Mighty Fitz - 9781582346472

When the Edmund Fitzgerald nosedived to the bottom of Lake Superior, twenty-nine men perished. No witnesses survived, and speculation ran rampant. Thirty years later, the ship's demise remains one of the great unsolved mysteries in maritime history. Michael Schumacher examines this iconic ship's productive life and untimely end.
The specifics of what happened to the "Mighty Fitz" in the early hours of November 10, 1975, will never be known. What we do know: The Edmund Fitzgerald, a colossal ore carrier, had been fighting its way through a pounding November storm on Lake Superior when she started to lose ground. The Fitz's radar went out, and she was taking on water.
Despite gale force winds and thirty-foot seas, there was no reason to think the Fitz wouldn't find safe harbor at Whitefish Point, Michigan. Captain Bernie Cooper of the Arthur Anderson had been in steady contact with Ernest McSorley, the Fitz's captain. The two ships had been traveling together through the storm, and the last word from McSorley was, "We are holding our own." By all indications, the crew had no idea they were in mortal danger, and they plunged to Lake Superior's bottom before they could call for help. A massive search ensued but failed to find a single survivor.
Michael-Schumacher relays the story of the Edmund Fitzgerald, its many years on the waters of the Great Lakes, its tragic final day, and the search effort and investigation, as well as the speculation and the controversy that followed in the wake of the disaster.