prevent some perceived causes of the wreck. Water poured in through a sudden hatch failure. This theory was supported by a 1976 Canadian hydrographic survey, which disclosed that an unknown shoal ran a mile further east of Six Fathom Shoal than shown on the Canadian charts. She was under command of Canadian born and highly experienced ship master Captain Ernest M. McSorely. it be nice if they stopped talking about White Fish Bay which is 15 (N) miles from where it went down. Join us at Islands Restaurant in Fullerton on Malvern Avenue. During the following three days, the Coast Guard cutter Woodrush, using a sidescan sonar, located two large pieces of wreckage in the same area. EDMUND FITZGERALD WRECK 10 Newly Gleaned Details and its Disappearance Cooper later reported that he had seen the Fitzgerald get closer than she should have to Six Fathom Shoal, which is north of Caribou Island. As originally built,Edmund Fitzgeraldwas a coal burning steamship with a Westinghouse steam turbine driving a single four bladed propeller at her rear. This would have left the crew no way to survive the Edmund Fitzgerald Wreck. Their only hope was the safety of White Fish Bay, where maybe they could be rescued off or near the ship. Had she sailed two days later, empty, for repairs (very good timing, actually) none of this would have happened. Tom Farnquist is also notably the foremost expert on the wreck of the S.S. Edmunds Fitzgerald. That would seem to indicate that their instruments convinced them that water was leaking into the tank area. By early the next morning, theAndersonandFitzgeraldencountered a powerful November gale with winds up to 50miles an hour. 4:30 p.m. Fitzgerald passes 3 to 5 miles east of Caribou Island. Capt. Discover the Edmund Fitzgerald shipwreck in Lake Superior 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. The caribou were very aggressive, treeing the lighthouse keeper for hours on several occasions. 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. The Fateful Journey - Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society 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. Her owners wanted her to maximize revenue, but "The Lake it is said, never gives up her dead when the skies of November turn gloomy." Its as certain as anything can be that sooner or later there will be another ship lost on Lake Superior, says maritime historian Frederick Stonehouse. Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee Conjecture by proponents of the Six Fathom Shoal theory concluded that Fitzgerald ' s downed fence rail reported by McSorley could occur only if the ship "hogged" during shoaling, . The Lake Carriers Association was inclined to accept that Fitzgerald passed over the Six Fathom Shoal Area as reported by Captain Cooper. 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. Let's not forget about the structural failure of the Carl D. Bradley on Lake Michigan in 1958. released a very fine and very different tempo cover of Lightfoots The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald last March 15. The Anderson turned out to be the primary vessel in the search, taking the lead. There have been about half a dozen dives to the site since the shipwreck in 1975. The light at Whitefish Point was out temporarily on the night the Fitz went down. 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. Capt. And around 7:15 pm, the pip was lost again, but this time, did not reappear. Bernie Cooper. 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.. Since then, there have been about a half dozen dives to the wreck using deep-diving equipment. McSorley replied, We are holding our own. A few minutes later, the Fitzgerald disappeared from the radar screen for the last time, sinking without giving a distress signal. Stationed at K.I. Cooper later said he watched the Edmund Fitzgerald pass far too close to Six Fathom Shoal to the north of Caribou Island. The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead This contact or a near miss would damage the hull and allow water to begin accumulating inside the affected ballast tanks. Conditions reported by the late crewmember Ronald Roman, who was aboard theAndersonthat night. Have you checked down?, Fitzgerald, we are about 10 miles behind you, and gaining about 1 1/2 miles per hour. The Coast Guard were at this time trying to locate a 16-foot boat that was overdue.. 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. Marie, Ontario, only about 8090 miles SE. Diving on the wreck has been completely banned by the Canadian goverment by all means including ROVs and manned submersibles as the wreck is entirely located within the territorial waters of the Canadian province of Ontario. Ill give it a try., Do you realize what the conditions are out there?. She was already moving slow and was listing as well. Grounded on Six Fathom Shoal. Antlers of males weigh an average of 17 pounds and can reach 29 pounds! But the Coast Guard called Captain Cooper back at 9:00 pm: Anderson, this is Group Soo. 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. 43 and 1/2 years later the feeling of that morning is still vivid in my mind. The flooding of the cargo hold took place through ineffective hatch closures as boarding seas rolled along the spar deck.. Although she had a good safety record, theFitzgerald'shull was, according to the anecdotes of mariners who set foot aboard her and sailed on her, a vessel with a loose keel. In Canadian ships alone there are at least one hundred ships that haul iron ore to this day. Almost none of the bodies including that of Captain McSorley were ever found. Sad story. That finding was quickly challenged by the Lake Carriers Association (LCA) and by many seasoned sailors. "We always had to go down and pump them out.". They would later make a turn to the southeast to eventually reach the shelter of Whitefish Point. Canadian flag on the bow, American flag at stern, the Edmund Fitzgerald was a frequent site on the Great Lakes during its almost two decades of service before it sank with the loss of all 29 crew members. 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. In addition to taking on water after *potentially* hitting bottom near Six fathom Shoals earlier this afternoon, the. These sedimentary strata overlie an additional 22 kilometers (14mi) of basaltic volcanic strata and mafic intrusions that fill the remainder of the Midcontinental Rift. Okay, fine, Ill be talking to you later. Clark signed off. Perhaps the real cause of the sinking may never be known for certain. The comment that this industry stopped completely are false. The Fitzgerald being the faster took the lead, with the distance between the vessels ranging from 10 to 15 miles. Proven by: Large holes, Anderson's captain's concern for how close the Fitzgerald was to the shoal, inaccurate charts. Stones laid in V-shaped formations and simple lanes mark the most extensive hunting. 888-492-3747, Copyright 2023 | All Rights Reserved | Produced by Pro Web Marketing. Some of the most famous lyrics in Canadian music history, anchored to what would soon become the most famous shipwreck on the Great Lakes, first appeared as the lede of the bylined story Great Lakes: The Cruelest Month by James R. (Jim) Gaines, national affairs writer, and Jon Lowell for a Nov. 24, 1975 Detroit-based story in Newsweek magazine. Contacts were strong enough to bring in the U.S. Navys CURV III controlled underwater recovery vehicle, operating from Woodrush. Great respect must be accorded to the wreck site, which still contains the remains of crew members and is considered a gravesite. What is the most accepted theory for the sinking of the Edmund - Quora Edmund Fitzgerald: Decades of Speculation, Fascination and Grieving As the afternoon dragged on, the storm worsened. Disproven by: Captain's experience in the area, ballast tank location Rogue waves. The Fateful Journey of The Edmund Fitzgerald - A Great Lakes Disaster USS Indianapolis (CL/CA-35) was a Portland-class heavy cruiser of the United States Navy, named for the Grindstone Island Cars 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. 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. 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. Theories - THE EDMUND FITZGERALD Result: She then sat about nine feet lower in the water than her sisters -- from my observation of their arrivals while fishing for Perch just east of Indiana Harbor, at the southern tip of Lake Michigan. Captain Cooper contacted the other ships in the area by radio asking if anyone had seen or heard from the Fitzgerald. Some theories are nonsense relating to UFOs or a Great Lakes Bermuda Triangle in the area where the ship sank. I have read recently that the shoal near the island doesn't exist but it was from a guy who favors the loose hold cover theory. The ships were nearing Whitefish Bay. )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. Email him at gellison@mlive.com or follow on Twitter & Instagram. See more. [3][8][9] Samples dredged from a shoal northwest of Caribou Island and close to one of these valleys resemble Jacobsville Sandstone. [1][3] In addition, exposures of gently dipping, friable Jacobsville Sandstone, have been reported from Caribou Island. 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. Interesting question. The Anderson changes course to avoid Six Fathom Shoal area north of Caribou Island. Officially, the report of the U.S. Coast Guard marine board of inquiry states that the most probable cause of the sinking was loss of buoyancy due to massive flooding of the cargo hold through ineffective hatch closures. Conditions only grew worse; at 3:15 p.m., the Captain of the Anderson watched the Fitzgerald round Caribou Island, where it seemed to skirt close to Six Fathom Shoal. Winter 2023 NMU School of Art & Design Senior Exhibition Reception, Edmund Fitzgerald: Decades of Speculation, Fascination and Grieving. 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. Marie, Michigan, and Sault Ste. The LCA thinks the Fitzgerald grounded on the poorly-marked Six Fathom Shoal northwest of Caribou Island, causing fatal damage to the hull. All rights reserved. The Anderson was struck by large waves which then travelled in the direction of the Edmond Fitzgerald. In that sense, the Fitzgerald met her fate on the path she took to avoid it. 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 Anderson's captain also made statements in 1986 seemingly supportive of the rogue wave theory. A 2010 television episode of Dive Detectives simulated the effect of a 56-foot wave on a scale model of the Fitzgerald. What's obvious is that wind and waves played a big role in the sinking. Fullerton - Islands Restaurants About: Caribou Island (near Michipicoten Island) 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. They believe that caribou is the most significant creature to hunt. The Fitzgerald is about 16 miles ahead. There is a very good chance that this is what helped lead to her demise. Cooper tried desperately to raise McSorley on the radio to no avail. On this voyage,Fitzgeraldwas fully loaded with iron ore. 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.

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