The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald A Documentary
In my home town of Duluth, Minnesota the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, one of Lake Superior's ore boats, on November 10th, 1975 has long been a story of tragedy and debate. The Fitz's last voyage began on this day so many years ago from Superior, Wisconsin, and as such, local ties to the boat are innummerable. For instance, my own grandfather was offered a position among her crew only a matter of weeks before her last departure. However, being content with his position aboard one of her sister ships, he sailed from Duluth only a matter of hours before the Edmund Fitzgerald did on that November day. My grandfather was just one of many who spent their lives upon Lake Superior's waters and one who knew the perils of sailing on the largest freshwater lake all too well. As a result, he has many strong opinions as to how the Edmund Fitzgerad met its final demise, but his ideas only represent a small portion of the theories that have been developed which seek to find an answer as to why the boat actually sank in that November storm. My proposed documentary would pick apart the events leading up to the final departure of the Edmund Fitzgerald in an attempt to answer this elusive question.
The documentary itself would be driven by a desire to know the truth about how the ore boat reached its final resting place on the bed of Lake Superior. In doing so, the intent of the documentary would be purely educational. It would examine all of the conflicting theories about the shipwreck and attempt to single out the one theory that is most likely to be correct. In order to do this interviews would be conducted with those men who sailed on other ships during that fateful day, such as the crew of the Arthur M. Anderson, the boat which was in radio contact with the Fitz during most of its final trip. I would also interview family members of those men who were on the Fitzgerald, experts from the National Weather Service, members of the Coast Guard stationed on Lake Superior, members of the company who owned the ship, those in charge of building the ship, and other geological experts who know Lake Superior's underwater topography as well as general geographic information about the lake. Those who were directly connected to the events of November 10, 1975 would be asked questions attempting to recreate the events of that day as well as those events leading up to that day. They would also be asked character questions about the ship's crew. The experts would be asked if the November storm was solely responsible for the Fitz going down, if it is possible that the Fitz encountered other problems along the way. For instance, was she on course, how could the storm have taken the boat down, or was the Fitz doomed from the start?
Some of the activities and practices that would be included in this documentary would be sailing along the ship's final route, visiting the recovered bell from the ship now on display in the Lake Superior Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Bay, showing old footage of the boat and her crew, and touring other ships of similar make and model.
The difficulties that I would anticipate in creating that had an authentic and realistic portrayal of the events of November 10, 1975 would be that many of the people closest to that day are either no longer with us, or they would not wish to talk about the Fitz for personal reasons. Also, since many of the events of November 10 are almost unknowable a final explanation may be impossible to come across. Therefore, viewers would be forced to come to their own conclussions based upon presented material and in doing so they would be invited to pick apart the credibility of documentary's creator. I am sure that once I delved deeply into this subject I would begin to formulate my own opions about what actually happened and the great challenge would be to keep these bias opions out of my work. Lastly, people's memories would most certainly not be as sharp as they once were. Many of the more detailed interviews regarding the ship's last hours would be extremely vivid in the minds of those being interviewed, but during the commotion of November 10, what important information simply did not register for those involved. These are all trying issues that would need to be dealt with in order to make this documentary a success. Afterall, many still want to know the truth about the Edmund Fitzgerald, and in order to have a chance at bringing it to them they need to be exposed to the most authentic and realistic portrayal that film can afford.
In my home town of Duluth, Minnesota the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, one of Lake Superior's ore boats, on November 10th, 1975 has long been a story of tragedy and debate. The Fitz's last voyage began on this day so many years ago from Superior, Wisconsin, and as such, local ties to the boat are innummerable. For instance, my own grandfather was offered a position among her crew only a matter of weeks before her last departure. However, being content with his position aboard one of her sister ships, he sailed from Duluth only a matter of hours before the Edmund Fitzgerald did on that November day. My grandfather was just one of many who spent their lives upon Lake Superior's waters and one who knew the perils of sailing on the largest freshwater lake all too well. As a result, he has many strong opinions as to how the Edmund Fitzgerad met its final demise, but his ideas only represent a small portion of the theories that have been developed which seek to find an answer as to why the boat actually sank in that November storm. My proposed documentary would pick apart the events leading up to the final departure of the Edmund Fitzgerald in an attempt to answer this elusive question.
The documentary itself would be driven by a desire to know the truth about how the ore boat reached its final resting place on the bed of Lake Superior. In doing so, the intent of the documentary would be purely educational. It would examine all of the conflicting theories about the shipwreck and attempt to single out the one theory that is most likely to be correct. In order to do this interviews would be conducted with those men who sailed on other ships during that fateful day, such as the crew of the Arthur M. Anderson, the boat which was in radio contact with the Fitz during most of its final trip. I would also interview family members of those men who were on the Fitzgerald, experts from the National Weather Service, members of the Coast Guard stationed on Lake Superior, members of the company who owned the ship, those in charge of building the ship, and other geological experts who know Lake Superior's underwater topography as well as general geographic information about the lake. Those who were directly connected to the events of November 10, 1975 would be asked questions attempting to recreate the events of that day as well as those events leading up to that day. They would also be asked character questions about the ship's crew. The experts would be asked if the November storm was solely responsible for the Fitz going down, if it is possible that the Fitz encountered other problems along the way. For instance, was she on course, how could the storm have taken the boat down, or was the Fitz doomed from the start?
Some of the activities and practices that would be included in this documentary would be sailing along the ship's final route, visiting the recovered bell from the ship now on display in the Lake Superior Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Bay, showing old footage of the boat and her crew, and touring other ships of similar make and model.
The difficulties that I would anticipate in creating that had an authentic and realistic portrayal of the events of November 10, 1975 would be that many of the people closest to that day are either no longer with us, or they would not wish to talk about the Fitz for personal reasons. Also, since many of the events of November 10 are almost unknowable a final explanation may be impossible to come across. Therefore, viewers would be forced to come to their own conclussions based upon presented material and in doing so they would be invited to pick apart the credibility of documentary's creator. I am sure that once I delved deeply into this subject I would begin to formulate my own opions about what actually happened and the great challenge would be to keep these bias opions out of my work. Lastly, people's memories would most certainly not be as sharp as they once were. Many of the more detailed interviews regarding the ship's last hours would be extremely vivid in the minds of those being interviewed, but during the commotion of November 10, what important information simply did not register for those involved. These are all trying issues that would need to be dealt with in order to make this documentary a success. Afterall, many still want to know the truth about the Edmund Fitzgerald, and in order to have a chance at bringing it to them they need to be exposed to the most authentic and realistic portrayal that film can afford.
posted by nbuck at 8:34 PM
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