One of the greatest things about the world of modern technology in which we live in is the fact that new information - or information we didnt realize was there to begin with - regarding everything under the sun is constantly being located, processed and then shared with and brought to the attention of the general masses, which of course explains why I am writing yet another piece regarding the EDMUND FITZGERALD sinking of November 10th, 1975.
This morning I stumbled across a 1993 video interview of Captain Bernie Cooper of the Great Lakes freighter ARTHUR M. ANDERSON, the very same ship which was traveling about 10 miles behind the EDMUND FITZGERALD the night she sank. Here is someone who was actually there, whose ship was definitely closer in proximity to the FITZ and the conditions she experienced better than anyone else out there. In a documentary regarding the tragedy which I watched a few years back - I apologize for I simply cannot remember the name of this documentary - there were clips of this particular video in that specific documentary; however, what I saw this morning was the entire video of the interview with Captain Cooper which took place right before his death in 1993 and lemme tell you, this entire interview contains some excellent, probable explanations as to what most likely happened to the EDMUND FITZGERALD and her 29 crew members.
As a matter of fact, much of what Captain Cooper stated in that interview even addressed some of the things that I was greatly concerned about as a child regarding the ships' sinking. Now granted, there is more than one theory out there suggesting what exactly happened to the EDMUND FITZGERALD but judging from the explanations that Captain Cooper provided, I personally agree with his reasoning on practically everything he said. Bottom line, the man knows what he's talking about.
Captain Cooper provided more than one legitimate, plausible explanation of what happened to the EDMUND FITZGERALD but the one I agreed with most is the following. Based on the conditions the ship herself experienced right before she sank - missing fencerails, a slight list to starboard (right side of the ship) and the fact that a couple of rogue waves were spotted behind her path that night - Cooper theorizes that the water combined from those 2 giant waves and the water already building up in the bow section of the ship caused her to literally dive to the bottom of Lake Superior. The weight of all that water brought on by the hurricane-force storm literally pushed the EDMUND FITZGERALD into a nosedive from which she never recovered from. In other words, her bow hit bottom while her stern was still above on the surface. Whether she broke in half in this position or after she totally sank is still somewhat of a controversy; but, the way in which her 2 seperate hull sections are resting on the bottom of Lake Superior suggests a tremendous amount of creedence to Captain Cooper's theory that she began to break in half after her bow impacted on the bottom of Lake Superior.
In addition, Captain Cooper's last radio conversations with Captain Ernest McSorley of the EDMUND FITZGERALD even further substantiate the aforementioned theory because they shed a great deal of light on something I never knew, something I could've never possibly imagined was even true - there was no pre-sinking panic on board the EDMUND FITZGERALD that night. Even though every one of her 29 members definitely felt what is was like for their ship to be tossed about like a matchstick on the water, there was not one single hint of panic in Captain McSorley's voice whatsoever. In addition, when Captain Cooper asked him how things were going he merely responded "We are holding our own" which clearly and unequivocally indicates that Captain McSorley himself had no indication whatsoever that his ship was going to sink. Yes, he knew that the EDMUND FITZGERALD was in a shitload of trouble with the hurricane-force storm that was relentlessly battering the living hell outta his ship; but, because there was no panic in Captain McSorley's communications as well as his actual voice, that could only mean one thing.
The exact same thing that Captain Cooper implied next in the interview, which is that it is highly probable that Captain McSorley himself didnt even know his ship sank until her bow actually hit the bottom of the lakebed. As with most sea captains, both those who serve on the Great Lakes and the oceans of the world, McSorley was most likely thinking "Okay, this is bad but we'll come back up out of it, just like we have all the other waves." But, sad to say, the EDMUND FITZGERALD never recovered from that last set of waves that hit her.
In addition, all of this explains why there were never any distress calls from the EDMUND FITZGERALD; after all, how could there be when her sinking happened so fast that no one knew they were in immediate grave danger to begin with? No captain of any ship sends out distress calls and/or emergency rockets/flares, unless it's pretty obvious that his/her vessel is encountering some serious danger. Even if you're notta ship buff or havent studied ships a good part of your life as I have, you gotta admit it ALL makes perfectly logical sense. Of course there were no distress calls or anything like that - McSorley had no reason to believe that his ship was gonna sink, he most likely thought the FITZ was gonna make it through, as she usually did.
I'm not stating that Captain Cooper, in his interview, answered every single pondering question that I posed in the piece previous to this one; but, I gotta admit, he did put more than several of my unanswered questions regarding the EDMUND FITZGERALD sinking to rest. Regardless of how fast the FITZ sank, I now have good reason to believe that just like with Captain McSorley, not one of her crew members had any reason to believe that the EDMUND FITZGERALD would fail them too. In other words, there is also a very high probability that the majority of the crew members, if not all of them, were NOT in a scared, huddled mass of humanity holed up in this or that part of the ship waiting to die because chances are extremely high that they were doing exactly what they were suppose to be doing in the first place - their jobs of taking care of their ship and doing what they could to keep everything together. Now whether or not that was indeed the actual scenario, I may never now but I think it stands to reason that no matter how distraught anyone could be in such circumstances, when you're manning a ship that size, business is probaly as usual unless you're told otherwise.
In singer/songwriter Gordon Lightfoot's song "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" (1976), he mentioned/implied how Captain McSorley allegedly said "Well fellas, it's been good to know you" which is something I dont doubt he could've said; after all, if any one of us had been in McSorley's position, dontcha think we all woulda said something very similiar to the crew members too?, Captain McSorley was a good captain and a good man but just because he MIGHT have said something like that does not mean that he thought the EDMUND FITZGERALD was gonna sink, which yet again explains why he never sent any distress calls or emergency rockets out - because he simply had no reason to believe he needed to do so.
I'm not saying that the Captain Cooper interview explains all the mysteries of the EDMUND FITZGERALD sinking but every one of his logical explanations as to how that ship could've sank does indeed make good common sense. Quite frankly, I dont think the controversy revolving around the FITZ's sinking will ever die but I think that's kind of a mute point in a way because as long as it keeps the memories of her captain and crew alive as well as allows her story to be told, then those controversies are truly serving a positive purpose. Thank you for reading.
Note: The following is the video link to the Captain Cooper interview which I have mentioned in this piece.....http://youtu.be/3VXY6tuZ5eU. Should you click on it and it doesnt work, please feel free to watch it on YouTube.com, "Through The Eyes of Captain Cooper: The Night The Edmund Fitzgerald Went Down". In addition, please keep in mind that the freighter ARTHUR M. ANDERSON, which is still in service, does not look anything like what she did back in 1975 when the EDMUND FITZGERALD sank. Like with any kind of ship out there, the ANDERSON has been bought, sold and repainted several times over since those days. In addition, this piece is dedicated to Captain Bernie Cooper, former master of the ARTHUR M. ANDERSON. 
Posted via email from Luctor Et Emergo
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