47 years, dang...

[Sld1959]

This sure makes me feel old, been 47 years today since the Fitzgerald sunk. Probably not something anyone not living on the great lakes knows a lot about. Except maybe the song. Just saw the Author Anderson unloading gravel a couple months ago, her skipper was the last to talk to the Fitzs skipper.

 

[Talyn]

When I lived in Duluth, I visited the museum there that has several EM artifacts. Plus, they have a museum ore boat there that's very similar to the EM, and you can go inside the whole boat from stem to stern. What struck me was those old ore boats didn't look very sturdily built and basically just a bulk container for the ore pellets. I could see that given the huge waves generated on Lake Superior could easily break the old boats in half if the two ends were on top of two separate huge waves.

After seeing how bad the "Big Lake" gets in a storm I sure wouldn't want to be out on it in a major storm.

 

[Sld1959]

When I lived in Duluth, I visited the museum there that has several EM artifacts. Plus, they have a museum ore boat there that's very similar to the EM, and you can go inside the whole boat from stem to stern. What struck me was those old ore boats didn't look very sturdily built and basically just a bulk container for the ore pellets. I could see that given the huge waves generated on Lake Superior could easily break the old boats in half if the two ends were on top of two separate huge waves.

After seeing how bad the "Big Lake" gets in a storm I sure wouldn't want to be out on it in a major storm.

Yeah the lakes are nothing to fool with. I crewed a couple sail boats in the Mackinac race and been in storms they can turn a man to prayer...

 

[TEXASforLIFE]

The seas can be very unforgiving! My dad was not a water lover unless it's a shower, tub or shallow pool. Him being a pilot and would takeoff at a LA area airport that requires you to fly out 2 miles before circling back over land, he would yank and bank and get back over land asap. Another reason he never took us as a family to Hawaii or anywhere you couldn't be over land the whole flight. If the airline pilots would let him in the cockpit.........maybe he would've gone?

 

[HayesGreener]

I was working undercover drug cases with the Air Force in Michigan a couple months after this happened. It seemed that it's all the locals were talking about everywhere I went. What a terrible tragedy. I watched a special on this on the Smithsonian Channel a few years back. A lot of things converged to cause the wreck.