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www.mybaycity.com November 2, 2014
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The Edmund Fitzgerald was the largest ship on the Great Lakes when it was launched in 1958.

HEAR FITZ TAPES: Lost Radio Tapes of Edmund Fitzgerald Sinking Now Online

November 1 Starts With Raging Gales Like Those of 1975 When the Fitz Sank

November 2, 2014       Leave a Comment
By: Dave Rogers

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November, the month sailors most fear, started with the same kind of fearful winds and high crashing waves like that historic day 39 years ago when the SS Edmund Fitzgerald went down on Lake Superior.

The infamous Gales of November are with us again.

The U.S. Weather Service measured a wave at 21.7 feet in height, near record, in the middle of Lake Michigan off Holland.

With a start like that, who knows what dreadful maritime tales this November will tell?

Now you can hear history across the waves and the years as it was being made.

"It's fairly certain that the Fitzgerald went down," the quaking voice spoke across the raging waters of Lake Superior.

"I think I see a life jacket floating," he radio operator observes grimly.

It was Nov. 10, 1975. You can now hear the radio traffic from that fateful night.

Rare radio chatter between the SS Arthur M. Anderson and the U.S. Coast Guard November 10th, 1975, the last time anyone ever heard from the Edmund Fitzgerald, is preserved for posterity on a 5:42 minute tape can be heard at:

http://www.shipwreckmuseum.com/edmund-fitzgerald-36/

The 647 foot long Anderson won fame for being the last vessel to be in visual, radio and radar contact with the Fitzgerald. It was also first on the scene of the sinking in a futile rescue attempt: no survivors were found and all 29 men aboard were lost.

The 730 foot Fitzgerald was the maximum size for the St. Lawrence Seaway. It remains the largest ship ever sunk on the Great Lakes.

The Edmund Fitzgerald was lost with her entire crew of 29 men on Lake Superior November 10, 1975, 17 miles north-northwest of Whitefish Point, Michigan.

The lost tapes have been found by the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum, Whitefish Point near Paradise, Michigan, and are available to all online.

Maritime historians recount the fateful day: "On a sunny November 9, 1975, the Anderson had departed Two Harbors, MN into Lake Superior with a load of ore for Gary, IN. Shortly after departure, she was overtaken by the Edmund Fitzgerald having left Superior, WI two hours earlier (1:15 pm) with a load of taconite ore for Zug Island on the Detroit River.

"The two captains (Capt. Jesse B. Cooper of the Arthur M. Anderson and Capt. Ernest M. McSorley of the Edmund Fitzgerald) agreed to run together maintaining radio and radar contact with each other on their Lake Superior transit through a fore-casted storm to the Soo taking the longer route following the Canadian shore."

"The legend of the Edmund Fitzgerald remains the most mysterious and controversial of all shipwreck tales heard around the Great Lakes," reads the museum tribute to the Fitz.

"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."

Whitefish Point is the site of the Whitefish Point Light Station and Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum. The Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society (GLSHS) has conducted three underwater expeditions to the wreck, 1989, 1994, and 1995.

Fitzgerald's 200 lb. bronze bell was recovered by the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society on July 4, 1995. Also cooperating on this expedition were the National Geographic Society, Canadian Navy, Sony Corporation, and Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians. The bell is now on display in the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum as a memorial to her lost crew.

The Fitzgerald was built by Great Lakes Engineering, River Rouge, Michigan. Its owner was the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company. ###

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Dave Rogers

Dave Rogers is a former editorial writer for the Bay City Times and a widely read,
respected journalist/writer in and around Bay City.
(Contact Dave Via Email at carraroe@aol.com)

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