About the Ship

The S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald was conceived as a business enterprise of the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Northwestern Mutual contracted with Great Lakes Engineering Works of Ecorse, Michigan to construct a "maximum sized" Great Lakes bulk carrier. Her keel was laid on August 8, 1957 as Hull No. 301.

Inside the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald

The FITZGERALD was a conventional "straightdecker" Great Lakes bulk cargo vessel. It was 729 feet long, 75 feet in breadth, 39 feet in depth, 13,632 gross tons, and 8,686 net tons. It was propelled by a 7,500-hp, steam turbine and was built as Hull 301 at Great Lakes Engineering Works, River Rouge, Michigan, in 1958. The vessel was owned by Northeastern Mutual Life Insurance Company and operated by the Columbia Transportation Division of the Oglebay Norton Company.

S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald Hull 301
4,000 ft of cracking was detected in the keelson and frames

Some 4,000 ft. of cracking was detected in the keelson and frame connection to the shell plating; however, during the winter layup of 1968-1969, this condition was look at and a minimum redesign and repair was done to get a coast guard approval to get the boat back in service that year. Each year the cracking came back.The mud layer in the bottom of the ballast tanks would make it hard to inspect for this problem each year.

Minimum Required Freeboard

1969 Minimum required freeboard is reduced by the American Board of Shipping (ABS)

1971 Freeboard is again reduced by ABS

1973 Freeboard is again reduced by ABS. The S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald can now legally carry enough cargo to sit 3 feet 3 1/4 inches lower in the water than was considered safe when she was launched. (4,421.5 tons more.) The shipping industry standard for shipments of coal is the net ton (2,000 lbs or 907.2 kgs). Other bulk commodities use the gross ton (2,240 lbs / 1,016 kgs) or metric tonne (1,000 kgs / 2,204.6 lbs).

WHITEFISH POINT LIGHT STATION ESTABLISHED IN 1849
Whitefish Point, Michigan

Weather at Paradise, Michigan

Today the wreckage of the Edmund Fitzgerald lies
in 530 feet of water in eastern Lake Superior. The exact
cause of the sinking is now understood. One
popular theory has the ship taking on water and
having the hull ripped open while steaming in shallow
waters near 6-fathom shoals. Another claims the ship’s
4000 ft. of bottom welds was broken and had unloading damage to the cargo bottom
whitch allowed water to enter into the cargo holds while plowing through the 30-foot west wind and west waves.