Kowalski Heat Treating News, Notes, and Valuable Information for Anyone Trying to Keep Their Metals & Alloys Hard, Flat, Straight or Sharp
“We are holding our own.”
/1 Comment/in 40th Anniversary, S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald /by Steve KowalskiHonoring the SS Edmond Fitzgerald
Various paintings, newspaper headlines and news photos.
Upper right: Namesake, Edmund Fitzgerald, president of Northwestern Mutual, stands in front of the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald in July 1959. (Image credit: Wisconsin Marine Historical Society)
Second row from bottom, far left: Bay Village resident, John H. McCarthy, First Mate.
As I sit in my office on Detroit Avenue, I have the luxury of overlooking a magnificent view of beautiful Lake Erie, watching freighters come and go in our busy docks. This week is a special week, as it marks 40 years since the loss of the Edmond Fitzgerald, a tragedy made famous by singer/songwriter Gordon Lightfoot. For our history and boating buffs out there, I thought I’d research a bit more about this mighty freighter and share with our group some known and unknown facts.
- SS Edmund Fitzgerald, the largest freighter of her time when launched, sank in a Lake Superior storm with the loss of the entire crew of 29.
- For seventeen years, and recording over 1M nautical miles, Fitzgerald carried taconite iron ore from mines near Duluth, MN to iron works in Detroit, Toledo, and other Great Lakes ports. A “workhorse,” she set seasonal haul records six times, with a deadweight capacity of over 26,000 tons.
- “DJ” Captain Peter Pulcer was known for piping music day or night over the ship’s intercom while passing through the St. Clair and Detroit Rivers and entertaining spectators near the locks with a running commentary about the ship.
- Financed by the Northwestern Mutual Insurance Company of Milwaukee, and named after its Chairman of the Board, (who’s grandfather had also been a sea captain) she was the longest freighter built – “within a foot of the maximum length allowed for passage through the soon-to-be-completed Saint Lawrence Seaway” – 730 feet long and 75 feet wide, earning her the title “Queen of the Great Lakes”
- Up until a few weeks before her loss, passengers had traveled on board as company guests and were provided VIP treatment with excellent snacks and a well-stocked kitchenette for drinks. Once each trip, the captain held a candlelight dinner for the guests, complete with mess-jacketed stewards and special “clamdigger” punch.
- Carrying a full cargo of ore pellets with Captain Ernest M. McSorley in command, she embarked on her ill-fated voyage from Superior, Wisconsin, near Duluth, on the afternoon of November 9, 1975.
- At 2:00 a.m. on November 10, the NWS upgraded its warnings from gale to storm, forecasting winds of 35–50 knots (40–58 mph). Until then, Fitzgerald had followed a sister ship the SS. Anderson, but pulled ahead about 3:00 a.m. As the storm center passed over the ships, they both experienced shifting winds, as wind direction changed from northeast to south and then northwest.
- Shortly after 3:30 p.m., Captain McSorley radioed the Anderson to report that Fitzgerald was taking on water and had lost two vent covers, a fence railing and had also developed a list. Two of Fitzgerald’s six bilge pumps ran continuously to discharge shipped water.
- For a time, Anderson directed Fitzgerald toward the relative safety of Whitefish Bay. Some time later, McSorley told Anderson, “I have a ‘bad list,’ I have lost both radars, and am taking heavy seas over the deck in one of the worst seas I have ever been in.” With sustained winds of 58 mph, gusts up to 78 mph, and waves between 25-35 feet, the last communication from the ship came at approximately 7:10 p.m., when Anderson notified Fitzgerald of an upbound ship and asked how she was doing. McSorley reported, “We are holding our own.” She sank minutes later.
- The wreck was discovered weeks later, finding the Fitzgerald lying in two large pieces on the lake floor. In 1980, a research dive expedition was led by Jean-Michael Cousteau (son of Jacques Cousteau) and concluded the vessel most likely broke on the surface.
- Over the years, hundreds of thousands of dollars have been spent on dozens of dives to determine the cause, look for crew and also retrieve artifacts. Theories include rogue wave impact, cargo hold flooding, shoaling (grounding), structural failure, and topside damage/flooding. No conclusive evidence exists to date.
- The sinking led to changes in Great Lakes shipping regulations and practices that included mandatory survival suits, depth finders, positioning systems, increased freeboard, and more frequent inspection of vessels.
On November 10:
Twenty-nine bells for the twenty-nine lives lost on the Edmond Fitzgerald.
Spooky Insights from KHTHeat
/0 Comments/in 40th Anniversary, Fall, Fun Friday, Halloween /by Steve Kowalski
With Halloween this weekend, we thought we’d share some “tips and treats” we found online you can use to be the smartest goblin at the dinner table.
- Halloween originated in Ireland over 2,000 years ago and is typically believed to be the birthplace of Halloween. Some historians believe it originated around 4000 B.C., which means Halloween has been around for over 6,000 years.
- “Halloween” is short for “Hallows’ Eve” or “Hallows’ Evening.” In an effort to convert pagans, the Christian church decided that Hallowmas or All Saints’ Day (November 1) and All Souls’ Day (November 2) should assimilate sacred pagan holidays that fell on or around October 31.
- Halloween has been called All Hallows’ Eve, Witches Night, Lamswool, Snap-Apple Night, Nutcrack Night, Samhaim, and Summer’s End influenced by the ancient Roman festival Pomona, which celebrated the harvest goddess of the same name. Many Halloween customs and games that feature apples (such as bobbing for apples) and nuts date from this time.
- The first Jack O’Lanterns were actually made from turnips. The term jack-o’-lantern is in origin a term for the visual phenomenon ignis fatuus (lit., “foolish fire”) known as a will-o’-the-wisp in English folklore – uses “wisp” (a bundle of sticks or paper sometimes used as a torch) and the proper name “Will”: thus, “Will-of-the-torch.” The term jack-o’-lantern is of the same construction: “Jack of [the] lantern.”
- According to Irish legend, Jack O’Lanterns are named after a stingy man named Jack who, because he tricked the devil several times, was forbidden entrance into both heaven and hell. He was condemned to wander the Earth, waving his lantern to lead people away from their paths.
- The word “witch” comes from the Old English wicce, meaning “wise woman.” In fact, wiccan were highly respected people at one time. According to popular belief, witches held one of their two main meetings, or sabbats, on Halloween night.
- A persistent fear of Halloween is called Samhnainophobia
- The owl is a popular Halloween image. In Medieval Europe, owls were thought to be witches, and to hear an owl’s call meant someone was about to die.
- The largest pumpkin ever measured was grown in 2014 by Beni Meier weighing 2323.7 pounds recorded at the European Championship Pumpkin Weigh-off in Germany.
- The Guinness world record “pumpkin chuckin” shot is held by a pneumatic cannon dubbed “Big 10 Inch” at 5,545.43 feet (1,690.25 m). Team American Chunker, captained by Brian Labrie of New Hampshire, launched his pumpkin 4,694.68 feet (1,430.94 m) on November 1, 2013, in Bridgeville, Delaware, the longest shot in US event history.
- The fastest time to carve a pumpkin is 16.47 seconds achieved by Stephen Clarke (USA) on October 31, 2013. The jack-o’-lantern is required to have a complete face, including eyes, nose, mouth and ears.
- Trick-or-treating evolved from the ancient Celtic tradition of putting out treats and food to placate spirits who roamed the streets at Samhain, a sacred festival that marked the end of the Celtic calendar year.
- “Souling” is a medieval Christian precursor to modern-day trick-or-treating. On Hallowmas (November 1), the poor would go door-to-door offering prayers for the dead in exchange for soul cakes. The first known mention of trick-or-treating in print in North America occurred in 1927 in Blackie, Alberta, Canada.
- Black and orange are typically associated with Halloween. Orange is a symbol of strength and endurance and, along with brown and gold, stands for the harvest and autumn. Black is typically a symbol of death and darkness and acts as a reminder that Halloween once was a festival that marked the boundaries between life and death.
- Cats and fires have a permanent place in Halloween folklore. During the ancient festival, bonfires were lit to ensure the sun would return after the long, hard winter. Often Druids were said to throw cats into a fire, often in wicker cages, as part of divination proceedings and also throw the bones of cattle into the flames and, hence, “bone fire” became “bonfire.
- Scarecrows, a popular Halloween fixture, symbolize the ancient agricultural roots of the holiday.
- Scottish girls believed they could see images of their future husband if they hung wet sheets in front of the fire on Halloween. Other girls believed they would see their boyfriend’s faces if they looked into mirrors while walking downstairs at midnight on Halloween.
- According to tradition, if a person wears his or her clothes inside out and then walks backwards on Halloween, he or she will see a witch at midnight.
- Dressing up as ghouls and other spooks originated from the ancient Celtic tradition of townspeople disguising themselves as demons and spirits. The Celts believed that disguising themselves this way would allow them to escape the notice of the real spirits wandering the streets.
- The average American will spend over $75 on Halloween totaling over $6 billion dollars.
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