A favorite song and memorable event.
We have a lithograph of the Fitz hanging on our living room wall even though we now live one mile from the Chesapeake Bay.
https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/2963351_jim-clary-lithograph-edmund-fitzgerald-342
That’s a link to an auction site that was selling a copy of the same painting. It’s pretty haunting. The artists image is as the Fitz is being carried up between two rogue waves and ready to crack in half.
The rogue waves is probably the most likely cause of the event. The ship was fully loaded with iron ore pellets and a wave at the bow and a wave at the stern lifted the ship up and she broke in two. Also, I believe the Fitzgerald had been lengthen and that might have caused a weakness in the hull.
However, there are two other theories about the sinking:
first, after the sinking new soundings were taken of the bottom. The water was not as deep as previous thought and it is possible that with the storm the Fitzgerald scraped the bottom of the lake and torn its bottom out. Second, the hatches were not properly secured and water leaked in or the vents to the cargo holes took on water.
I have spoken to several now retired Coast Guard officers who were involved in the investigation. They don’t know for sure what the cause was.