Edmund Fitzgerald 35th Anniversary

Couple of things;

There was a fine resin kit of the Fitz a few years ago- don't know if it is still available.

I found the official CG inquiry findings reasonable.  Those lakers had no internal watertight bulkheads in the cargo hold.  That whole long hold open.  Lose one hatch in really bad seas and it goes down.

Don Stauffer

There was a fine resin kit of the Fitz a few years ago- don't know if it is still available.

Iron Shipwright makes a Fitzgerald in both 1:350 and 1:700 scales.

There used to be a railroad scale Laker which was sold by the section -- make it as long as you wish and you had space for

My uncle, Bud Ladd was a welder for United States Steel for a number of  years and spent a lot of time working out of Jones Island in Milwaukee doing contract repairs on lake boats.  One day in 1968 he invited my father and I to come down to the harbor to see the boat he was working on.

I was only 8 yrs old but still remember the huge hole cut in the side of the ship to work on the machinery in the engine room.  My uncle led my father and I into the main hold of the ship (which to this day is one of the largest enclosed areas I have ever seen) and down a hatch into the one of the ballast tanks where he was doing his repair job.

He showed us the keel plate and explained that it was cracked in several places and was not constructed properly in the first place.  Apparently the keel was to have been built up in several parrallel plates forming a vee cross section but that this boat had been built with just the one plate and the surrounding area was filled with mostly scrap metal.

My uncle further explained how he was welding connecting and gusset plates in to bridge the cracked areas.  He said this boat and its sister ship were the two worst pieces of junk on the lakes and that one day they would both go to the bottom and probably take their crews with them.  The ship would last no more than 5 more years at best he said.

The ship was the Edmund Fitzgerald and as it turned out my uncle was wrong as it lasted 7 more years instead of 5.  Its sister ship, the Arthur B. Homer languished for sale for several years after the Fitz sank and was eventually cut up for scrap.  My uncle stated many years later that the Coast Gaurd investigation was a white washed farce as it never brought to light many of the complaints of structural inadequacy that he and many of his co-workers turned in in their reports to both the owners and the Coast Gaurd.

As an aside, this September my wife and I rode a steam excursion from Duluth MN to Two Harbors MN and back and when we arrived at Two Harbors was pleasantly surprised to see the Arthur M. Anderson taking on taconite ore at the dock.  For those unfamilliar with the sinking of the Fitz, the Anderson was shadowing her that night of Nov. 10th and reported the loss.

The Arthur M. Anderson as she looks today:

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I don't believe the Anderson had the self-unloading gear at the time of the Fitz' sinking.  William K. Walthers has the 1/87 HO sectional model and when built up is almost 9 ft. long.  A scale ore dock is also available.  I also took a few shots of the Duluth, Misabe and Iron Range tug Edna G. :

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Note the Anderson through the pilot house windows.

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Sorry for the late posting but my son was home from Kyrghyzstan and we had some great family time.

                                                                                                 Pat.

I have also read how bad the shape the Fitz was in.  It seems the Captain, Ernest McSorley was partially at fault for that because of the way he pushed it.  From what I've read, all he cared about was his paycheck and getting the trip done as fast as possible, and because of this the ship was pushed past its structural limits, and therefore was is bad shape when it came to November '75.  Weird thing is, this was the last trip of the season and the Fitz was to have an overhaul on her keel in the winter.

I have also seen the Anderson many a time, particularly in her winter lay up in Sturgeon Bay, WI.  You're right about the self unloading gear.  The Anderson was a straight decker and was just lengthened at the time the Fitz sank, but later practice throughout the whole great lakes fleet was to retro fit ships with self unloading gear.  I was also in the Two Harbors area this past summer!   We stayed in Knife River (while building a wood canoe) which is 5 miles away and in the morning we saw a low riding laker headed towards the ore docks and when we went into Two Harbors that evening the Edgar B. Speer was unloading at the docks.  We would watch the ships go back and forth on the lakes and made me miss living in Marquette, MI where there were always ships. 

I see you got some nice shots of the Edna G.  I got a couple photos of her, but not up close.  If you dont know her history, she was built in 1896 and had served the Two Harbors area for about 90 years.

I REALLY miss living up by the great lakes and the boatwatching.

I ordered the 1:700 fitz today!

Two thumbs up on an excellant thread guys.

Which kit did you get, SofaKings? I have been pondering a 1/700 Fitzgerald myself, as soon as I can figure out where to put the thing!