Trevor Collins

It's very likely on the shorter parts, that long middle stretch you talked about, it's very likely that the waves can now crest into that territory because I believe the maximum height of the ship, probably from bottom to top, I don't know if it's sea level to top, but the data I have is about 38 feet for the SS Edmund Fitzgerald.

So, yes, we are definitely approaching a territory where the waves are high enough to crest over the railings.

Yeah, totally.

You're kind of seeing like it might not be super tall as far as the freight and the cargo is concerned, but you have enough wind and waves pushing against it.

It could be creating like a sideways churning, right?

Pushing the ship top over a little bit.

Mm hmm.

so like i said the wind has greatly increased the waves have greatly increased and this next report comes from captain cooper on the anderson at 6 55 pm he describes what he felt like as a bump which doesn't sound too wild but for a veteran captain it's kind of alarming

He says the ship lurched and they saw a massive wave engulf the entire ship from back to front.

The wave hit the back of the ship with such force that it drove the front of the boat down into the lake.

And so exactly like your inclination was, you know, if it was coming from the side, it would cause a list.

Coming from the back, it pushes then the front down, which is where the captain sits, as you pointed out, down into the water a little bit.

And so, yeah, you can see now how the lake is really having its way pushing this ship around.

Now, to be super clear, a lot of these descriptions come from Cooper on the Anderson, but the vivid details from here paint what is likely also happening to the SS Edmund Fitzgerald.

And so I actually want to quote Cooper here.

And he says this, quote, Then the Anderson just raised up and shook herself off of all that water.

baroof, just like a big dog.

Another wave, just like the first one, or bigger, hit us again.

I watched those two waves head down the lake towards the Fitzgerald, and I think those were the two that sent her under."

He's surmising, right?