1. Great Lakes

2. Elevation Profile

3. Satellite View

4. The SS Edmund Fitzgerald November 10, 1975—sank in Lake Superior All 29 crew members died

5. Sequence of Events November 9, 1975 The Edmund Fitzgerald, a freighter, was loaded with 26,000 tons of iron ore. It left Superior, Wisconsin and was headed for Detroit, Michigan.

6. Night of Nov. 9, 1975 The Edmund Fitzgerald and another ship, the Arthur M. Anderson were checking the weather reports of a storm that was moving into the Great Lakes area.

7. 7p.m. Nov. 9, 1975 The National Weather Service issued a gale warning with winds 34-40 knots. (about 40-45 miles per hour)

8. 2 a.m. Nov. 10, 1975 The NWS upgraded the gale warning to a storm warning with stronger winds and waves 8 to 15 feet high. The captains of the two ships talked by radio and discussed the storm.

9. 2 a.m. Nov. 10, 1975 The Anderson and the Fitzgerald changed their course and headed more north towards the coast of Canada to get away from the storm and high waves.

10. 3 a.m. Nov. 10, 1975 The Fitzgerald was ahead of the Anderson, but they had radio contact and the Anderson could see the Fitzgerald on its radar screen.

11. 2:45 p.m. Nov. 10 During the late morning the winds had shifted and the storm was moving across Lake Superior. The waves were 12- 16 feet high. The Fitzgerald reported a fence rail down, two vents lost, and was listing.

12. Late afternoon, Nov.10 Captain McSorely of the Fitzgerald radioed to another ship, the Avafor, that they had lost both their radars and heavy seas were washing over the deck in one of the worst seas he had ever been in. (He had 44 years of experience!)

13. 7p.m. Nov. 10, 1975 The Anderson made radio contact with the Fitzgerald and saw her on the radar. At about 7:10, the Fitzgerald reported that they were holding their own, but within a few minutes they were lost on the Anderson’s radar screen.

14. Investigations later There was no distress signal from the Fitzgerald. There were no survivors. An underwater survey of the wreck suggests that the ship plunged headfirst into a large wave and sank quickly.

15. Why did it sink? It was heavily loaded— possibly overloaded with ore. The hatch covers were not sealed tightly and had not passed their last inspection. They were scheduled for repair.

16. If you were the captain...? What would you have done? What decisions could have been made by others to prevent the loss of the ship and its crew? Website for information: http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/wxwise/fitz.html