04/22/2026
The Edmund Fitzgerald Mystery
"On the 10th of November 1975, the largest ship to ever sink on the Great Lakes slipped under the waters of Lake Superior and took every member of its crew with it.
The exact cause was a mystery that spawned a massive investigation, but the truth remains shrouded even to this day.
This vessel, the Edmund Fitzgerald, remains a stark reminder of the dangers the mariners face when going to sea on the waters of the Great Lakes.
The Great Lakes, how do you describe something so vast to someone unfamiliar with them?
These aren't simple, run-of-the-mill backyard freshwater lakes, they're as vast as seas. I could tell you they are the largest freshwater system in the world and contain 84 of North America's fresh water.
In fact, they contain 20 percent of the world's fresh water. The largest lake is the largest lake in the world based on surface area.
This lake, aptly named Lake Superior, could fit the four smaller lakes of the Great Lakes inside of it.
It's 350 miles wide, 160 miles long, its average shoreline is 2726 miles long, and it's an average of 500 feet deep and a max of 1332 feet deep.
But those are just numbers, they don't give you a true scope of the lakes or an idea of how dangerous they are.
What about the fact that the lakes are home to an estimated 6 000 shipwrecks, in the graves of nearly 30 000 sailors?
These massive freshwater seas are more dangerous than most would believe, and yet they are nonetheless extremely useful.
Around 125 million tons of cargo are shipped across the Great Lakes every year, forty percent of that being produced from America's breadbasket, things like wheat, corn, oats, and soybeans.
But another forty percent are minerals and important ores, iron, taconite, coal, salt, and stone, fueling the US's huge industrial machine.
In fact, our story centers around a massive powerhouse in that industry. Ordered on February 1st of 1957 by the Northwest Mutual Life Insurance Company, the SS Edmund Fitzgerald was going to be an absolute behemoth of a lake freighter.
At the time, she was designed to be exactly one foot less than the maximum allowable limit on the Great Lakes, 729 feet, this being because the locks in Sault Ste Marie, Michigan, often just called the Sioux Locks, were 730 feet.
Her beam was the maximum allowed limit of 75 feet. At the time of her commissioning, she was the largest ship on the Great Lakes.
She would be a whopping 13 632 tons and could carry well over 25 000 tons in her hold.
She had a crew of 29, and it was driven by massive steam turbine engines that pushed her along at 14 knots.
Named after the president CEO of the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, Edmund Fitzgerald, the man had a vested interest in Great Lakes shipping.
His grandfather and five of his brothers were all mariners on the Great Lakes. On top of that, his company had large stakes in the coal and iron ore industries, which would explain why they were willing to fit the bill for the 8.4 million dollar ship, just over 81 million dollars when adjusted for inflation.
Laid down on the 7th of August 1957, she was commissioned the 7th of June 1958.
Now, this was where the superstitious type may take note, her commissioning did not go off without a hitch.
There were a few clear issues. A crowd of an estimated 10 000 people watched from set up grandstands from the piers, even some watching from rooftops, to see the mighty Fits launched.
But when it came time for Elizabeth Fitzgerald, Edmund Fitzgerald's wife, to break the ceremonial bottle of champagne across the bow, it took three tries.
But the leery ceremony had only just started. The ship slid down the slipway and entered the water at a dangerous-looking angle.
After self-righting, it sent a wave into the opposite pier and slammed into it. There was a wave of shock and excitement, and a middle-aged man from Toledo even had a heart attack and died.
It was foreboding, to say the least. Any older mariner will, of course, tell you a bad christening is a sign of bad luck..."
READ THE FULL STORY HERE: https://ht2.cafex.biz/blog/khai-the-edmund-fitzgerald-mystery