Michael Schumacher (1)

It was not my intention to read this book on basically the anniversary of the event in question (having had this book on various TBR lists for about five years), but I found this to be great accounting of another "perfect storm," which devastated the Great Lakes at the time. Schumacher's focus is on the battle for survival of the individual ships, but he will also give you some overview of how the region (Cleveland (OH) in particular), was flattened by the storm. The question that Schumacher leaves me with is to wonder about the accounting after the disaster, particularly how the insurance companies responded to the numerous claims, and whether they found the shipping companies negligent; this is due to rumors about ship masters being pressured to sail when weather conditions were threatening.… (más)

A well written book that manages to be capture the emotions of the night, but staying true to what happened (per the evidence). The Author has done a lot of research in this, citing various reports, from official reports put out by Coast Card, to individual witnesses. He's makes sure to note where there are inconsistencies, as well as what certain. What it amounts to is, that no one actually knows why the Edmund Fitzgerald went down. Everyone can agree its due to the storm, but what happened- there are theories, but due to no survivors, and the boat being torn up as it went down, its just not possible.

As for the emotional impact, with not survivors, the author talks about other boat wrecks, as well what potentially the crew went through. Its emotional and hard to read. As someone who is works in an office, not really understanding the dangerous work that runs our world, its a bit eye opening.… (más)