CONTINUOUSWAVE

Fifty years ago today, November 10, 1975, the steamship Edmund Fitzgerald sank in Lake Superior during a huge storm. As a young boy, seven years old, on a peculiar Saturday morning in June, 1958, my Father took me to see the launching of that now-famous ship in Detroit. I remember that day very clearly. And afterwards, we always had an eye out for the Fitzgerald when, on hot summer evenings, my dad would take the family to a riverfront park in southwest Detroit to “watch the boats go by”—with “boats” meaning Great Lakes freighters transiting the Detroit River.

There are many books about the sinking, and I have read most all of them. There is a just-published new one written by John U. Bacon, “The Gales of November: The Untold Story of the Edmund Fitzgerald.”

For many years I have had an as-yet unfulfilled plan to take my own boat out 15-miles into Lake Superior, and visit the wreck site. The exact location is well-known because various regulations prohibit using any SONAR in the area. Those odd prohibitions arose after eerily accurate high-resolution towed side-scan images were published many years ago.

Maybe next year I will finally make that trip. When the ‘Fitz went down, she was only 17-years-old, and for freshwater ships, considered to be practically still new. I am now 75-years-old, so I had better get on with my planned trip before my sailing days are done, too.

Many years ago, I was a very new member of the Birmingham (Michigan) Power Squadron. At one of the meetings, the featured speaker was a retired meteorologist from what was then called the Weather Bureau. The gentleman was also interested in boating, and he gave a very interesting lecture on the weather on Lake Superior in early November.

The presenter explained how the difference in temperature between the air and water in Lake Superior could affect the intensity of a storm. The heat energy from relatively warm water would add to the storm's strength as the storm blew over the lake. And for those not acquainted with the "lake", on Lake Superior a trip from Duluth to Sault Ste. Marie is about 400-miles of open water sailing on the most straight-line courses.

Having access to a lot of historical data, the meteorologist looked for the days in November when the difference between air and water temperature on Lake Superior was the largest. He found the three days from November 9 to November 11 tended to contain the biggest temperature differentials. It was then no coincidence that some of the worst storms, and the worst loss of ships, has occurred in that three-day period. And even more remarkable, he noted that 80-percent of tonnage on the bottom of the Great Lakes sank during that early November three-day time frame.

Sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald on September 10, 1975 was just the latest example.

In 1913 a hurricane blizzard raged over the Great Lakes from November 7 to 10, with the greatest intensity on November 9th, when numerous ships were sunk.

In 1940 another blizzard tracked across western Lake Superior and Lake Michigan on November 11th, sinking several ships.

When Gordon Lightfoot used the phrase "when the Gales of November come early" he was very accurate.

Even this year, northern lower Michigan and the Upper Peninsula got an early snowstorm on November 9th and 10th.

Taking our REVENGE 25 to the open water wreck site has interested me, too. I'd try to incorporate some angling while on the big lake, as well.

ASIDE ON TRIP TO ISLE ROYALE
[New topic has been moved to the TRIPS and RENDEZVOUS forum for further discussion.]

My plan for visiting the wreck site would be to bring the boat on the trailer to a small harbor of refuge in northern Whitefish Bay. There is a launch ramp there, and also a protected harbor, but it’s quite rustic. We would launch the boat and sleep aboard on the first night. From there I would plan for an early morning run north to the wreck, hoping to take advantage of calm seas before any winds came up. As the distance to the wreck is only about 17-miles, we could get there in 30 to 40-minutes. Perhaps spend an hour on site, then back to Whitefish Bay. There we would get the boat back on the trailer. Next stop would be the museum a few miles away. Then back to civilization.

I don’t think there is a fuel dock at the harbor, but fuel endurance would not be a worry as the round trip would only be perhaps 40-miles total.