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Cargando... The Trial of the Edmund Fitzgerald: Eyewitness Accounts from the U.S. Coast Guard Hearingspor Michael Schumacher
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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. No se han encontrado descripciones de biblioteca. |
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Google Books — Cargando... GénerosSistema Decimal Melvil (DDC)343.7309Social sciences Law Military, defense, public property, public finance, tax, commerce {trade}, industrial law North America United StatesClasificación de la Biblioteca del CongresoValoraciónPromedio:
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Twenty-nine lives were lost on the Fitzgerald. The ship "disappeared" from radar indicating it was quickly sunk with no time for the crew to abandon ship. The wreck site is in Canadian waters and has been designated a gravesite by Canada, precluding any further diving or exploration beyond the original official investigative ROV. There remains enough that is unclear and unknown that we will never have a full accounting of what happened to cause the sinking of the ship.
In The Trial of the Edmund Fitzgerald Michael Schumacher provides excerpts from testimony made before the Coast Guard's Marine Board of Inquiry into the wreck. The advantage of this approach, as Schumacher explains in the Preface, is that it gives the reader the opportunity to understand the story of the sinking through the words of those on Lake Superior in the same storm, those who searched for the Fitzgerald and it's crew, and those who discovered and recovered wreckage. The excerpts are compelling, especially the testimony of Bernie Cooper, the captain of the Arthur M Anderson, which was following the Fitzgerald, and in contact with her through the storm.
Schumacher also includes three documents - the Marine Board's Report, the Lake Carrier's Association letter of dissent (written in response the the Marine Board report), and the National Transportation Safety Board's Accident Report.
These three do not agree with each other as to the cause of the sinking. The Lake Carrier's Association maintains that the Fitzgerald had suffered hull damage by passing over shoals prior to sinking, and that the water entered the cargo hold came from below. Both the Coast Guard and the NTSB disagree with that, noting that no sign of scraping of the hull was found by the ROV exploration of the wreck site in 1976. Both the Marine Board and the NTSB instead find that water entered the cargo hold from above board and contributed to the sinking in heavy seas, though each has a different account of how that may have happened.
This is Schumacher's second book on the Edmund Fitzgerald, and this one was inspired by the research into the Marine Board testimony he'd done for his first (Mighty Fitz).
I rate this book three stars ⭐⭐⭐. I liked this book. If you are interested in the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, you might like it too.
A NOTE ON FORMAT
I checked this book out from my local library using OverDrive. Originally I checked out and listened to the audiobook, with narration by Traber Burns. Even though the book is structured as a series of statements from Board testimony, followed by the three documents, it worked surprisingly well as an audiobook and I thought Traber Burns did an excellent job of it. However, after finishing the audiobook I went back and checked out the ebook, which contains charts and photos that really add to the story. ( )