Why The Bodies From The Edmund Fitzgerald Were Never Recovered
Most people know about the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald thanks to Gordon Lightfoot's haunting ballad. But how did the largest ship on the Great Lakes vanish without so much as an SOS call, taking all 29 crewmen with her?
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00:00Most people know about the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald thanks to Gordon Lightfoot's haunting ballad.
00:05But how did this massive ship vanish without so much as an S.O.S. call, taking all 29 crewmen
00:10with her?
00:11It was business as usual when the Edmund Fitzgerald set out on Lake Superior on November 9, 1975,
00:17at 2.30 p.m.
00:18The Fitzgerald, a cargo vessel, carried 26,116 tons of processed iron ore from Burlington
00:24Northern Railroad in Superior, Wisconsin, right next to Duluth, Minnesota, all the way
00:28down to Detroit, two entire Great Lakes away.
00:31A long trip, but one she regularly pulled off with ease.
00:34The Fitzgerald is one of the champions of the waters.
00:38She sets records for the heaviest load ever carried on the Great Lakes.
00:42The S.S.
00:43Arthur M. Anderson joined en route and followed behind at a distance of 10 to 15 miles for
00:48the remainder of the trip.
00:49Around 3.30 p.m. the next day, things took a lethal turn.
00:53The weather worsened, wind started gusting, snow turned blustery, and sprays of water
00:57blocked the Anderson and Captain Bernie Cooper's view of the Fitzgerald.
01:00In the whiteout, Cooper can only locate the Fitzgerald's position by radar.
01:06Waves battered the Anderson at 5.20 p.m. and nearly drowned the entire vessel an hour and
01:10a half later at 6.55 p.m.
01:13At 7.10 p.m., the Anderson's first mate Morgan Clark radioed the Fitzgerald to check in on
01:17the crew.
01:18According to the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum, the Fitzgerald's captain, Ernest McSorley,
01:22replied,
01:23We are holding our own.
01:25Five minutes later, the vessel vanished from radar.
01:28We searched for three days in probably the roughest seas I've ever been in in my life.
01:34All 29 men aboard the Fitzgerald died that night, within 17 miles of the protection of
01:39Whitefish Bay.
01:40The ship sank to the bottom of Lake Superior, 535 feet below the surface, taking its crew
01:45with it.
01:46No victim has ever been recovered.
01:48The individuals on board the Fitzgerald remain within its wreckage, making the sunken ship
01:52both a memorial and a tomb.
01:54Just like Gordon Lightfoot sang, Superior truly never gives up her dead.
01:58Twenty-nine men lost without even a mayday call.
02:02One minute they're on the radar, the next minute they disappear.
02:05When the Fitzgerald sank, the initial rescue effort was from the Anderson, but all they
02:09found were empty lifeboats.
02:11It would take a few days before the Coast Guard, with some naval assistance, even located
02:15where the Fitzgerald rested.
02:16It took plenty of pictures, but no efforts were made to lift the wreckage or its crew
02:20to the surface.
02:22This is usually the case for shipwrecks, provided the wreck doesn't pose a danger to others.
02:26It's seen as an act of respect for the dead, especially in wartime.
02:29Besides, it would be practically impossible to lift a broken, rapidly decaying vessel
02:33like the 730-foot-long Fitzgerald to the surface and onto dry land.
02:38Surprisingly, during an expedition to the wreckage in 1994, a body was found near where
02:42the Edmund Fitzgerald sank.
02:44The remains were partially dressed in semen's coveralls, but because the body was found
02:48almost 20 years after the vessel sank, there's really no way to confirm its identity.
02:52Dr. Jim Cairns explained to UPI why the remains wouldn't be recovered, saying,
02:57"...there's no medical mystery to be solved, and family members have said they'd like their
03:01relatives to remain in their natural grave."
03:03That's the important part here.
03:05The surviving family members have made it abundantly clear that they do not wish to
03:08have their loved ones raised from the Fitzgerald.
03:11The discovery of the body, and a quick shot of it in the documentary, which we aren't
03:14going to show you because we're just not, remains controversial to this day.
03:19If you want to see it, just find it yourself.
03:21The Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum acts as an above-water memorial to the victims.
03:25A joint expeditionary venture in 1995, 20 years after the sinking, involving, among
03:30others, the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society, National Geographic Society, and
03:35the Canadian Navy, Ashley recovered the Fitzgerald's bronze bell, and now lives at the Great Lakes
03:40Shipwreck Museum, which itself is located at Whitefish Point.
03:44Three crew members, Michael Armagost, Captain Ernest McSorley, and Blaine Wilhelm, have
03:48grave markers at different cemeteries.
03:51Strictly speaking, these markers are cenotaphs, memorials that look like grave markers, indicating
03:55that nothing is buried at that location, and the person's bodily remains are either elsewhere
04:00or not available for a proper burial.
04:02To this day, the exact cause of the Fitzgerald's sinking is unknown, despite the horrible weather
04:06on that day, mostly because the vessel sank so quickly.
04:09The Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum says that human error might have played a role amongst
04:13other factors.
04:14People keep asking me, well, what caused the loss of the Fitzgerald, and my answer is complacency.
04:20But much like the decision to let the Fitzgerald and its crew rest in peace, perhaps such discussions
04:25are best left alone.