First Ship of the Season Enters Duluth Harbor on Wednesday, Was Last to See Edmund Fitzgerald

DULUTH, MN (trfnews.i234.me) The first ship of the season into Duluth Harbor today was the SS Arthur M. Anderson. It was the last ship to have contact with the Edmund Fitzgerald, before it sank in 1975.
last week we gave you a quick tour of duluth the canal and ariel bridge well on this thursday here comes the first ship of the season the arthur m anderson 767 feet long it hauls iron ore and built in 1952 in ohio and the arthur m anderson has a very interesting history it’s the last ship to make contact with the edmund fitzgerald reading from its uh history here on sunday november 9 1975 the anderson departed two harbors minnesota into lake superior with a load of iron ore for gary indiana shortly after departure she was overtaken by the edmund fitzgerald which had left superior two hours earlier the two captains captain jesse b cooper of the anderson and captain ernest m mcsorley of the fitzgerald agreed to run together maintaining radio and radar contact with each other on their lake superior transit through the forecasted storm taking the longer route following the canadian shore this route afforded more protection from the winds and waves for most of the trip versus the more direct route across the lake that would expose them to the full force of the storm however on their last leg of their run following the eastern canadian shore of lake superior toward whitefish bay they were exposed to extremely heavy seas of 20 to 30 feet the anderson lost sight of the lights of the fitzgerald and the squall and then the fitzgerald disappeared from the anderson’s radar screen emerging from the squall the lights of the fitzgerald were also gone repeated radio calls to the edmund fitzgerald went unanswered and no ships either in or leaving whitefish bay reported seeing the fitzgerald come off the lake the anderson reported the missing vessel to the u.s coast guard after conducting a feudal search of the area for survivors the anderson entered into the protection of whitefish bay from the stormy lake superior in the early hours of november 11 1975. i’m neal carlson reporting for trfnews.i234.me