The lake that never gives up her dead
Lake Superior · the Edmund Fitzgerald, 10 November 1975
“A seven hundred and twenty nine foot ore freighter sank in a Lake Superior storm with twenty nine men aboard.”
- NTSB Marine Accident Report MAR-78-03 — the federal investigation into the sinking.
- Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society — 729 ft overall; a crew of 29, aged 20 to 63.
“No distress call. No survivors. Not one body was ever recovered.”
- NTSB MAR-78-03 — no distress signal was received by any vessel or shore station.
- The search recovered lifeboats, rafts and debris. None of the crew were recovered. A body was later observed on the lakebed (below) — observed is not recovered, and both statements are true.
“Superior’s deep water holds around thirty four degrees, so cold that the bacteria that normally bring a body to the surface simply can’t work.”
- American Water College — Lake Superior — deep water sits near 34°F (1.1°C) year round.
- Truth or Fiction, “Do bodies float in Lake Superior?” — a body normally resurfaces on bacterial gas; near-freezing water suppresses it.
“The wreck still lies five hundred and thirty feet down near Whitefish Point, protected by law as a grave site. In 1994, a submersible found one crewman near the bow, nineteen years after the sinking, still in his life jacket.”
- NTSB MAR-78-03 — 530 feet (88 fathoms), in Canadian water just north of the international boundary.
- Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society — 17 miles north-north-west of Whitefish Point, Michigan.
- Ontario Heritage Act protection — a 500 m marine archaeological zone designated January 2006; unlicensed survey carries fines up to CA$1 million.
- Expeditions to the Edmund Fitzgerald and Frederick Shannon, “Expedition ’94” — seven dives, 25–27 July 1994, using Delta Oceanographic’s submersible Delta. The crewman was partly dressed in coveralls and wearing a life jacket, alongside the bow.
“Twenty nine names, one bell.”
- Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society — the 200 lb bronze bell was recovered on 4 July 1995 by a joint expedition with the National Geographic Society, the Canadian Navy, Sony and the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians. It is rung 29 times each year, once per crew member. A replica engraved with the 29 names was left on the wreck.
Corrections made before this episode was published. An earlier cut said divers found the crewman in 1994. No one has ever dived this wreck — at 530 feet it is far beyond diver range, and the 1994 survey was made by submersible. The same cut gave the depth as 535 feet, which is the Coast Guard cutter Woodrush’s initial sonar fix rather than the 530 feet in the official report. Both were fixed before release.
The rest of the series
Sources are published here as each episode goes out. Nothing is listed before it has been checked line by line.
- Lake Michigan · Flight 2501, 1950
- Lake Tahoe · a dive that never happened
- Lake Lanier · Oscarville, 1912
- Lake of the Ozarks · Linn Creek, 1931
- Lake Norman · East Monbo, 1963