Split Hull of a Giant Ore Carrier Studied on Lake Superior’s Floor

The Edmund Fitzgerald’s mangled carcass juts like a mountain from the flat, barren Lake Superior floor, rising as abruptly as the ship plunged to its doom 19 years ago.

The stricken giant’s two main sections lie 180 feet apart at a depth of 530 feet, tons of taconite ore pellets from the cargo hold strewn between them. The windows of the pilot house are gone, blown away by the rush of water. The crow’s nest is surprisingly intact.

The scenes were visible Tuesday from the miniature submarine Clelia as scientists and marine historians concluded a three-day mission to probe the mystery of the Fitzgerald’s sinking on Nov. 10, 1975. All 29 crew members died. No distress signal was sent.

The explorers, led by Canadian marine scientist Joe MacInnis, conducted the first extensive manned survey of the wreckage. Colleagues of Jacques Cousteau made brief dives in 1980, and robots have photographed the scene.

The explorers concluded that the Fitzgerald did not break up on the water’s surface.

Damage to the bow shows the 729-foot long ship probably hurtled downward with missile-like speed. Propelled by its 7,500-horsepower engines and its 26,000-ton ore cargo, the vessel reached the bottom in seconds and was smashed to pieces, said Tom Farnquist, director of the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society.

The two most common theories are that the ship took on water as 30-foot seas crashed over its side and finally nose-dived under a monster wave; or that it hit a poorly charted shoal, tearing a gash in the hull hours before the sinking.