Over the years since the Fitz went down I've been collecting stories about the ship. The most disturbing came from a former Coast Guard ship inspector. Others are from sailors who served in the ship or were aboard other ships that season. While I've not attempted to sort fact from fiction, one conclusion is certain: nobody believes the "official" U.S. Coast Guard theory that leaking hatches caused the sinking.
The Fitz was supposed to be in a shipyard on the day it sank. Purpose: strengthen cracked structural members caused by the flexing of the hull over the years of service. The Coast Guard approved one more trip (the fatal one) because a sudden improvement in the national economy sent the demand for iron ore upward.
The Fitz was unusually limber. There were "tunnels" under the weather deck to allow crew to pass fore and aft without being exposed on deck. In heavy weather it was often impossible to see from one end of the tunnel to the other because the center of the ship would flex upward like the curve of the earth. I've seen photos of this in crew scrapbooks.
Most Great Lakes sailors believe the ship either began to come apart in the storm or struck on a shoal, opening the bottom. Either way, the bilge suction ran down the center of the cargo hold. Once the Fitz took a list, they could not pump water overboard. The ship just kept getting heavier as the crew attempted to make Whitefish Bay. The water won.
-- David G. Brown
