Will we go back? Exploring the Edmund Fitzgerald wreck 49 years later

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — It is a part of Michigan and midwest lore. Misplaced to the depths of the Nice Lakes, the SS Edmund Fitzgerald sank on November 10, 49 years in the past.

We took a glance again via the lens of a person who has laid eyes on the positioning himself.

“Due to the notoriety, due to the tune from Gordon Lightfoot, everyone needs to know in regards to the Edmund Fitzgerald,” mentioned Ric Mixter.

There aren’t many individuals higher suited to solutions on the wreckage than Ric Mixter.

He is printed a 300-page guide on the Fitzgerald, three documentaries, and a four-hour podcast.

The 1958 launching of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald

The Fitzgerald was a freighter with 29 males on board when it sank in Lake Superior.

It is the most important ship sitting on the backside of any of the Nice Lakes. Nevertheless, it is largely a thriller shrouded in darkness.

Mixter’s work although, courting again 30 years, has helped make clear what occurred.

“We set sail that evening, and it was a late July day,” Mixter shared. “I bear in mind going via the Soo Locks, simply not believing that we have been going to truly go down 500 ft into Lake Superior.”

In 1994, Mixter was a part of one of many few crews to dive all the way down to the wreckage.

He mentioned, “[it was] crystal clear water as we went down 200 ft, after which quickly the sunshine began to go away, the place the daylight can not get down that deep,”

A pitch black backside was quickly illuminated, showcasing the depth’s prized possession.

Mixter added, “Our submarine circled, and on the port aspect was these huge letters that mentioned Edmund Fitzgerald, however the plates have been all crumpled from the impression of the underside, and it was devastatingly destroyed, however I may nonetheless learn via the little port holes Edmund Fitzgerald. And I could not consider it.”

That was when he first set eyes on a tragedy embedded in midwest historical past.

Watch the July 1994 dive to the SS Edmund Fitzgerald

It was a disorienting expertise with items of the ship right here and there, some the wrong way up.

“It is pointing now that this ship didn’t go down in a single piece. It crunched on the floor and broke into items there.”

It helped paint an image nevertheless, of what occurred 500 ft above.

“It was simply overwhelming what water may do and the way this might have damaged up on these huge waves that we expect have been three tales tall. It snapped it, and your entire cargo space was like a large cavern proper in entrance of me.”

A grim discovery by the crew that day although, added yet one more layer: a physique on the lake mattress.

“Positive sufficient, here is a man on the underside carrying what seems to be some form of a jumpsuit. Clearly this man had his life jacket on. In order that brings in simply much more readability to what these ultimate moments might need been.”

It was yet one more chapter to the tragedy. But it surely’s not the ultimate chapter of the guide.

That dive happened three a long time in the past. Know-how has improved sufficient to doubtlessly reply extra questions.

There’s one necessary ingredient of the wreck although, that may’t be appeared over.

He mentioned, “There’s nonetheless that moral query with so many individuals who misplaced family members who’re nonetheless alive, is it truthful to them that we return and try this, and that is weighed upon my coronary heart for positive.

November of subsequent yr is 50 years because the wreck; a giant one. Whereas Mixter acknowledges there can be a remembrance for the 29 guys who misplaced their lives, he says there’s so many different chapters past this simply being a grave website.

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