Lake Superior
Lake Superior is the largest of the five Great Lakes. It has a surface area of 31,700 square miles. Lake Superior has an average depth of 483 feet and at its deepest is at a depth of 1,332 feet. Lake Superior is the largest freshwater lake in the world. It is also the cleanest, clearest, and coldest of the five Great Lakes.
Due to Lake Superior's tempestous climate and frequent storms it has been referred to as the "Graveyard of the Great Lakes".
Lake Superior is the site of the most famous shipwreck in Great Lakes maritime history, the Edmund Fitzgerald. The Fitzgerald was also the largest shipwreck in Great Lakes history at 729 feet.
Books:
So Terrible a Storm: a tale of fury on Lake Superior
By Curt Brown
ISBN: 9780760332436
Abstract: It was Thanksgiving 1905 and thirty-one ships were on Lake Superior, making the season’s last, daring run--a run old salts had warned against, but to no avail against the shipping companies’ demands. What none of the sailors knew until it was far too late was that they would soon face the worst storm ever to hit the Great Lake, a storm that nearly half of their number would not survive. (Amazon book description)
White Hurricane: a Great Lakes November gale and America's deadliest maritime disaster
By David G. Brown
ISBN: 9780071380379
Abstract: In early November 1913, not quite 19 months after the loss of the Titanic in midatlantic, an autumn gale descended on the Great Lakes. "Gales of November" - like the one that sank the Edmund Fitzgerald in the 1970s - are a fact of life for Great Lakes mariners, but this one was anything but ordinary. Meteorologists now believe that a blast of cold polar air met a warm, moist air mass entrained in a low-pressure cell moving up from the Gulf of Mexico through the U.S. heartland, and the result was a violent weather "bomb" and the worst recorded storm in Great Lakes history. (Amazon book description)
The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald: the legendary Great Lakes disaster
By Elle Andra-Warner
ISBN: 9781554390076
Abstract: Under a gloomy November sky, SS Edmund Fitzgerald suddenly surrendered to ferocious gale-force winds, plunging to the bottom of Lake Superior, leaving no survivors. This haunting collection looks back to one of the most legendary, mysterious, and controversial shipwrecks of the Great Lakes. In the great battle between humans and nature, the outcome is often tragic and humbling. (Amazon book description)
Shipwrecks of Lake Superior
By James R. Marshall
ISBN: 9780942235678
Abstract: The second edition of the popular James Marshall’s Shipwrecks of Lake Superior is updated and redesigned to best present the engaging collection of maps, photos (historical and color) and accounts of the boats that once sailed the Greatest of Lakes. Will keep “wreckies” young and old turning pages. NEW THIS EDITION: The story of the last big wreck on Lake Superior - the Mesquite - and the latest theories on why the Edmund Fitzgerald went down.
Videos:
Shipwrecks off Whitefish Point
Seawolf Communications, Inc.
Abstract: To this day, all of Lake Superior's maritime traffic passes Whitefish Point. In the past, traffic was so heavy that collisions between ships were inevitable, while many other vessels fell prey to the notorious gales of November. This documentary focuses on wrecks such as the propeller-driven ore carrier, the Indiana, wooden steamships the Myron, the John M. Osborn, the Vienna, and the Samuel Mather, and the most famous shipwreck in the Great Lakes: the Edmund Fitzgerald. (WorldCat summary)
The Fitzgerald Tragedy: looking back and beyond
By Don Hermanson
Abstract: "The Fitzgerald tragedy was probably the result of a series of events that came together during a violent Lake Superior storm on November 10. 1975. Twenty years of documentary filmmaking and exclusive interviews with people closest to the disaster are presented as a historical narrative told of the most famous ore carrier to ever sail the Great Lakes. Ship captains and crew members, Coast Guard personnel, lighthouse keepers, commercial fishermen, maritime historians, authors, divers and other maritime experts all give their theories and opinions as to what caused the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald's demise on Lake Superior." (WorldCat summary)
Due to Lake Superior's tempestous climate and frequent storms it has been referred to as the "Graveyard of the Great Lakes".
Lake Superior is the site of the most famous shipwreck in Great Lakes maritime history, the Edmund Fitzgerald. The Fitzgerald was also the largest shipwreck in Great Lakes history at 729 feet.
Books:
So Terrible a Storm: a tale of fury on Lake Superior
By Curt Brown
ISBN: 9780760332436
Abstract: It was Thanksgiving 1905 and thirty-one ships were on Lake Superior, making the season’s last, daring run--a run old salts had warned against, but to no avail against the shipping companies’ demands. What none of the sailors knew until it was far too late was that they would soon face the worst storm ever to hit the Great Lake, a storm that nearly half of their number would not survive. (Amazon book description)
White Hurricane: a Great Lakes November gale and America's deadliest maritime disaster
By David G. Brown
ISBN: 9780071380379
Abstract: In early November 1913, not quite 19 months after the loss of the Titanic in midatlantic, an autumn gale descended on the Great Lakes. "Gales of November" - like the one that sank the Edmund Fitzgerald in the 1970s - are a fact of life for Great Lakes mariners, but this one was anything but ordinary. Meteorologists now believe that a blast of cold polar air met a warm, moist air mass entrained in a low-pressure cell moving up from the Gulf of Mexico through the U.S. heartland, and the result was a violent weather "bomb" and the worst recorded storm in Great Lakes history. (Amazon book description)
The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald: the legendary Great Lakes disaster
By Elle Andra-Warner
ISBN: 9781554390076
Abstract: Under a gloomy November sky, SS Edmund Fitzgerald suddenly surrendered to ferocious gale-force winds, plunging to the bottom of Lake Superior, leaving no survivors. This haunting collection looks back to one of the most legendary, mysterious, and controversial shipwrecks of the Great Lakes. In the great battle between humans and nature, the outcome is often tragic and humbling. (Amazon book description)
Shipwrecks of Lake Superior
By James R. Marshall
ISBN: 9780942235678
Abstract: The second edition of the popular James Marshall’s Shipwrecks of Lake Superior is updated and redesigned to best present the engaging collection of maps, photos (historical and color) and accounts of the boats that once sailed the Greatest of Lakes. Will keep “wreckies” young and old turning pages. NEW THIS EDITION: The story of the last big wreck on Lake Superior - the Mesquite - and the latest theories on why the Edmund Fitzgerald went down.
Videos:
Shipwrecks off Whitefish Point
Seawolf Communications, Inc.
Abstract: To this day, all of Lake Superior's maritime traffic passes Whitefish Point. In the past, traffic was so heavy that collisions between ships were inevitable, while many other vessels fell prey to the notorious gales of November. This documentary focuses on wrecks such as the propeller-driven ore carrier, the Indiana, wooden steamships the Myron, the John M. Osborn, the Vienna, and the Samuel Mather, and the most famous shipwreck in the Great Lakes: the Edmund Fitzgerald. (WorldCat summary)
The Fitzgerald Tragedy: looking back and beyond
By Don Hermanson
Abstract: "The Fitzgerald tragedy was probably the result of a series of events that came together during a violent Lake Superior storm on November 10. 1975. Twenty years of documentary filmmaking and exclusive interviews with people closest to the disaster are presented as a historical narrative told of the most famous ore carrier to ever sail the Great Lakes. Ship captains and crew members, Coast Guard personnel, lighthouse keepers, commercial fishermen, maritime historians, authors, divers and other maritime experts all give their theories and opinions as to what caused the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald's demise on Lake Superior." (WorldCat summary)