Since commercial shipping began on the Five Great
Lakes, there have been 6,000 shipwrecks. Half have never been found. There
are three storms the sailors still talk about:
The Great Storm of 1913 claimed
250 lives and 12 ships.
The Storm of 1940 claimed
100 lives and two ships.
The Storm of 1975 claimed
only one ship...
THE WRECK OF THE EDMUND FITZGERALD is based on the real-life sinking of
a giant ore freighter which went down with all hands on Lake Superior in
November of 1975 (Gordon Lightfoot made it famous with his haunting ballad).
It reads like a Greek tragedy: they knew they were in trouble (but didn't
know why) and that their only hope was reaching the safety of Whitefish
bay.
The story follows three Captains: McSorley, Stigler and Cooper. Captain
McSorley was the captain of the Fitzgerald and many have questioned why
he did the things he did and what happened. Captain Stigler was his colorful
mentor who taught him the survival skills he needed to face the third worst
storm of the century.
Captain Cooper was master of the ship Arthur M. Anderson, which accompanied
the Edmund Fitzgerald across Lake Superior on its final voyage. Cooper turned
his ship around and went back into the worst of the storm to look for the
Fitzgerald.
Throughout the fateful evening, the Edmund Fitzgerald began having problems
as her radars went out, her ship began filling with water and she began
to list to one side.
Nature conspired against her as well shutting down several Coast Guard stations,
forcing the evacuation of communications towers and finally shutting down
all power in Sault Ste Marie as it grew into one of the worst storms of
the century.
In the summer of 1994, the writer, Chris Chabot was invited on an expedition
to the ship where they found a crew member and made a lot of news. Word
made its way back to the families that he had written this script.
He was tracked down by five family members who asked about the project.
Each was sent a copy of the script. One by one they responded. Several said
they cried for quite some time after reading it and each said it was a story
that must be made!
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CREW
A CENTURY OF STORMS THE HEADLINES THE
SONG OF INSPIRATION
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