| History | United States | Speed 14 kn (26 km/h; 16 mph) | Crew 29 |
|---|
How big were the waves when the Edmund Fitzgerald sank?
It has the capacity to contain the water volume of the four other lakes plus three additional Lake Eries. Given its immense size, it is capable of sustaining waves
in excess of 10 meters (33 feet)
, about the height of a four-story home.
Are the bodies still in the Edmund Fitzgerald?
The Fitzgerald, the best known of all Great Lakes shipwrecks, sank suddenly in a gale on Nov. 10, 1975. All 29 men aboard died, and
their bodies are entombed inside the wreck
, 530 feet under the surface.
How much did the Edmund Fitzgerald weigh when it sank?
The Fitzgerald weighted
13,632 tons
and was 729 feet long.
How deep is the Lake Superior?
1,332′
What is the highest wave ever recorded on Lake Superior?
The highest wave ever recorded was a height of
29 feet (8.8 meters)
on October 24, 2017 on Lake Superior just north of Marquette, Michigan. Most storms over the oceans of the world can produce average wave heights of 30 feet.
What is the largest ship on the Great Lakes?
Tregurtha – Sporting the title “the Queen of the Lakes” for being the largest freighter to sail on the Great Lakes, “
Big Paul
” is a staggering 1,013 feet in length. The Paul R. Tregurtha is one of the most popular vessels on the Great Lakes.
How many ships have sunk in Lake Superior?
Ships carrying iron ore, lumber, fish, and grain traversed these waters often, but when tumultuous weather hit, the results were often disastrous. Of the estimated 10,000 shipwrecks in the Great Lakes region, only
about 350
of them are located in Lake Superior.
How deep is the water where the Edmund Fitzgerald sank?
It was a feat of rare danger. The two went down an astonishing 530 feet in
36-degree
water and touched the rail with a gloved hand. At that moment, they set the record for the deepest wreck dive ever in the Great Lakes and one of the deepest in the world. Other divers had gone to greater depths.
Why does Lake Superior never give up her dead?
Lightfoot sings that “Superior, they said, never gives up her dead”. This is
because of the unusually cold water, under 36 °F (2 °C) on average around 1970
. Normally, bacteria decaying a sunken body will bloat it with gas, causing it to float to the surface after a few days.
What is at the bottom of Lake Superior?
After searching more than 2,500 miles of the bottom of Lake Superior,
the Atlanta
— a 172-foot schooner-barge that sank during a terrible storm — has been found, preserved in the icy water just as it was when it went down more than 130 years ago. Even the gold letters of the ship’s nameplate are still visible.
Can you swim in Lake Superior?
Lake Superior’s beaches are open and safe for swimming over 90% of the time
, and the water is extremely clear, with an average underwater visibility of 8.3 m (27 ft).
What feeds Lake Superior?
Lake Superior is fed by
over 200 rivers
; some of the larger rivers include the Nipigon River, the St. Louis River, the Pigeon River, Pic River, the White River, the Michipicoten River, the Bois Brule River, and the Kaministiquia River.
Did the Edmund Fitzgerald have lifeboats?
With the ship pounding and rolling badly, the crew of the Anderson discovered the Fitzgerald’s
two lifeboats
and other debris but no sign of survivors. Only one other vessel, the William Clay Ford, was able to leave the safety of Whitefish Bay to join in the search at the time.
How much did it cost to build the Edmund Fitzgerald?
(WOOD) — Nov. 10, 2020, is the 45th anniversary of one of the most famous Great Lakes shipwrecks: the sinking of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald. In 1958, it cost
$8 million
to build the freighter, which was the largest vessel on the Great Lakes until 1971.
Is there a lake underneath Lake Superior?
Lake Inferior
: The Underground Lake Beneath Lake Superior.
Does Lake Superior completely freeze over?
Lake Superior freezes at least in part every year and less frequently in its entirety
. The last year that it froze completely was in February 1994. It almost froze completely in March 2003 and this photograph was taken by the GOES satellite on March 7, 2003.
Who owns Lake Superior?
Everyone knows Lake Superior as binational water shared by the
United States and Canada
. Why did Isle Royale, about 15 miles from the Canadian mainland, end up as part of the more distant United States? Mitchell’s map may help explain.
Which Great Lake is the roughest?
More than half of them occurred in
Lake Michigan
. “Lake Michigan is the worst of the Great Lakes in terms of numbers of drownings,” said Atkinson. “If water level rises by a foot, that means the water depth is greater by a foot.
How big can Lake Michigan waves get?
The height of the waves depends on the strength of the wind and air pressure contrasts that form the seiche. The largest seiche on record to strike the Illinois coast of Lake Michigan reached a maximum height of
10 feet
, caused lakeshore damage, and drowned eight people.
Could a tsunami happen in the Great Lakes?
“
Meteotsunamis happen in every Great Lake and they can happen (roughly) 100 times per year
,” said Eric Anderson, the study’s lead author and a scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory.
How much does a Great Lakes ship captain make?
Captains make
$160,000 to $200,000
, according to Glenn Kolke, marine personnel manager for Interlake. There are two paths to advance in the ranks, by graduating from a maritime academy or “climbing up through the hawsepipe.” That means learning on the job, rather than earning a maritime license from an academy.
While there are thousands of small freighters in the Great Lakes there are only
13
1,000 footers!
What is the oldest ship on the Great Lakes?
Built in 1906,
Challenger
was the oldest operating freighter on the Great Lakes. The decision to convert the 551-foot cement carrier followed a series of upgrades spanning several decades, including extensive hull rebuilding, installation of a self-unloading cargo system and a myriad of other structural upgrades.
What is the biggest fish caught in Lake Superior?
Lake sturgeon
are the largest fish in Lake Superior. They among the oldest fish in the lake too.
What is the most famous shipwreck in Lake Superior?
One of the most famous shipwrecks in Great Lake history is the
S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald
, a 729-foot freighter that capsized in Lake Superior during a severe storm on November 10, 1975. Sunk en route to a steel mill in Detroit, the vessel is the largest ship to have ever sunk in the lakes.
Which Great Lake has the most ship wrecks?
Surprisingly, of all the shipwrecks on the Great Lakes, the lake that has the greatest concentration of them is
Lake Erie
, which is also the shallowest of the Great Lakes. Lake Erie has an astonishing 2,000-plus shipwrecks which is among the highest concentration of shipwrecks in the world.
