We Are Holding Our Own

Currently the US economy is not in the greatest that it has ever been. I will not go as far as a lot of other people have and use the "R" word, because it is simply not true. Is there a potential for it to happen, yes? But just remember that last quarter, the economy as a whole still had a growth. It is a very very small amount of growth, but growth none the less. There have been hundreds of books and articles written about the economy. Hundreds of thousands of hours of TV dedicated to breaking each little point down. Analysts and politicians and everyday people have been interviewed over and over and over again. But it seems that everyone is dodging the real reason why the economy is in a little bit of a downturn. Well, I for one am not going to just sit back and not talk about it. I am not afraid of the backlash or the damage to my reputation that this may bring. I am ready to face the consequences. So here we go. The reason for the current economic downturn is that the spirits that still haunt The Great Lakes from the mysterious and tragic sinking of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald are wreaking havoc on those that were not there in time to save them..........You look confused.

Lets roll back tape then for a history lesson. Its kind of like when you were in grade school and you would watch an educational documentary. The teacher would turn the lights off and you would all sit there with the reel to reel going watching some blotchy movie while trying not to fall asleep or stare at the girl next to you too much. So hit the lights. This is what that cheesy documentary would sound like if it was written by the same people who wrote about it on Wikipedia.

On February 1, 1957, Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company of Milwaukee, Wisconsin contracted Great Lakes Engineering Works (GLEW), of River Rouge, Michigan, to design and build an ore bulk carrier lake freighter for Northwestern. The contract contained the stipulation that the boat be the largest on the Great Lakes. GLEW laid the keel on August 7 of that year, and some time between then and her christening and launch on June 8, 1958, Northwestern announced their decision to name the boat for their President and Chairman of the Board, Edmund Fitzgerald, whose own father had himself been a lake captain. For the next 17 years, the Fitzgerald carried taconite from mines near Duluth, Minnesota to iron works in Detroit, Toledo and other ports. Prior to the events of November 9, 1975, she suffered five collisions, running aground in 1969, colliding with the S.S. Hochelaga in 1970 and then striking the wall of a lock later in the same year, hitting a lock's wall again in 1973, and then again the following year. She also lost her original bow anchor in the Detroit River in 1974.

Fitzgerald left Superior Wisconsin on the afternoon of Sunday, November 9, 1975 under Captain Ernest M. McSorley. She was en route to the steel mill on Zug Island, near Detroit, Michigan, with a full cargo of taconite. A second freighter, Arthur M. Anderson, destined for Gary, Indiana out of Two Harbors, Minnesota, joined up with Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald, being the faster ship, took the lead while Anderson trailed not far behind.

Crossing Lake Superior at about 13 knots the boats encountered a massive winter storm, reporting winds in excess of 50 knots and waves as high as 35 feet. Because of the storm, the Soo Locks at Sault Ste. Marie were closed. The freighters altered their courses northward, seeking shelter along the Canadian coast. Later, they would cross to Whitefish Bay to approach the locks.

Late in the afternoon of Monday, November 10, sustained winds of 50 knots were observed across eastern Lake Superior. Anderson was struck by a 75-knot hurricane force gust. At 3:30 PM Fitzgerald radioed Anderson to report a minor list developing and top-side damage including the loss of radar. Visibility was poor due to heavy snow, and the Coast Guard warned all ships to find safe harbor. Fitzgerald's two bilge pumps were running continuously to discharge shipped water. The lighthouse and navigational radio beacon at Whitefish Point had also been knocked out by the storm. Fitzgerald was ahead of Anderson at the time, effectively blind, therefore, she slowed to come within 10 miles range so she could receive radar guidance from the other ship.

For a time Anderson directed the Fitzgerald toward the relative safety of Whitefish Bay. At 5:45PM, Captain McSorley radioed another ship, Avafors, to report that Fitzgerald was suffering a bad list, had lost her radars, and had seas washing over her decks. McSorley described the situation as, "One of the worst seas I've ever been in."

The last communication from the doomed ship came at approximately 7:10 PM, when Anderson notified Fitzgerald of being hit by rogue waves large enough to be caught on radar, that were heading Fitzgerald's way, and asked how she was doing. McSorley reported, "We are holding our own." A few minutes later, she apparently sank; no distress signal was received. Ten minutes later Anderson could neither raise Fitzgerald by radio, nor detect her on radar. At 8:32 PM, Anderson informed the U.S. Coast Guard of its concern for the ship.

Once Anderson noted the loss of Fitzgerald, a search was launched for survivors. The initial search consisted of the Arthur M. Anderson, and a second freighter, SS William Clay Ford. The efforts of a third freighter, the Canadian vessel Hilda Marjanne, were foiled by the weather. The U.S. Coast Guard launched three aircraft, but could not mobilize any ships. A Coast Guard buoy tender, Woodrush, was able to launch within two and a half hours, but took a day to arrive. The search recovered debris, including lifeboats and rafts, but no survivors.

See, it makes sense now right? Probably not, but lets give it a try. As it was told to me, the two ships that went looking for survivors had held back for a while waiting for the weather to continue to break. They sat back waiting knowing that their cohorts, friends and fellow crew members could be in trouble or in dire need of their help. When they finally arrived they found no survivors. Could they have found survivors if they would have gotten there earlier? It is quite possible but we will never know. So my theory is that the spiritual presence of the tragic loss that day is wreaking havoc on the US economy to get its revenge. Not necessarily the economy as a whole, but key pieces of it.

Look at the names of the ships that hesitated and then finally went to their rescue, the SS Arthur M. Andersen and the SS William Clay Ford. Arthur Andersen LLP, based in Chicago, was once one of the "Big Five" accounting firms among PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte Touche, Ernst & Young and KPMG, providing auditing, tax, and consulting services to large corporations. In 2002, the firm voluntarily surrendered its licenses to practice as Certified Public Accountants in the United States after being found guilty of criminal charges relating to the firm's handling of the auditing of Enron, the energy corporation, resulting in the loss of 85,000 jobs. Although the verdict was subsequently overturned by the Supreme Court of the United States, it has not returned as a viable business. This also brought about devastating ramifications on other large once respected companies and the SOX Compliance Act of 2001. And as a former resident of Michigan I can not even bear to tell the tales of Ford and Detroit.

But it is ironic that the Edmund Fitzgerald was heading to Zug Island in Detroit, take a look in the news and see how Zug Island is holding up. I am sure you don't even need to look up how Detroit is doing in the paper. Plus you can save the money you would have used to buy the paper and buy a house in Detroit instead as one was just sold for $1. The other sense of irony is that the Anderson was heading to Gary, Indiana. And anyone that has driven to Chicago from Michigan before can tell you that you know when you are getting close because you can smell Gary, Indiana on your way in. Oh yeah, and don't forget that they rank Detroit as the most dangerous city in the country and Gary Indiana comes in at number 17.

If you ask me, they shouldn't have hesitated. Not just because of the above mentioned consequences, but because they should have had a sense of comradery. They should have gone after their friends. I never realized the depth of this story until someone I had never even met until a few nights ago brought it to my attention. That person was none other then Tony Clifton, legendary singer that has sold more albums then the Beatles and Elvis combined. But that's a story for another post.