S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald Controversy:
The controversy surrounding the sinking of the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald started almost immediately with allegations of cover up and negligence by the U.S. Coast Guard, the Marine Board of Investigations, and the owner, the Northwestern Mutual Insurance Company.
Captain Dudley J. Pauquette, Master of the S.S. Wilfred Sykes said this about the Fitz:
"Right after we searched for and found floating debris from the Fitz, the U.S. Coast Guard released us from our search efforts at 1300 hours (1 p.m.) on November 11, 1975. I was captain of the first vessel involved in the storm and the search effort to arrive at a discharge port. A couple of the owner company's lawyers came aboard my ship at Indiana Harbor, Indiana, and asked for my description of the conditions in the days before the wreck and what my opinion was as to the cause of this terrible loss. My description of those huge seas and terrible weather took about 15 seconds and I told them that my opinion about the wreck was that there was negligence involved. Those lawyers didn't even have a chance to open their briefcases, but they left my ship in one helluva hurry when I said that. They didn't want to hear anything about negligence. ... Nobody ever called me to testify in the hearings - even though I was one of only three or four masters who sailed in the worst of that storm."
From page 24 & 30 of The Night the Fitz Went Down, by Hugh E. Bishop
The Marine Board of Investigation placed the official blame on the dead crew of the Fitz by saying that loose hatch covers allowed a large intake of water that caused the sinking.
The controversy escalated to an uproar in 1994 when the leader of Expedition 94, Frederick Shannon, announced the discovery of a body at the Fitzgerald wreck site. Family members of the Fitzgerald crew asked that the wreck be declared a grave site. Jon Soyring, nephew of crewmember Oliver “Buck” Champeau wrote the following poem:
To the Families and Friends of the
S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald
Lost November 10, 1975
Lake Superior
© 1994 By: Jon Soyring – Nephew
Oliver J. “Buck” Champeau – Third Engineer
S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald
Ring a bell 29 times,
to remember those who lost their lives,
Ring a bell in a somber tone,
for families that were left alone.
Shine a light for all to see,
that we all have fond memories,
Of 29 men who lost their fight,
on a cold stormy November night.
Twenty years the wounds were long past made,
Why can't we just declare it a grave?
For exploration and the cause to be known,
they just won't leave those men alone.
Twenty years past, but not forgotten,
the proper respect not yet gotten.
They dive to the ship to rummage around,
Why can't we declare it "Sacred Ground"?
A grave is a grave on land or at sea.
Why can't they just let them be?
So place your flowers on the shore,
and please don't disturb them anymore.
Exploitation of the Fitz sinking began early on and has never relented since she sank in 1975. The group operating the Shipwreck Museum, the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society, has a long history of exploiting the Fitz that includes violating a permit to visit the wreck by removing some of the ship’s cargo, an elaborate scheme that salvaged & defaced her bell for the center piece of their museum at Whitefish Point, and returning to the site to take sonar images of the Fitz after they promised to never to go back. Contrary to widely circulated reports, the Ontario Ministry of Culture will grant an archaeological license to explore the wreck of the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald for legitimate reasons. (See the Ontario Minister of Culture Caroline Di Cocco’s June 5, 2007 letter confirming this.)
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