A documentary drawn from testimony at the Coast Guard's official
inquiry looks anew at one of the most storied, and mysterious,
shipwrecks in American history
The sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald is one of the most famous
shipwreck stories in Great Lakes history. It is also one of maritime
lore's great mysteries, the details of its disappearance as obscure now
as on that fateful November day in 1975. The investigation into the
wreck, resulting in a controversial final report, generated more than
3,000 pages of documentation, a mere fraction of which has been made
available to the public. In The Trial of the Edmund Fitzgerald,
Michael Schumacher mines this rich resource to produce the first-ever
documentary account, a companion to his popular narrative Mighty Fitz:
The Sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
In the words of search and rescue personnel, ship designers and
inspectors, scientists and naval engineers, former crewmen of the Fitz
and the Arthur M. Anderson (the nearby ore carrier that captured the
damaged vessel's last communications), The Trial of the Edmund
Fitzgerald recreates the doomed ore boat's final minutes, the suspense
of the search and rescue operations, and the drama of the subsequent
Coast Guard inquiry. From the Anderson's captain and first mate we
hear reports of the Fitzgerald taking on water in the fierce storm
near Michipicoten and Caribou Islands, losing its radar, and stating,
finally, famously, "We are holding our own." We follow the
investigation, the speculation, and expert testimony to a problematic
conclusion--countered by an alternate theory that the Anderson's
captain maintained to his dying day.
By declaring the Edmund Fitzgerald an official gravesite, Canada
closed the wreck to further exploration. But here the exploration
continues, providing a unique, and uniquely enlightening, perspective on
this unforgettable episode in America's maritime history.
