Edmund Fitz

[CJ1]

Official investigations say it was water coming in from the top side, something about not properly clamping down the hatches, correct?

Yea, that was the "official" report. But like the writing from whitefish point brings out the Fitz was either dangerously close or on top of the six mile shoal. Per another Captain [cant remember his name] maybe the Andersons captain. the hatches would have to be missing for a ship that big to take on that much water to start buckeling the ship. Mcsorley reported that some of his side railing was missing normally indicating structural damage. [Ship upheaving in the center when a wave bottomed it on the shoal?? Hummm] I cant remember how many pumps were on the ship but they should have been able to keep up with any amount of hatch leakage. The final proof for me was learning the fitz either did not have depth finding equipment that was operational or available. I think that info was on the Valley Camp also in one of the videos they show. Everything that I have learned points to the ship hitting Six Mile Shoal and damaging the hull enough to start taking on water. Read what the Whitefish Museum has on the net. That and a bunch of other stuff helps to point to the real reason it sank. IMHO. My wife is a ship nut so between the Fits and Titanic I think I have seen or read just about everything out there! CJ

[ericm]

Yea, that was the "official" report. But like the writing from whitefish point brings out the Fitz was either dangerously close or on top of the six mile shoal. Per another Captain [cant remember his name] maybe the Andersons captain. the hatches would have to be missing for a ship that big to take on that much water to start buckeling the ship. Mcsorley reported that some of his side railing was missing normally indicating structural damage. [Ship upheaving in the center when a wave bottomed it on the shoal?? Hummm] I cant remember how many pumps were on the ship but they should have been able to keep up with any amount of hatch leakage. The final proof for me was learning the fitz either did not have depth finding equipment that was operational or available. I think that info was on the Valley Camp also in one of the videos they show. Everything that I have learned points to the ship hitting Six Mile Shoal and damaging the hull enough to start taking on water. Read what the Whitefish Museum has on the net. That and a bunch of other stuff helps to point to the real reason it sank. IMHO. My wife is a ship nut so between the Fits and Titanic I think I have seen or read just about everything out there! CJ

For you guys that like to read about this type of stuff check out the new books on the loss of the El Faro off the Florida coast a couple of years ago. The entire crew was lost and the books actually have all of the "black box" transcripts from the bridge for the last 30 hours or so of the voyage. It's a tough read because you can feel the frustraiton of the crew as they dealt with the changing forecast and issues with the aging ship. It also goes deep into the politics and pressures captains face in making decisions which seem simple to those on the outside looking in. Here's a couple of links: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/15...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/16...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[weslapoint]

I have watched several documentaries on this tragic event. So many things went wrong on this voyage. Most agree that if they would have made it another 20-30 miles we would not hear Gordon Lightfoot singing about it.

Such a great song about such a terrible event...

[ST8Bugging]

I get goosebumps every time I hear this song. I cant imagine the things the crew went through.