For Probable Trackline

There are 60 minutes in a degree and 60 seconds in a minute; 3600 seconds in a degree. There are 360 degrees in a complete circle or sphere but in all longitude and latitude measurements, the total of the degrees is expressed as 2 halves from 0 to 180 degrees each side.

Data: For Probable Trackline
CRA Hydrography Service 2010

Test Two: Michipicoten Island West End to Wreck site of Edmund Fitzgerald
Initial Course 141.543 Degrees True
Distance 55.945 Nautical Miles or 64.380 Statute Miles
64.380 Statute Miles @ 16.3 Statute Miles per Hour = 3 Hours 56 Minutes 58 Seconds
Note: The Fitz was reported to pass Michipiconten Island at 1:45 pm and was loss aroung 7:30 pm.
True test time just under 4 Hours - But it took Fitz 5 Hours and 45 Minutes
That 1 Hour and 45 Minutes too long. or the Fitz travel a longer Western trackline near Caribou Island also supports the reports by the Anderson Captain and Mates. Fitz would have to add 28.52 Statute Miles to the T141 trackline to make it work.
T141 Does not work.

Test Three - The Real Track Line: CRA Hydrography Service 2010

The Anderson was reporting only 15 miles behine the Fitz most of the trip. If the Fitz "Check-down" at 3:30 pm to a complete stop to let the Anderson close the distance between the vessels. The Anderson could run into the back of the Fitz in only 1 Hour 1 Minute and 38 Seconds at the reported speed of 14.6 mph.
The Anderson would be one hour behine at 15 Miles.

CRA Hydrography Service 2010
Starting Point Burlington Northern Railroad Dock No. 1 Superior WI
46 41 54.48N - 92 01 17.58W
99 r.p.m. = 16.3 mph

Fitzgerald
1 Statute Mile @ 16.3 Statute Miles per Hour = 3 Minutes and 40 Seconds
1 Statute Mile @ 16.2 Statute Miles per Hour = 3 Minutes and 42 Seconds
1 Statute Mile @ 16.1 Statute Miles per Hour = 3 Minutes and 43 Seconds
1 Statute Mile @ 16.0 Statute Miles per Hour = 3 Minutes and 45 Seconds

Anderson
1 Statute Mile @ 14.0 Statute Miles per Hour = 4 Minutes and 17 Seconds
1 Statute Mile @ 14.1 Statute Miles per Hour = 4 Minutes and 15 Seconds
1 Statute Mile @ 14.2 Statute Miles per Hour = 4 Minutes and 13 Seconds
1 Statute Mile @ 14.3 Statute Miles per Hour = 4 Minutes and 11 Seconds
1 Statute Mile @ 14.6 Statute Miles per Hour = 4 Minutes and 06 Seconds

Note: The Fitz was 26 Seconds faster per mile than the Anderson.
(Fitz gain 8976 Feet each hour)
Note One Mile = 5280 Feet
Anderson @ 14.6 mph = 1284.8 Feet per minute
Fitzgerald @ 16.3 mph = 1434.399 Feet per minute
The Fitz will travel 149.599 Feet per minute faster

Up and down boat action in larger waves over the shoals
A vessel may not exhibit this phenomenon in deep water but may show springing when passing over a shoal where the entrained water causes the virtual displacement of the hull to increase.
Feet the Fitz will travel forward @ 16.3 mph over a shoal and hit the bottom.

Cycles time per minute

60 Seconds = 1424.399
50 Seconds = 1195.333
40 Seconds = 956.266
30 Seconds = 717.199
20 Seconds = 478.133
10 Seconds = 239.066
8.5 Seconds = 203.206 Feet Travel (Time cycles per minute) Pitch - Roll - Yaw

Rotation around the front-to-back axis is called roll.
Rotation around the side-to-side axis is called pitch.
Rotation around the vertical axis is called yaw.

The Fitz broke at two areas, the missing center section would be 200 ft long.
The Fitz would have a 8.5 Seconds cycles per minute @ 16.3 mph near a shoal.

Probable Trackline

View video of the last trip

"The position of FITZGERALD relative to that of ANDERSON cannot be reconstructed. Information available is based on the recollections of the Master and Watch Officers on ANDERSON, since the relative position of FITZGERALD was observed intermittently on the radar, but not recorded. Testimony on these observations is inconsistent.

Despite many people accepting this as the most likely scenario for the sudden list and deck damage, the photographic evidence for such a grounding may exist. Every expedition to the freighter has reported that there is some scraping, gouging or damage to the rudder or propeller, which should show on the overturned bottom of the stern. Diving expeditions on the shoals soon may find new evidence of groundings by a ship.

Replot the track line from the lost two page report

Safety Board investigators considered the possibility that flooding resulted from a grounding which ruptured the hull plating in the area of some ballast tanks, but rejected this possibility for the following reasons:

A reconstruction of the FITZGERALD’s most probable trackline shows her path to be about 3 miles from the nearest position where grounding could have occurred.

In reconstructing the ANDERSON’s probable trackline, the Safety Board relied primarily upon the ship’s log entries concerning fixes taken at 1520 and 1652, the courses steered, and the reported speed of 14.5 mph. Subsequent testimony indicated a course change at 1652, which was not logged and a fix taken at 1701, which also was not logged.