The legend of the Edmund Fitzgerald remains the most mysterious and controversial of all shipwreck tales heard around the Great Lakes. Her story is surpassed in books, film and media only by that of the Titanic. Canadian folksinger Gordon Lightfoot inspired popular interest in this vessel with his 1976 ballad, "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald."

The Fitzgerald Storm

November is referred to as "The Month of Storms" on the Great Lakes. The storm that hit when the Fitzgerald went down was one of the biggest, and the worst that Captain McSorley said he had ever seen. In the Fitzgerald's storm, winds as fast as 45 knots were reported, with waves as high as thirty feet. Both water pumps on the Edmund Fitzgerald were damaged, and the lifeboats were destroyed by the force of the storm. While it is many times portrayed that ships were happy to return to the water in search for the Fitz that night, they were not. Though they were eager to help their friends, it was a hard decision to make. Crews had to make a choice to risk their lives in hopes of saving others, or staying sheltered by the safety of Whitefish point. While many factors undoubtedly went into the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald, and no one can conclusively determine the cause, one thing is certain from testimony of other sailors that were on Lake Superior on November 10: the storm was a major factor to the ultimate demise of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Waves high enough to sweep across the deck, making it too dangerous to stand on the deck were a major factor in the Edmund Fitzgerald taking on water early in the day on November 10. Whatever the cause of the wreck itself, the storm of November 10 will not be forgotten soon by Great Lakes sailors.

The Wreck of The Edmund Fitzgerald

by Gordon Lightfoot

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee
The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead
When the skies of November turn gloomy.

With a load of iron ore - 26,000 tons more
Than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty
That good ship and true was a bone to be chewed
When the gales of November came early

The ship was the pride of the American side
Coming back from some mill in Wisconson
As the big freighters go it was bigger than most
With a crew and the Captain well seasoned.

Concluding some terms with a couple of steel firms
When they left fully loaded for Cleveland
And later that night when the ships bell rang
Could it be the North Wind they'd been feeling.

The wind in the wires made a tattletale sound
And a wave broke over the railing
And every man knew, as the Captain did, too,
T'was the witch of November come stealing.

The dawn came late and the breakfast had to wait
When the gales of November came slashing
When afternoon came it was freezing rain
In the face of a hurricane West Wind

When supper time came the old cook came on deck
Saying fellows it's too rough to feed ya
At 7PM a main hatchway caved in
He said fellas it's been good to know ya.

The Captain wired in he had water coming in
And the good ship and crew was in peril
And later that night when his lights went out of sight
Came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

Does anyone know where the love of God goes
When the words turn the minutes to hours
The searchers all say they'd have made Whitefish Bay
If they'd fifteen more miles behind her.

They might have split up or they might have capsized
They may have broke deep and took water
And all that remains is the faces and the names
Of the wives and the sons and the daughters.

Lake Huron rolls, Superior sings
In the ruins of her ice water mansion
Old Michigan steams like a young man's dreams,
The islands and bays are for sportsmen.

And farther below Lake Ontario
Takes in what Lake Erie can send her
And the iron boats go as the mariners all know
With the gales of November remembered.

In a musty old hall in Detroit they prayed
In the Maritime Sailors' Cathedral
The church bell chimed, 'til it rang 29 times
For each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald.

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee
Superior, they say, never gives up her dead
When the gales of November come early

Theories about the Sinking:

There are several theories behind the sinking of the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald, but still to this day nothing has been proven. Since there were no survivors to provide eyewitness accounts, any theory is as plausible as others. Though research has been conducted and claims made, nothing can provide a definitive reason and cause for the sinking. This page lists the most common theories; S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald Online does not endorse or support any one particular theory.

• Bottoming out/grounding. This could have very well happened near Six Fathom Shoal.
• Faulty hatch covers
• Another theory, which is very disliked by many Fitz enthusiasts, is that the men may not have properly fastened the series of clamps that were used to hold down all of the the hatches, and therefore water seeped in.
• Previous structural damage may have caused the sinking.
• Huge waves swamped the ship and it sank. Many people call these huge waves (so big they are detected by radar) the Three Sisters.
• Lack of proper repair from previous damage may have played a role
• A huge wave rode up between two swells and the ship snapped in half.
• Human error
• A wave engulfed the ship, pushing the front of the ship underwater. The ship then hit ground, and broke in two...this may be why the two portions of the ship are so close.
• Waves lifted both ends of the ship (bow and stern), but the center of the ship containing the cargo was not held by a wave, so the overload forced the center downward, sinking and/or breaking the ship in two.

Bron/source: http://www.ssefo.com/