These Men dove to the Edmund Fitzgerald shipwreck decades ago. Their stories
20 days ago
- #deep diving
- #shipwreck
- #Edmund Fitzgerald
- The SS Edmund Fitzgerald sank in Lake Superior in 1975 during a storm, killing all 29 crew members.
- Only a handful of people have visited the wreck, including divers Terrence Tysall and Mike Zlatopolsky, who scuba dived to the site in 1995.
- Explorations of the wreck, including the discovery of a crew member's body, have caused controversy among the victims' families.
- Divers describe the wreck as a sacred grave site and a privilege to witness.
- Ric Mixter, who explored the wreck in a submersible in 1994, found clues suggesting the ship broke apart before sinking.
- Tysall and Zlatopolsky's dive was motivated by the challenge of deep diving and the use of mixed gases, not by morbid curiosity.
- The dive was dangerous, requiring precise planning and execution to avoid fatal decompression sickness.
- Lake Superior's harsh conditions and the wreck's status as a grave site have limited further explorations.
- Both Mixter and Tysall faced backlash from families of the deceased crew members for their explorations.
- The wreck remains a significant historical site, with its story kept alive by Gordon Lightfoot's song and ongoing interest in its mystery.