I believe that is the most likely reason she sank.
Although I believe the wave on the bow and a wave on the stern may have also been a cause. Clearly the ship was weakened structurally when she was cut in half and lengthed.
As an aside, I met a retired Coast Guard Officer who was part of an accreditation team at the maritime college in Maine.
He was one of the lead investigators in the investigation.
He said we will never know for sure but he thinks she ran around and torn her bottom out.
I cant remember what tonnage she had on anymore. But the Capt on the Anderson had warned him to NOT get to close to that reef.
All she had to do was break her back-or a little crack, and the wave action would have done the rest. The weight on the way down broke her up.
I have been on that GD lake in a 21 foot fishing boat and got caught in a storm on the Big Reef 28 miles north of the bay out of Munising Michigan. That and one time on a fish tug where I got so dam sea sick I wished I would die.
I have seen three freighters brought in by fish tugs to harbor when they got caught in a gale on that lake. And not a one had any antennas left on the wheel houses. Matter of fact, one had half the deck railings and survival boats gone. It isnt that the waves are that high on there-its the frequency of the waves. Then, around November, the spray freezes on the deck and all.