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Profile of the Ship
and the Wreck
Length:
729 feet
Height: 39 feet
Breadth:
75 feet
Weight empty:
13,632 tons
Hull: 301
Registry number:
US 277437
Ship Builder:
Great Lakes Engineering Works
Engine Manufacturer:
Westinghouse Electric Corporation
Christened: June
8, 1958
First voyage:
Sept. 24, 1958
Final resting place:
Lake Superior, 530ft underwater
Sinking: November 10, 1975 with no survivors
Facts about the Fitz, Crew and the Lakes:
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The
Fitzgerald was named after Edmund Fitzgerald, president of
Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company.
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The
Edmund Fitzgerald foundered only 17 miles from the "safe haven" of Whitefish Point.
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The Fitzgerald was headed from Superior, Wisconsin to Zug Island on
the Detroit River when it sank on November 10, 1975
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The Fitzgerald broke her own records for most cargo carried in one
year several times in the short 17 year lifespan of the ship.
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Robert
Rafferty wasn't even originally scheduled to be on the ship! He was filling
in for someone with bleeding ulcers.
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The final voyage of the Edmund Fitzgerald was
rumored as Captain McSorley's final voyage before retirement.
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McCarthy
and McSorley made a "pact" to sail out their years together
before dying together in the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
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Gitche
Gumee is Ojibwa for "Big Lake."
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