http://homepage.mac.com/philmac/iblog http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss maccbiz@mac.com © philmacc Sat, 11 Dec 2004 21:58:29 -0500 Sat, 11 Dec 2004 21:58:31 -0500 iBlog 1.4.1 http://homepage.mac.com/philmac/iblog/C619125428/E2011934281/index.html Only three navigational charts covering the area between Michipicoten Island and Whitefish Bay are available. ]]> Sat, 11 Dec 2004 21:56:57 -0500 http://homepage.mac.com/philmac/iblog/C619125428/E2011934281/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/philmac/iblog/C619125428/E281919715/index.html The Coast Guard Certificate of Inspection issued on April 9, 1975, authorized the FITZGERALD to carry 49 persons, although it had only 29 crewmen aboard on November 10, 1975. ]]> Sat, 11 Dec 2004 21:54:55 -0500 http://homepage.mac.com/philmac/iblog/C619125428/E281919715/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/philmac/iblog/C619125428/E828788902/index.html Because of the weather conditions following the sinking of the FITZGERALD and because the wreckage was lying on the bottom of Lake Superior in 530 feet of water, a comprehensive examination of the damage to the FITZGERALD was not undertaken until May 1976. ]]> Sat, 11 Dec 2004 21:51:32 -0500 http://homepage.mac.com/philmac/iblog/C619125428/E828788902/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/philmac/iblog/C619125428/E1726103371/index.html On November 8, 1975, a storm was generated over the Oklahoma Panhandle. By 0700 on November 9, the storm was centered over south-central Kansas and the National Weather Service (NWS) predicted that the storm would travel in a northeasterly direction and pass just south of Lake Superior by 1900 on November 10. ]]> Sat, 11 Dec 2004 21:48:17 -0500 http://homepage.mac.com/philmac/iblog/C619125428/E1726103371/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/philmac/iblog/C619125428/E54936220/index.html About 1915 EST., on November 10, 1975, the Great Lakes bulk cargo vessel SS EDMUND FITZGERALD, fully loaded with a cargo of taconite pellets, sank in eastern Lake Superior in position 46 59.91 N, 85 06.6’W, approximately 17 miles from the entrance to Whitefish Bay, Michigan. The ship was en route from Superior, WI, to Detroit, MI, and had been proceeding at a reduced speed in a severe storm. All the vessel’s 29 officers and crewmembers are missing and presumed dead. No distress call was heard by vessels or shore stations.

The Safety Board considered many factors during the investigation including stability, hull strength, operating practices, adequacy of weathertight closures, hatch cover strength, possible grounding, vessel design, loading practices, and weather forecasting.

The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the sudden massive flooding of the cargo hold due to the collapse of one or more hatch covers. Before the hatch covers collapsed, flooding into the ballast tanks and tunnel through topside damage and flooding into the cargo hold through non-weathertight hatch covers caused a reduction of freeboard and a list. The hydrostatic and hydrodynamic forces imposed on the hatch covers by heavy boarding seas at this reduced freeboard and with the list caused the hatch covers to collapse.

Contributing to the accident was the lack of transverse weathertight bulkheads in the cargo hold and the reduction of freeboard authorized by the 1969, 1971, and 1973 amendments to the Great Lakes Load Line Regulations ]]> Tue, 07 Dec 2004 18:41:48 -0500 http://homepage.mac.com/philmac/iblog/C619125428/E54936220/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/philmac/iblog/C619125428/E1077610706/index.html During October, November and December, it is not uncommon for powerful storms to track northeast across the Great Lakes region. Building arctic air masses across Alaska and Canada surge southeast into the Rockies and Plains States more frequently. At the same time, the still very warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico provide a source of heat and considerable moisture to fuel the development of low pressure systems riding the leading edge of the arctic air masses. ]]> Sun, 05 Dec 2004 20:07:43 -0500 http://homepage.mac.com/philmac/iblog/C619125428/E1077610706/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/philmac/iblog/C619125428/E1444147961/index.html The Coast Guard conducted a thorough search in the next several days. On the 14th, a U.S. Navy plane with a special magnetic anomaly detector located a strong contact about 17 miles northwest of Whitefish Point. During the next three days, the Coast Guard cutter Woodrush located two large pieces of wreckage in the same area under about 535 feet of water. A Navy underwater recovery vehicle on May 20, 1976, photographed the wreckage. The pictures clearly showed the words "Edmund Fitzgerald on the stern piece of the sunken ship. ]]> Thu, 02 Dec 2004 18:26:45 -0500 http://homepage.mac.com/philmac/iblog/C619125428/E1444147961/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/philmac/iblog/C619125428/E869106761/index.html The Fitzgerald began Sunday, November 9, 1975, loading 26,116 tons of taconite at the Burlington Northern Railroad Dock #1 in Superior, WI. On this 40th voyage in her 17th season, the Fitzgerald’s destination was a steel plant on Zug Island in the Detroit River. The weather that morning was cloudy and cool with a light northeast wind. However, a deepening storm system was already taking shape in the central Plains. ]]> Wed, 01 Dec 2004 19:50:24 -0500 http://homepage.mac.com/philmac/iblog/C619125428/E869106761/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/philmac/iblog/C619125428/E438971668/index.html The Edmund Fitzgerald was launched on June 7, 1958, from the Great Lakes Engineering Works at River Rouge, MI, a suburb on the south side of Detroit. ]]> Tue, 30 Nov 2004 19:07:55 -0500 http://homepage.mac.com/philmac/iblog/C619125428/E438971668/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/philmac/iblog/C619125428/E2017230842/index.html ... and the ships that were not in dock, were riding the ever-growing waves as the storm raged across Lake Superior. ]]> Tue, 30 Nov 2004 18:55:15 -0500 http://homepage.mac.com/philmac/iblog/C619125428/E2017230842/index.html