http://michiganradio.org/post/listen-radio-transmission-night-edmund-fitzgeralds-sinking
Pretty cool (but short) audio that can be played, and an interesting story at the link, if you have interest in the Edmund Fitzgerald.
Thanks for the link, BC.
Admittedly, I never really knew anything about EF's sinking until a couple years ago (heck, I'd never heard the *song* before), but I've taken a certain interest in it since then. One of the things that really gets me whenever I think about it is how agonizingly close they were to safety. Just another ten miles or so, and they would've made it to Whitefish Bay.
I don't know Nautical Engineering but even my untrained eye tells me those long Ore Carriers aren't very stable in rough seas. The length to width ratio looks way out of proportion. My wife and I went to the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum in 2006 near Whitefish Bay. It's a great place to see with models of many of the considerable number of ships sunk on the Great Lakes including the Fitzgerald. If you're ever close, give it a visit.
Vaguely recall being told that there were two rogue waves that hit the Fitzgerald in succession right near the end.
The feeling was the first one broke the cargo hold secures, and the second drove her down into the waves. The flooding would have been catastrophic and swamped her in the blink of an eye.
Yeah, the ship preceding her came about and searched for her in the storm before giving up and heading into Whitefish Bay. She had made in OK.
According to a book called Graveyard of the Lakes, there's about 240 ships that have been lost in that area of Lake Superior, from 1816 to 1975 (when the Fitzgerald went down).
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DBNEMKM/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1