The Gales of November: SS Edmund Fitzgerald Simulation

CAMERA:

CONDITION:

> FREE ORBIT VIEW [DRAG TO ROTATE · SCROLL TO ZOOM]

RUDDER ANGLE:0°

HULL LIST (STARBOARD/PORT):0.0°

WAVE HEIGHT (FT):3 FT

729-Foot Great Lakes Straight-Deck Anatomy (Click a Subsystem)

Built to the maximum Saint Lawrence Seaway lock dimensions (730 × 80 ft) at Great Lakes Engineering Works, River Rouge, Michigan.

LENGTH: 729 FT · BEAM: 75 FT · MOLDED DEPTH: 39 FT

Forward Pilothouse, Texas Deckhouse & BowStations 0–18 · 276 FT Forward Wreck Section

Classic Great Lakes forward superstructure housing the rounded pilothouse, dual marine radars (10cm S-Band and 3cm X-Band), radio direction finder, Captain’s and officers’ staterooms, and the 200-lb bronze ship’s bell mounted on the pilothouse roof.

Official Registry & Engineering Specifications

Historical registry data from Wisconsin Shipwrecks & Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society

Official Registry No.U.S. 277437Port of Registry: Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Builder & Hull No.Hull No. 301Great Lakes Engineering Works (River Rouge / Ecorse, MI)

Owner & OperatorNorthwestern Mutual / Oglebay NortonOwned by Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co.; operated under permanent charter by Columbia Transportation Div.

Overall Dimensions729 FT × 75 FT × 39 FT33 ft depth of hold · Built to maximum St. Lawrence Seaway lock limits at launch (1958)

Tonnage & Capacity13,632 GRT · 26,116 Long TonsFinal cargo: 26,116 long tons of taconite iron ore pellets loaded at Superior, WI

Propulsion Plant7,500 SHP Steam TurbineWestinghouse cross-compound steam turbine · Converted from coal to heavy fuel oil in 1971–72 winter layup

Cargo Hold & Hatches3 Holds · 21 Hatch CoversSingle-piece 54×11 ft steel hatch covers secured by 68 Kestner clamps each; serviced by 2 yellow "Iron Deckhand" gantry cranes

Career Distance Logged>1,000,000 Statute Miles17 shipping seasons (1958–1975) · Equivalent to roughly 44 trips around the Earth

Competing Causation Theories & Lake Superior Wave Physics

Because the Fitzgerald sank suddenly without a distress call or survivors, marine boards and historians have debated four primary failure mechanisms.

U.S. Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation (Apr 1977) & NTSB (May 1978)

Ineffective Hatch Closures & Cargo Hold Flooding (USCG 1977 / NTSB 1978)

Continuous green water washing over the low spar deck gradually flooded the central cargo hold through insufficiently dogged Kestner hatch clamps and damaged gaskets. Because 26,116 tons of taconite pellets sit in a porous pile, incoming water filled the voids between pellets without an obvious immediate trim change—until reserve buoyancy vanished.

✓ Supporting Forensic & Eyewitness Evidence

·The 21 single-piece steel hatch covers required 68 manual Kestner clamps each (1,428 clamps total) to achieve a watertight seal.
·Curved 1976 CURV III ROV video showed distorted hatch coamings and several undogged Kestner clamps along the wreckage.
·Porous taconite ore absorbs thousands of tons of water internally without floating or shifting visibly until critical sinking trim is reached.

! Counterarguments & Disputed Points

Strongly disputed by the Lake Carriers’ Association and Great Lakes captains, who emphasized that Capt. McSorley was meticulous about battening hatches in November gales and that clamp distortion resulted from the catastrophic hydrodynamic implosion during sinking.

Why Lake Superior Waves Sink 729-Foot Freighters: Short-Period Freshwater Physics

Lake Superior Short-Period Steepness (5–8 Seconds): Unlike open-ocean rollers spaced widely apart, enclosed freshwater gale waves have extremely short wave periods and steep faces. A 729-foot bulk carrier cannot ride up and over a single wave—instead, its bow and stern are simultaneously supported by two separate crests while the 500-foot amidships spar deck hangs unsupported over a deep trough (hogging) or plunges beneath green water (sagging), preventing the bow from recovering before the next crest strikes.