caribou island six fathom shoal

The caribou were very aggressive, treeing the lighthouse keeper for hours on several occasions. 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. Email him at gellison@mlive.com or follow on Twitter & Instagram. This is futher indicated by the stern which lies completely upside down beside the bow; all superstructure buried deep into the mud. Cooper believes that from that point on, McSorley knew he was sinking. 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. In testimony before the marine board, Captain Cooper said that 10 miles southeast of Caribou he had waves cresting over the pilothouse - 35 feet above the waterline. 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. In 2006, a National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration study recreated the storm in a computer and discovered that the Fitzgerald and its floating companion, the Arthur M. Anderson, inadvertently steamed into the heart of the storm by taking the northern route across Lake Superior to avoid what they thought would be treacherous waves along the established, more direct southern route. (A video of the once proud ship transiting the Soo Locks at Sault Ste. This theory is the thought that the Fitzgerald hit the bottom near Caribou Island, ripping a hole in the ship. Caribou Island is an uninhabited island in the eastern end of Lake Superior, 40 kilometres (25 mi) south of Michipicoten Island. Contacts were strong enough to bring in the U.S. Navys CURV III controlled underwater recovery vehicle, operating from Woodrush. One man lived to tell about what happened unlike the Fitz. Bernie Cooper of the Anderson reported his concern for the Fitzgerald to the Coast Guard station in Sault Ste. The debate rages to this day. USS Indianapolis (CL/CA-35) was a Portland-class heavy cruiser of the United States Navy, named for the Grindstone Island Cars 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. 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. Never could have found any survivors in that storm but we sure tried hour after hour. The official Coast Guard board of inquiry came to the conclusion that the Edmund Fitzgerald sank as a result of massive flooding of the cargo hold, saying that this likely resulted from ineffective hatch closure. Noting that many of the hatch clamps photographed on the sunken freighter show little or no damage or distortion, the report states that this could result from improper maintenance of the adjustment bolts that put tension on the hatch covers and secured them to the top of the coamings around the hatches. The Fitz hull took a fatal blow on a shoal. Five years later in 1980, Jacques Cousteaus famous Calypso arrived for the first manned dive inside an underwater vessel to the site. 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. "We always had to go down and pump them out.". The situation was worsened when McSorely reported to Cooper that his radar was gone. 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. The Western Arctic Herd is one of the largest caribou herds in Alaska and the world. Furthermore, she had few watertight compartments and was rumored to be overloaded beyondwhat her designers had meant for her to carry. But the ship's owners were insurance men, not mariners, who reconfigured her for even more iron ore. 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. The Fitzgerald being the faster took the lead, with the distance between the vessels ranging from 10 to 15 miles. There have been about half a dozen dives to the site since the shipwreck in 1975. 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 She never should have sailed, and could have turned back when "The wind in the wires made a tattletale sound, as a wave broke over the railing." 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. With the ship pounding and rolling badly, the crew of the Anderson discovered the Fitzgeralds two lifeboats and other debris but no sign of survivors. Images of the Fitz's 1958 construction and launch. Cooper later said he watched the Edmund Fitzgerald pass far too close to Six Fathom Shoal to the north of Caribou Island. By 1979, a new Loran broadcast station began operating at Baudette, Minnesota, giving sailors easy access to their location, speed, course being steered and other information. It happened too fast. This contact or a near miss would damage the hull and allow water to begin accumulating inside the affected ballast tanks. These sedimentary strata overlie an additional 22 kilometers (14mi) of basaltic volcanic strata and mafic intrusions that fill the remainder of the Midcontinental Rift. The Anderson's captain also made statements in 1986 seemingly supportive of the rogue wave theory. Cities by ZIP Code. In that sense, the Fitzgerald met her fate on the path she took to avoid it. As of the 2010 Census, the town had a population of 0. At the time of the foundering, there was no requirement for depth-finding instruments on commercial vessels. With regards to iron ore shipping on the Great Lakes, it most certainly is still taking place. 3:20 PM Anderson reports winds coming from the Northwest at 43 knots. ZIP Code by City and State. The studio was, yes, indeed, later torn down and replaced by a parking lot. Inspired in large part by reading Gaines and Lowells Newsweek story, Gordon Lightfoot recorded The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald the following month in December 1975 at Eastern Sound, a recording studio made out of two Victorian houses at 48 Yorkville Ave. in downtown Toronto. He and his officers watched the Fitzgerald pass right over the dangerous area of shallow water. 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. Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society and Emory Kristof, National Geographic Magazine. Marie. Sad story. 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. None. [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 is particularly intrigued by the command that Woodard overheard. It is not known ifFitzgeraldhad struck bottom on the shoal or another nearby outcropping, but upon passing Caribou Island, the problems started. Further searches with sonar turned up what appeared to be a giant vessel on the bottom in two pieces the rough size of theFitzgerald. They issued a letter to the National Transportation Safety Board in September, 1977. The wave worked its way along the deck, crashing on the back of the pilothouse, driving the bow of the Anderson down into the sea. 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. 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. Marie, Michigan, during ferocious northwest winds and seas that washed as high as eight to 12 feet over the ships main deck. to which McSorely replied the infamous last words "We are holding our own." "She took on water all the time and her tunnels flooded out on her," Woodward said. 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. No limit on the Perch, so we returned pretty low in the water. 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. They would later make a turn to the southeast to eventually reach the shelter of Whitefish Point. Add to Cart. 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. 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. Had she sailed two days later, empty, for repairs (very good timing, actually) none of this would have happened. This years service was held at 11 a.m. this morning, with the bell tolling 29 times for each man on the Fitzgerald. At the time of her launch in 1958, the SS Edmund Fitzgerald was the largest freighter on the Great Lakes. At 3:30 pm that afternoon, Captain McSorley radioed Captain Cooper and said: Anderson, this is the Fitzgerald. Understandably the footage was edited out of respect for the dead and the families. Water poured in through a sudden hatch failure. The modification never took place and the patch plates could be seen at the shipyard a couple of years after theFitzgerald'sdemise.TheEdmund Fitzgeralddeparted on what would be her last voyage the afternoon of November 9, 1975 leaving the iron ore docks of Superior, Wisconsin bound for aZug Island steel foundry near Detroit,Michigan. Eight minutes at the Fitz was all that he earned for his four-hour dive because of the necessary decompression. 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. The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald was also the first commercial early digital multi-track recording tracked on the prototype 3M 32-track digital recorder, a novel technology for the time. He reduced speed to allow the Anderson to close the 17-mile gap between them. 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. While conditions were bad, with winds gusting to 50 knots and seas 12 to 16 feet, both captains had often piloted their vessels in similar conditions. From everything we know and remembering that they were not required at the time, neither survival suits nor EPIRB would have helped the crew of the Fitzgerald because the ship sank so suddenly, Stonehouse points out. sometimes we forget to pray that at times we could have been saved, at this time of events, it was meant to have happened, at it is not us who make the storm or to calm the storm..but, Sad to have lost what was a great ship and the people on board History is what I like.. This island was considered an emergency landing airport (YCI) during World War II. The Anderson was struck by large waves which then travelled in the direction of the Edmond Fitzgerald. Caribou Island is an uninhabited island in the eastern end of Lake Superior, 40 kilometres (25mi) south of Michipicoten Island. 400 W. Portage Avenue In the steel towns to Gary's east, Cleveland, Detroit, Pittsburg, Bethlehem and others, urban decay also set in and still remains today (2021). While the loss of the Edmund Fitzgerald remains shrouded in mystery, it is no mystery that ships wreck. 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. No sailors in life vests were found. But an hour later, when Anderson First Mate Morgan Clark asked how he was making out with his problems, McSorley assured him, We are holding our own.. 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. The Coast Guard cited reports of damage to the Fitzgerald's hatches that were planned for winter repair. 888-492-3747, Copyright 2023 | All Rights Reserved | Produced by Pro Web Marketing. 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. From what I know, the Fitzgerald sank 45 years ago as of posting this comment, soon to be 46. In 2003, the herd was estimated to have 490,000 individuals, 6 and in 2016, the herd count decreased to 201,000. The LCA thinks the Fitzgerald grounded on the poorly-marked Six Fathom Shoal northwest of Caribou Island, causing fatal damage to the hull. 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. Adding to that puzzle is the fact that its captain never uttered a word of serious concern for his ship nor reported his problems to the Coast Guard. Recovered, means retrieved from the depths. The two ships were in radio contact. Crafts Its usual route was from Superior, Wisconsin, to Toledo, Ohio, although the destination varied. Still later, at about 6 p.m., Woodard called the Fitz to report that the light had just come on at Whitefish Point. It was also revealed that a fence railing on theFitzgerald's deckhad been broken and a number of vent covers were missing. A half hour later I heard the news. WHITEFISH POINT The first official report on the wreck sparked a flood of second-guessing. [4] The Jacobsville Sandstone is the uppermost and youngest layer comprising about 8 kilometers (5.0mi) of sandstone and conglomerate that underlies Lake Superior and fills the upper part of the Lake Superior segment of the Midcontinent Rift. Okay, fine, Ill be talking to you later. Clark signed off. By late afternoon, the Anderson's captain was noting wind gusts up to 70 knots and waves up to 8 metres. In the early afternoon of November 10, the Fitzgerald had passed Michipicoten Island and was approaching Caribou Island. Kids & Family, Search Events 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. I am from Sault Ste Marie Michigan and a former student of the founder of the great lakes shipwreck historical society Tom Farnquist. TheFitzgeraldoften held records for excellent safety and broke records for most tonnage hauled during a single shipping season. But the questions surrounding the cause of the wreck kept mounting and continue to do so. 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. It had enough force to come down on the starboard lifeboat, pushing it into the saddles with a force strong enough to damage the bottom of the lifeboat. The second large sea put green water (the powerful center of a wave) on our bridge deck! I myself and my classmates are without a doubt able to state that is not only a prime example of media misinformation. 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. The mystery is compounded by mud covering key parts of the wreck and a legal prohibition on further dives imposed by the Canadian government. Again, though, I have to leave that decision up to you as to whether it would be hazarding your vessel or not. Their only hope was the safety of White Fish Bay, where maybe they could be rescued off or near the ship. You can listen to it here at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8LBkYjniTU. In only 8 years time, this magnificent American vessel would be at the bottom of Lake Superior.). The heavy seas overwhelmed a ship that had already lost freeboard and was listing. Stones laid in V-shaped formations and simple lanes mark the most extensive hunting. what is the real truth to this? One winter, in the 1920s, the caribou walked off the island when the lake froze over. 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. If the ship had "hogged" upon striking the. The Fitzgerald is about 16 miles ahead. Your comment will appear after being approved. Captain Cooper maintained that he watched the Edmund Fitzgerald pass far too close to Six Fathom Shoal to the north of Caribou Island. Because all 29 men aboard the Fitzgerald went down with the ship -- which was there one minute and gone the next -- the best accounts that investigators could rely on were those of sailors in the vicinity of the ship during the storm, or who had contact with the Fitzgerald somehow in the weeks prior to her final voyage. 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. Perhaps the real cause of the sinking may never be known for certain. By the way, Fitzgerald, how are you making out with your problems? asked Clark. This would have left the crew no way to survive the Edmund Fitzgerald Wreck. The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down 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. Some theories are nonsense relating to UFOs or a Great Lakes Bermuda Triangle in the area where the ship sank. 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. But what caused the ship to take on water, enough to lose buoyancy and dive to the bottom so quickly, without a single cry for help, cannot be determined. Captain McSorley told Woodard that the ship has a bad list, implying that it had gotten worse since his earlier report to Captain Cooper. He could clearly see the ship and the beacon on Caribou on his radar set and could measure the distance between them. Arizona Death Notices 2020, Faulkner Park Baseball Field Map, How Do I Contact Publix Corporate, Articles C