The Edmund Fitzgerald
I was Deer hunting (or trying to) on an island in the St Mary's River the day the EFG went down, It was a wicked storm. The St Mary's river flows out of Lake Superior at Sault Ste Marie. A friend of mine is reading a history of it. Here's an email he sent me with the events of that day, He uses acronyms, WX-weather T -The or Top or To ....
Ah've bin readin me book on t Edmund Fitzgerald. How t wx changed that day. Fast & fierce. At 1am, t crew was measurin 60mph winds an' 10' high waves hittin t sides o t ship. T ship had bin loaded so that it had only 11'5" freeboard t t top o t spar deck (t long flat deck where t cargo is loaded into). An' this was only t very beginnin o t storm. After midnight with t storm worsenin, both t EF an' t other ship it was sailin with, t Anderson, headed N byNE t get into more shallower water t lessen t effect o t storm an' possibly avoid huger waves that could build in deeper water. Aboot noon t ships began turnin south an' eventually came oot by Michipicoten Island headin twards Whitefish Bay in t south. There was just Caribou Island ahead. T big storm had passed by t t south. T sky cleared aboot 1pm an' t winds dropt t aboot 10mph. BUT they were wrong! They had actually entered T EYE O T STORM! Caramba! Fungoola! Aboot 2pm, t ships hit a revamped storm that was hell bent on destruction. Winds had changed direction & were now comin from t NW & headin directly across t lake at t ships. A chance t make some really BIG waves. At 230pm t EF was 16 miles ahead o t Anderson steerin SE an' approachin t Six Fathom Shoal o Caribou Island. T temp dropt rapidly, snow blew in a blizzard an' visibility dropt t 1/4 mile. T Anderson crew lost visual contact with t EF an' neer saw it again other'n on radar. At that time, MOST but NOT ALL o Six Fathom Shoal had bin charted. No one knows fer sure, but t EF was known t hae lost its radar with t high winds & waves (from radio talk with t Anderson). Also t Anderson radar showed that t EF may hae bin way in too close t t Six Fathom Shoal (or t piece that was not on t charts). T EF captain radioed t Anderson an' reported he was takin on water into t ballast tanks. He may hae hit t shoal an' ruptured t ballast tanks. His pumps were both goin but he was worried. At 640pm t Anderson was hit by a rogue wave estimated at 40' high an' survived. T Anderson radioed t EF at intervals t check on progress with tremendous sized waves constantly happening. At 715pm t Anderson first mate saw t EF out beyond Whitefish Bay on t radar - fer t last time. At 725pm t radar blip was gone. T EF was gone.
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