The Last Run for "Big Fitz:" An Interview with Edmund Fitzgerald scholar Rochelle Pennington

The mighty Edmund Fitzgerald, whose sinking 40 years ago is still a mystery. 

Forty years ago last November, the iron ore freighter Edmund Fitzgerald sank in a severe storm on Lake Superior. The wreck of the Fitzgerald has since become one of the most famous Great Lakes shipwrecks ever and a shroud of mystery still hangs about the vessel’s demise. The Fitzgerald also had a number of Milwaukee connections. Commissioned by Milwaukee’s Northwestern Mutual Insurance Company in 1957, the ship was launched the following year, christened for Northwestern Mutual’s president and chairman of the board, himself a Milwaukee native whose grandfather had Great Lakes captain and shipbuilder. Although the shop never visited the city, its home port was Milwaukee.

On Sunday, March 6, the American Geographical Society Library will host award-winning author Rochelle Pennington as she presents “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” at UWM’s Golda Meir Library. Pennington will delve into the history and mystery of the “Big Fitz” and explore some of the theories about what led to the great wreck. Pennington was kind enough to speak with me about the Fitzgerald and its legacy.

Matthew J. Prigge: Why has there been such a popular fascination with the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald?

Rochelle Pennington: It is my personal belief that the sinking of the Fitzgerald is the most known wreck on the Great Lakes because, in large part, of Gordon Lightfoot’s haunting ballad about this drowned ship in “an ice water mansion.” The song sold millions of copies immediately after the vessel’s loss.

Lightfoot’s lyrics were so mysterious. He sang about the Fitzgerald being “a bone to be chewed,” and about a “witch” in November who “came stealin.’” What did she steal? She stole lives.

Lightfoot also added a bit of science to his singing when he told listeners that Lake Superior “never gives up her dead.” Lightfoot’s words were both eerie (a lake grasping and holding its victims) and true.  Superior’s waters are so icy cold that bacteria struggle to live. Typically, bacteria will eat a decaying body and gas will form. Then the body will bloat and float.

MJP: The primary thing the Fitzgerald is known for, obviously, is how it sank in 1975. But, even before its famous final voyage, it was a notable and (in certain circles) quite a famous vessel. Tell us a bit about the Fitzgerald as a working freighter.

RP: The Edmund Fitzgerald enjoyed fanfare right from the moment of its birth in June of 1958.  Over 10,000 people showed up to see the Fitz, the largest ship ever built on the Great Lakes up until that point, launched.  The freighter was a favorite of boat watchers for the whole of its life and the giant had many nicknames:  Big Fitz, Mighty Fitz, Titanic of the Great Lakes, and Queen of the Lakes. To this day, the Edmund Fitzgerald remains the largest sunken ship on the Great Lakes.

The freighter primarily hauled iron ore pellets, which were picked up at the docks in northern Minnesota.  The ship’s usual route was from the far western end of Lake Superior, through the Soo Locks, then south to the steel mills in Detroit, Michigan and Toledo, Ohio on the lower lakes. The Fitzgerald logged over a million miles in this way during its short life.

MJP: What has drawn you to the story of the Edmund Fitzgerald?

RP: My interest in the Edmund Fitzgerald came as a result of my love for Lake Superior. Our family purchased a 100-year-old, vintage cabin just south of Superior’s southern shore seven summers ago and I began writing my forthcoming book, Where the Hammock Hangs: A Love Letter to the Woods and Waters Surrounding an “Up North” Cottage. The book includes extensive research on Lake Superior, which is the backdrop to both the Edmund Fitzgerald’s life and to its loss. Historic lighthouses, shipwrecks, mines, logging camps, and lodges are all subjects included in the publication, due for release in September 2016.

I was further drawn to the Edmund Fitzgerald’s story because of its tie to local history.  As a Wisconsinite, I found these connections interesting: Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company in Milwaukee owned the ship and named the freighter after the company’s president, Edmund Fitzgerald. But this was more than an honorary designation for a man sitting behind a desk. President Fitzgerald came from a family of men who were veterans in Great Lakes shipping. Edmund’s grandpa, John Fitzgerald, was a Great Lakes captain, and so were all five of his grandfather’s brothers.  Edmund’s father, William Fitzgerald, owned the Milwaukee Drydock Company; he built and repaired ships there. William and John Fitzgerald both had ships named for them. 

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A badly damaged Edmund Fitzgerald lifeboat, on display in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. Wikicommons.

MJP: While the tremendous seas and terrible weather that night certainly doomed the Fitzgerald, there is no consensus as to how the vessel actually went down and various theories—from the cargo hatch covers coming open and taking water to the ship actually snapping in half while riding twin waves—abound. What do you think is the most likely explanation for the wreck?

RP: Forty years have passed since the Fitz found its way to Lake Superior’s floor. We are still wondering what happened, and the only person who knows for sure, Captain McSorley, took that answer with him to the bottom of the lake.

I personally believe that monster waves played a significant part in the ship’s drowning. During one of McSorley’s final radio messages before his ship disappeared from the radar screen, he said he was fighting one of the “worst storms” he had ever been caught in. McSorley had been a lifer on the lakes, with a career stretching 44 years. His trip across Lake Superior on that fateful day was supposed to be his last before retiring. 

Sunday afternoon’s program at the American Geographical Society Library will examine multiple theories regarding the ship’s demise:

Was the ship overcome by two or three massive waves and shoved under?

Were the ship’s hatch covers not properly locked down at the docks before the ship departed?

Were the hatch covers leaking?

Did the Fitzgerald hit a shoal, an underwater area of rocks and injure itself?

Did earlier accidents the Fitzgerald was involved in compromise the structural integrity of the ship?

Was there an engineering flaw in the ship’s construction?

Did the ship snap in half on the surface of Lake Superior, or break in two when the vessel slammed into the lake’s bottom?

Had the ship been “cursed” by two eerie omens when it was launched?

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In 1995, the bell of the Fitzgerald was recovered by a dive team and replaced with a bell inscribed with the names of the 29 men lost in wreck. The original bell is currently on display at the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum at the Whitefish Point Light Station in Michigan. Wikicommons.

MJP: What can you tell us about the shipwreck site?

RP: The drowned ship is in two pieces on the bottom of Lake Superior in water over 500 feet deep. Half of the Fitzgerald’s broken body is inverted, facedown, and is located in an area of Lake Superior called the graveyard because of all of the wrecks which have gone down in the immediate area. The shipwreck is located in Canadian waters and is a protected site. If you are caught trespassing in that cemetery you will be fined by the Canadian government. How much? One million dollars.

Learn more by attending “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” Sunday March 6, 2016. At the AGS library, 3rd floor, east wing, Golda Meir Library Building, 2311 E. Hartford Ave. The program begins at 2:00 pm. A reception with light refreshments will being at 1:30 pm. The event is free and open to the public. More information can be found here.