Save The Date - Steam Action Inc: Fill & Download for Free

Brilliant is a little subjective. I’ll just share some games I’ve reeeeeaaaally enjoyed. Quite a few on this list are award winners, some aren’t. Oh, and “brilliant” or not, if you don’t enjoy them, you don’t enjoy them. Citizen Kane’s a brilliant movie, but there are plenty of people who don’t care for it.Cuphead“Cuphead is a classic run and gun action game heavily focused on boss battles. Inspired by cartoons of the 1930s, the visuals and audio are painstakingly created with the same techniques of the era, i.e. traditional hand drawn cel animation, watercolor backgrounds, and original jazz recordings.”Cuphead on SteamSlayaway CampSlayaway Camp is a killer puzzle where you control Skullface, a psychotic slasher bent on slaughtering camp counselors at the title campground. Depicted in colourful voxel graphics, this adorable murderer slides around isometric puzzle levels decapitating, squashing, and perforating his blocky victims. It’s a diabolical logic game that also happens to be a bloody tribute to eighties trash horror.Slayaway Camp on SteamRocketbirds: Hardboiled Chicken“Annihilate an evil penguin regime in this cinematic platform adventure game offering full solo and co-op campaigns with anaglyph 3D support.Set out on a mission to assassinate the totalitarian penguin leader as Hardboiled Chicken. Destroy enemies with a slew of weapons and illuminate the secrets to his past while uncovering the real enemies of Albatropolis. Master fowl play in the co-op campaign as a pair of Budgie commandos on a mission to save the general's daughter. Many lives will be destroyed, countless penguins will die!”Rocketbirds: Hardboiled Chicken on SteamWarhammer 40,000: Space Marine <- (I <3this game…)“In Warhammer® 40,000® Space Marine® you are Captain Titus, a Space Marine of the Ultramarines chapter and a seasoned veteran of countless battles.A millions-strong Ork horde has invaded an Imperial Forge World, one of the planet-sized factories where the war machines for humanity’s never ending battle for survival are created. Losing this planet is not an option and be aware of the far more evil threat lurking large in the shadows of this world.”Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine on SteamTIS-100 (58.6hrs on record, ’nuff said)“TIS-100 is an open-ended programming game by Zachtronics, the creators of SpaceChem and Infinifactory, in which you rewrite corrupted code segments to repair the TIS-100 and unlock its secrets. It’s the assembly language programming game you never asked for!”TIS-100 on SteamHuman Resource Machine“Human Resource Machine is a puzzle game. In each level, your boss gives you a job. Automate it by programming your little office worker! If you succeed, you'll be promoted up to the next level for another year of work in the vast office building. Congratulations!Don't worry if you've never programmed before - programming is just puzzle solving. If you strip away all the 1's and 0's and scary squiggly brackets, programming is actually simple, logical, beautiful, and something that anyone can understand and have fun with!”Human Resource Machine on SteamWhile we’re on programming games…and from the sadists who brought you TIS-100…Shenzhen I/OBuild circuits using a variety of components from different manufacturers, like microcontrollers, memory, and logic gates.Write code in a compact and powerful assembly language where every instruction can be conditionally executed.Read the included manual, which includes over 30 pages of original datasheets, reference guides, and technical diagrams.Get to know the colorful cast of characters at your new employer, located in the electronics capital of the world.Get creative! Build your own games and devices in the sandbox.Engineering is hard! Take a break and play a brand-new twist on solitaire.SHENZHEN I/O on SteamMafia IIMafia II on SteamPlague Inc. Evolved“Can you infect the world? Your pathogen has just infected 'Patient Zero'. Now you must bring about the end of human history by evolving a deadly, global Plague whilst adapting against everything humanity can do to defend itself. Plague Inc: Evolved is a unique mix of high strategy and terrifyingly realistic simulation which is now available on PC, Mac and Linux via Steam. Plague Inc. has infected over 60 million players to date and has now been entirely redeveloped for PC, Mac and Linux. Get ready to take strategy gaming to the next level!”Plague Inc: Evolved on SteamHotline Miami (← LOVE. This. GAME. 72.9hrs on record.)“​Hotline Miami is a high-octane action game overflowing with raw brutality, hard-boiled gunplay and skull crushing close combat. Set in an alternative 1989 Miami, you will assume the role of a mysterious antihero on a murderous rampage against the shady underworld at the behest of voices on your answering machine. Soon you’ll find yourself struggling to get a grip of what is going on and why you are prone to these acts of violence. Rely on your wits to choreograph your way through seemingly impossible situations as you constantly find yourself outnumbered by vicious enemies. The action is unrelenting and every shot is deadly so each move must be quick and decisive if you hope to survive and unveil the sinister forces driving the bloodshed. Hotline Miami’s unmistakable visual style, a driving soundtrack, and a surreal chain of events will have you question your own thirst for blood while pushing you to the limits with a brutally unforgiving challenge.”Hotline Miami on SteamThe Stanley Parable“The Stanley Parable is an exploration of story, games, and choice. Except the story doesn't matter, it might not even be a game, and if you ever actually do have a choice, well let me know how you did it.”“One of the only "minimal gameplay" games I've ever enjoyed. A "walking simulator" with a great sense of humour that mocks game design intelligently.” - Total BiscuitThe Stanley Parable on SteamPony Island“Pony Island is a suspense puzzle game in disguise. You are in limbo, trapped in a malevolent and malfunctioning arcade machine devised by the devil himself. It is not a game about ponies.”Pony Island on Steam

If you didn’t already know, Steam’s Summer Sale is on right now. You don’t say what you’re into, or what you’ve already played, so I’m just going to go ahead and choose some games in my library that I like. *EDIT* You’ve added more details, a few…Space Marine & Mafia 2 (& maybe The Stanley Parable) are fairly intensive, but all the others should run just fine on a “bad laptop”.I picked this ‘un up a couple of days ago (-66% -> $4.07) and love it. Puzzles, chilled soundtrack, great art-style:Lara Croft GO“Lara Croft GO is a turn based puzzle-adventure set in a long-forgotten world. Explore the ruins of an ancient civilization, discover well-kept secrets and face deadly challenges as you uncover the myth of the Queen of Venom.”On PC: Save 66% on Lara Croft GO on SteamAlso available on Apple, Android, PS Vita, PS4Absolute Drift“In Absolute Drift, you will master the art of drifting. Practice your skills in Free-Roam and compete in drift events such as Driftkhana and Mountain Drifting.”Save 60% on Absolute Drift on SteamAlso available on PS4Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine <- I love this game…“In Warhammer® 40,000® Space Marine® you are Captain Titus, a Space Marine of the Ultramarines chapter and a seasoned veteran of countless battles.A millions-strong Ork horde has invaded an Imperial Forge World, one of the planet-sized factories where the war machines for humanity’s never ending battle for survival are created. Losing this planet is not an option and be aware of the far more evil threat lurking large in the shadows of this world.”Save 75% on Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine on SteamTIS-100 (58.6hrs on record, ’nuff said)“TIS-100 is an open-ended programming game by Zachtronics, the creators of SpaceChem and Infinifactory, in which you rewrite corrupted code segments to repair the TIS-100 and unlock its secrets. It’s the assembly language programming game you never asked for!”Save 50% on TIS-100 on SteamHuman Resource Machine“Human Resource Machine is a puzzle game. In each level, your boss gives you a job. Automate it by programming your little office worker! If you succeed, you'll be promoted up to the next level for another year of work in the vast office building. Congratulations!Don't worry if you've never programmed before - programming is just puzzle solving. If you strip away all the 1's and 0's and scary squiggly brackets, programming is actually simple, logical, beautiful, and something that anyone can understand and have fun with!”Save 40% on Human Resource Machine on SteamWhile we’re on programming games…and from the sadists who brought you TIS-100…Shenzhen I/OBuild circuits using a variety of components from different manufacturers, like microcontrollers, memory, and logic gates.Write code in a compact and powerful assembly language where every instruction can be conditionally executed.Read the included manual, which includes over 30 pages of original datasheets, reference guides, and technical diagrams.Get to know the colorful cast of characters at your new employer, located in the electronics capital of the world.Get creative! Build your own games and devices in the sandbox.Engineering is hard! Take a break and play a brand-new twist on solitaire.Save 25% on SHENZHEN I/O on SteamMafia IISave 75% on Mafia II on SteamPlague Inc. Evolved“Can you infect the world? Your pathogen has just infected 'Patient Zero'. Now you must bring about the end of human history by evolving a deadly, global Plague whilst adapting against everything humanity can do to defend itself. Plague Inc: Evolved is a unique mix of high strategy and terrifyingly realistic simulation which is now available on PC, Mac and Linux via Steam. Plague Inc. has infected over 60 million players to date and has now been entirely redeveloped for PC, Mac and Linux. Get ready to take strategy gaming to the next level!”Plague Inc: Evolved on SteamHotline Miami (← LOVE. This. GAME. 72.9hrs on record. And it’s only $2.99 right now??) If you like it as much as I did, and replay it as much, that’s…*counts fingers*…$0.04/hr of entertainment. TAKE THAT HOLLYWOOD.“​Hotline Miami is a high-octane action game overflowing with raw brutality, hard-boiled gunplay and skull crushing close combat. Set in an alternative 1989 Miami, you will assume the role of a mysterious antihero on a murderous rampage against the shady underworld at the behest of voices on your answering machine. Soon you’ll find yourself struggling to get a grip of what is going on and why you are prone to these acts of violence. Rely on your wits to choreograph your way through seemingly impossible situations as you constantly find yourself outnumbered by vicious enemies. The action is unrelenting and every shot is deadly so each move must be quick and decisive if you hope to survive and unveil the sinister forces driving the bloodshed. Hotline Miami’s unmistakable visual style, a driving soundtrack, and a surreal chain of events will have you question your own thirst for blood while pushing you to the limits with a brutally unforgiving challenge.”Save 75% on Hotline Miami on SteamThe Stanley Parable“The Stanley Parable is an exploration of story, games, and choice. Except the story doesn't matter, it might not even be a game, and if you ever actually do have a choice, well let me know how you did it.”“One of the only "minimal gameplay" games I've ever enjoyed. A "walking simulator" with a great sense of humour that mocks game design intelligently.” - Total BiscuitSave 75% on The Stanley Parable on SteamPony Island“Pony Island is a suspense puzzle game in disguise. You are in limbo, trapped in a malevolent and malfunctioning arcade machine devised by the devil himself. It is not a game about ponies.”Save 67% on Pony Island on Steam

Most serious researchers into the Edmund Fitzgerald’s shocking destruction on 10 November, 1975, in a gale on Lake Superior believe that the ship sank from a combination of factors. This is largely due to widespread dissatisfaction with the conclusions reached by the US Coast Guard in the immediate aftermath of the sinking.Great Lakes Ore Carrier SS Edmund FitzgeraldEdmund Fitzgerald History, The Fateful JourneyThe Coast Guard’s official report on the loss of the Fitzgerald, dated 26 July 1977, stated that the most likely cause of the wreck was improperly sealed cargo hatch covers (the rectangular structures amidships which are clearly visible in the photo above), which led to gradually accumulating water in the non-subdivided cargo hold. As more and more “boarding seas” sent water crashing over the main deck, the ship sank lower and lower until finally, its bouyancy was overcome and it plunged to the bottom of Lake Superior. In short, the ship was lost due to the failure of its crew to properly secure it against the conditions caused by the severe storm in which it sank. This is probably the closest thing in maritime circles to citing “pilot error” as the cause of a plane crash. The Coast Guard’s document is located in its entirety here:http://www.dco.uscg.mil/Portals/9/DCO%20Documents/5p/CG-5PC/INV/docs/boards/edmundfitz.pdfThe Lake Carriers Association—the professional trade group representing the shipping companies which owned the US-flagged ships on the Great Lakes—immediately and vociferously disagreed with the Coast Guard.Lake Carriers' AssociationPaul Trimble, a retired USCG vice admiral who was then the president of the LCA, wrote a letter to the National Transportation Safety Board on September 16, 1977, that specifically disputed the cornerstone of the Coast Guard’s theory on the sinking. His letter stated that:“The present hatch covers are an advanced design and are considered by the entire lake shipping industry to be the most significant improvement over the telescoping leaf covers previously used for many years. The one-piece hatch covers have proven completely satisfactory in all weather conditions without a single vessel loss in almost 40 years of use…and no water accumulation in cargo holds.”Having thus rejected out of hand the idea that the Fitzgerald’s crew had essentially been negligent or at least careless in securing the hatch covers, the LCA’s suspicions immediately centered on an event that occurred several hours before the sinking, soon after the ship had departed from Superior, Wisconsin, fully loaded with more than 26,000 tons of taconite iron ore pellets. This was a possible running aground or “shoaling” of the ship near Caribou Island.Caribou Island in Lake Superior, North America. Photo Courtesy of Morris Chisholm by way of Flickr dot com.Caribou Island - WikipediaDuring its final journey, Fitzgerald was traveling in concert with another large freighter, the SS Arthur Anderson, under the command of Captain Bernie Cooper. At around 1530 (3:30 in the afternoon), or roughly 4 hours before the Fitzgerald sank, Cooper received a radio transmission from Captain Earnest McSorley of the Fitzgerald. McSorley told Cooper:“Anderson, this is the Fitzgerald. I have a fence rail down, two vents lost or damaged, and a list. I’m checking down. Will you stay by me till I get to Whitefish?” By “checking down”, McSorley meant that he was reducing speed so the trailing Anderson could close the distance and keep an eye on the Fitzgerald in the gathering storm. Cooper radioed McSorley and asked if he had his pumps going, and McSorley said, “Yes, both of them.”Massive Storm Waves Breaking on the Shore of Lake Superior. Wave Heights of 35 Feet or More Have Been Observed During Storms on the Lake.It is crucial to note that the storm was already underway by this point in the day on 10 November. Winds had reached near gale force several hours earlier, at 7 AM that morning, with wave heights of 10 feet observed. Thus the Fitzgerald was in heavy seas well before it passed by Caribou Island, and more so at the time McSorley reported that his vessel had been damaged. Just prior to the Fitzgerald’s radio communication with his ship, Cooper and one of his bridge staff on the Anderson—sailing astern of the Fitzgerald and watching its course on the Anderson’s radar—both remarked to each other that each thought McSorley and his ship were far too close to Caribou Island and a known underwater hazard called “Six Fathom Shoal”. A “list” meant that the Fitzgerald had taken on enough water to make the ship lean over on its side. A downed fence rail could only have been caused by either a heavy impact with a large object of some kind, or—much more likely—”hogging” of the ship. This would have snapped the steel rail as it was bent to the breaking point by the ship’s hull itself being forced upward from an impact with something on the lake floor beneath the vessel. Although Cooper’s sometimes excitable and occasionally inconsistent testimony led the majority of investigators to discount the idea that the Fitzgerald had struck rocks jutting up from the lake bottom, others were convinced.Subsequent radio transmissions from the stricken ship indicate that McSorley was worried. Between 4:30 and 5:00 he called the Coast Guard on the emergency channel—the “distress frequency”—and also put out a general call asking for information about the lighthouse and the radio beacon at Whitefish Point, at the southeastern end of the Lake. The comparitive safety of Whitefish Bay was just beyond the Point.Further, although McSorley did not tell Cooper that he was particularly concerned by whatever had happened near Caribou Island, around 5:30 he reported to another ship captain, Cedric Woodard of the Swedish cargo vessel Avafors, that:"I have a bad list, lost both radars. And am taking heavy seas over the deck. One of the worst seas I've ever been in."Woodard replied: "If I'm correct, you have two radars."McSorley: "They're both gone."It should be noted that McSorley said something at this time that was apparently picked up in his transmission to Woodard because McSorley was shouting to the crew while leaving his radio mic on. As described by writer Hugh Bishop in his Lake Superior Magazine article “Edmund Fitzgerald: Decades of Speculation, Fascination and Grieving”:“Captain Woodard, who was acquainted with McSorley and had talked with him many times previously, said in testimony that he didn’t recognize the voice when first they spoke and that McSorley sounded strange.Still later, at about 6 p.m., Woodard called the Fitz to report that the light had just come on at Whitefish Point. During that conversation, he stated that McSorley inadvertently left the microphone on when he said to someone in his pilothouse, “Don’t allow nobody on deck,” also saying something about a vent that Woodard couldn’t understand.In Lake Superior Port Cities Inc.’s newly released book, The Night the Fitz Went Down, Captain Dudley Paquette vividly describes his voyage through the massive seas of the November 9-10, 1975, storm as master of the downbound Inland Steel Company’s SS Wilfred Sykes. He is particularly intrigued by the command that Woodard overheard.“In those seas, such a command goes without saying, so why did McSorley have to emphasize it?” he asks. “There had to have been something happening on the deck that a mate thought they had to get control of - even if it meant putting lives in danger.”Whatever prompted that command just a little over an hour before the sinking, Paquette analyzes that it would have been catastrophic and visible from the pilothouse in the darkness of an early November evening. That would likely mean that it was at the forward end of the weather deck. Previously suggested possibilities are that a hatch cover washed off or the heavy deck crane or the spare blade for the propeller broke loose and crashed about.“I wouldn’t be surprised if a hatch cover came off, because I loaded right beside him in Superior on November 9 and the deck crew was still putting on hatch covers when they left the Superior Entry into Lake Superior,” Captain Paquette says. “It’s likely that they didn’t latch a lot of the hatch cover clamps because the crew was on Sunday overtime pay and they were so late getting covered up - and the weather was very nice at that time.” Captain Paquette thus sided with the Coast Guard and essentially blamed the crew.Edmund Fitzgerald: Decades of Speculation, Fascination and GrievingBy this point, then, at around 6 PM, the Fitzgerald was badly damaged, listing from increasing amounts of water in its cargo hold and in other spaces—too much for the ship’s powerful pumps to stay ahead of—and sailing blind.Worse, meteorological reconstructions of the 10 November 1975 storm show that it was exceptionally powerful even by the Great Lakes’ notoriously vicious standards.Unusual and Violent Waves on Lake Erie in a Recent NovemberThe Spectacular, Rip-Roaring Waves of Lake Erie’s ‘November Witch’The November Witches Of The Great Lakes | WeatherBugWhy the Edmund Fitzgerald sankIn some ways the seas during the worst storms on the Great Lakes are more difficult than what ships would encounter in the open ocean. This is due to the “Bathtub Effect” that produces oscillating waves which collide with each other from two or more directions. A “seiche”—similar to a tsunami—can also develop as sustained winds blow enormous amounts of water ahead of them down the Lakes. Similar factors have led to ten foot waves being seen even on as small a body of water as the 50 square mile Sea of Galilee (referenced in the New Testament in Matthew 8:23–27).Bible Gateway passage: Matthew 8:23-27 - New International VersionSIDEBAR – The Bathtub Effect — This blog post is discussing the Bathtub Effect as observed in the Gulf of Mexico and not the Great Lakes, but is still a good overview of the phenomenon.What Is a seiche?Captain McSorley knew that his ship was badly wounded and in mortal danger. Knowing also that he was not far from Whitefish Bay, he decided to run for it. Unfortunately this decision put him squarely in the worst possible place at the worst possible time. The Fitzgerald sailed into the exact spot where the storm reached its maximum power, and at the center of the worst waves and seiche storm surge produced by the 80-plus MPH winds and “bathtub effect”.The Final Voyage of the Edmund Fitzgerald on Lake Superior. The Ship Sank 17 Miles Northwest of Whitefish Bay.The last communication with the doomed vessel came via radio at about 7:10 PM. Anderson first mate Morgan Clark radioed the Fitzgerald to notify him of a radar contact about 19 miles ahead. McSorley acknowledged this and asked if he “was going to clear”, ie, if there was any danger of a collision. Clark said that there was none, then asked how things were going. McSorley replied, “We are holding our own”.Soon after this, the Fitzgerald entered a snow squall and radar contact was lost. Just prior to Clark’s transmission, Cooper later testified, the crew of the Anderson had felt “a bump”, an impact that hit their vessel from behind. Looking back from the pilothouse, the bridge crew saw two huge waves partially engulf the ship, moving forward from the stern. The second of these struck the back of the pilothouse, which forced the bow of the Anderson down into the seas. As Cooper described:“We took two of the largest seas of the trip. The first one flooded our boat deck. It had enough force to come down on the starboard lifeboat, pushing it into the saddles with a force strong enough to damage the bottom of the lifeboat.… The second large sea put green water (the powerful center of a wave) on our bridge deck! This is 35 feet above the waterline.”SS Arthur Anderson, a Great Lakes Freighter That Traveled With the Edmund Fitzgerald on 10 November 1975. Note the Height of the Ship’s Pilothouse in the Bow of the Vessel.Cooper’s ship, though badly rattled, quickly recovered from the force of the blow, and the crew watched the two giant waves move down the Lake—toward the struggling Fitzgerald. All contact with the Fitzgerald was lost about 10 minutes later.The subsequent report by the Coast Guard was based on extensive video of the wreck on the bottom of Lake Superior. The footage was taken by the US Navy’s CURV III (Cable-controlled Undersea Recovery Vehicle).CURV - WikipediaConditions on the lake bottom, 535 feet down, were somewhat muddy and so the quality of the video was not ideal.Following the Lake Carriers’ Association letter to the NTSB that disputed the Coast Guard’s conclusions, a second report—this one by the NTSB itself—was issued.https://static1.squarespace.com/static/55fd6fdbe4b0154e882ba4d7/t/562e1f79e4b04e54c8a031bd/1445863289573/EdmundFitzgeraldNTSBReport.pdfTaking a somewhat broader view of the tragedy, the NTSB document considered in more detail several possible contributing factors. Most of these had been briefly touched upon by the Coast Guard but not discussed comprehensively.One of these was the near-certainty that the Fitzgerald was overloaded on its last trip.An Early Photo of the Fitzgerald, in Light Condition at Pierside, Probably in the late 1950s or Early 1960s. The Ship Was Launched in 1958.The Fitzgerald Riding Low in the Water While Fully Loaded, Sometime in 1971. The Ship Would Have Looked Much Like This As It Sailed Into the Storm on 10 November 1975.The distance from the waterline to the main deck of a ship is known as “freeboard”. On the night before its destruction, the Fitzgerald probably left port with as little as 11 and a half (11.5) feet of freeboard and possibly even less. This was a dangerously thin margin of safety, particularly in a storm, even had the ship not been damaged.There was also the possibility that the Fitzgerald was not entirely seaworthy in other respects when it sailed from Superior, Wisconsin. The NTSB noted:“A former chief mate of the FITZGERALD testified that between September 13 and October 3, 1975, the FITZGERALD discharged at Toledo, Ohio. Because of the FITZGERALD’s deep draft, she was not able to pull up to the dock and had to lay off some 12 feet each time. The ship seemed to plow its way toward the dock every trip, he said. Similar "groundings" of other Great Lakes bulk cargo vessels during discharge at various ports were observed by Coast Guard Marine Inspectors during the winter of 1976 and the spring of 1977 and by Safety Board personnel during the summer of 1977.”In other words, there may have been unrepaired damage to the bottom plating of the ship’s hull that was the result of literally plowing its way the last short distance to various unloading docks around the Great Lakes shoreline.This idea has some corroboration from one of the ship’s surviving previous crewmen, Jim Woodard, who had sailed on the Fitzgerald for some time in the 60s and 70s. He told a recent interviewer that the Fitz “was a wet ship”—meaning it leaked noticeably and often shipped water while underway—and that he just did not have a good feeling about it, even though it was widely known as “the pride of the American side” and an assignment on board was greatly prized among Great Lakes mariners.Forty years after the sinking of the Fitzgerald, untold stories...It is also possible that the vessel’s design itself was inherently flawed and at least somewhat structurally unsound. Support for this point comes from the fact that the Fitzgerald’s sister ship, the SS Arthur M. Homer, which had undergone a very expensive lengthening and reconstruction to increase its cargo capacity, was suddenly and unexpectedly removed from service by its owner, Bethlehem Steel Corporation (now defunct) just 5 years later, in 1980. A similar conversion had been planned for the Fitzgerald itself.The following passage from the Wikipedia article about the sinking explains:“Retired Great Lakes Engineering Works naval architect Raymond Ramsey, one of the members of the design team that worked on the hull of Fitzgerald,reviewed her increased load lines, maintenance history, along with the history of long ship hull failure and concluded that Fitzgerald was not seaworthy on November 10, 1975.He stated that planning Fitzgerald to be compatible with the constraints of the St. Lawrence Seaway had placed her hull design in a "straight jacket ." Fitzgerald's long-ship design was developed without the benefit of research, development, test, and evaluation principles while computerized analytical technology was not available at the time she was built.Ramsey noted that Fitzgerald's hull was built with an all-welded (instead of riveted) modular fabrication method, which was used for the first time in the GLEW shipyard. Ramsey concluded that increasing the hull length to 729 feet (222 m) resulted in a L/D slenderness ratio (the ratio of the length of the ship to the depth of her structure) that caused excessive multi-axial bending and springing of the hull, and that the hull should have been structurally reinforced to cope with her increased length.”The Great Lakes Engineering Works The Shipyard And Its VesselsThe Launch of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald at the Great Lakes Engineering Works in Detroit, MI, 7 June 1958. The GLEW Was for Many Years a Major Shipbuilder on the Lakes, and Has Since Gone Out of Business.Eventually the NTSB report gave its “Findings” and “Probable Cause”, which largely echoed the Coast Guard’s previous findings but with additional detail:“Findings:1. The FITZGERALD’s hatch covers were not weathertight and allowed water to enter the cargo hold over an extended period. This water was not detected because it migrated down through the cargo. There was no method provided for sounding the cargo other than visual observations, nor was there any method for dewatering the cargo hold with the vessel trimmed by the bow.2. Amendments to the Great Lakes Load Line Regulations in 1969, 1971, and 1973 allow Great Lakes bulk carriers to load deeper. This deeper loading increased deck wetness which caused an increase in the flooding rate through nonweathertight hatches or other nonweather-tight openings.3. The topside vents and fence rail were damaged before 1520 either by a heavy object coming adrift on deck or by a floating object coming aboard with the seas. The FITZGERALD’s hull plating probably was damaged also; the damage propagated and caused flooding of the ballast tanks and tunnel.4. Flooding of ballast tanks and the tunnel caused trim and a list. Detection of ballast tank flooding prompted the ballast pumps to be started. However, the flooding rate through the hull damage, which was propagating, increased and exceeded the capacity of the pumping system.5. The hull stress levels, even with a substantial amount of flooding, were low enough that the hull girder did not fail before the sinking.6. The forces on the hatch covers caused by boarding seas were sufficient to cause damage and collapse. These forces increased as flooding caused a list and reduced the vessel’s freeboard.7. Flooding of the cargo hold caused by one or more collapsed hatch covers was massive and progressed throughout the hold. Flooding was so rapid that the vessel sank before the crew could transmit a distress call.8. The vessel either plunged or partially capsized and plunged under the surface. The hull failed either as the vessel sank or when the bow struck the bottom.9. The availability of a fathometer aboard the FITZGERALD would have provided additional navigational data and would have required less dependence on the ANDERSON for navigational assistance.10. The most probable trackline of the FITZGERALD, from west of Michipicoten Island to the position of her wreckage, lies east of the shoal areas north and east of Caribou Island; therefore, damage from grounding would have been unlikely.11. The shoal area north of Caribou Island is not shown in sufficient detail on Lake Survey Chart No. 9 to indicate the extent of this hazard to navigation. A contour presentation of this hazard would allow mariners to better assess this area and would help to eliminate the erroneous conclusion that there are isolated spots of shallow water, where in fact there is a large area of shoal water less than 10 fathoms deep.12. Insufficient water depth has been observed at some loading and discharge piers. "Groundings" of vessels at these locations induce hull stresses of unknown magnitudes and create the potential of undetected hull damage and wear.13. Although the National Weather Service accurately predicted the direction and velocity of the wind expected over the eastern end of Lake Superior on November 10, 1975, the predicted wave heights were significantly less than those observed.14. Loading information on the FITZGERALD and other Great Lakes bulk cargo vessels was not adequate.15. Great Lakes bulk cargo vessels normally can avoid severe storms. The limiting sea state for Great Lakes bulk cargo vessels should be determined, and the operation of vessels in sea states above this limiting value should be restricted.16. The presence of an EPIRE aboard the FITZGERALD would have provided immediate automatic transmission of an emergency signal which would have allowed search units to locate the position of the accident. The accurate location of this position would have reduced the extent of the search area.17. Installation of trim and list indicating instruments on the FITZGERALD would have provided the master an early indication of flooding that would have an adverse effect on the vessel. These instruments would have given an indication of whether the master’s corrective action was adequate.18. The surface search and rescue capability of the Coast Guard on November 10 was inadequate.Probable Cause:The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the sudden massive flooding of the cargo hold due to the collapse of one or more hatch covers. Before the hatch covers collapsed, flooding into the ballast tanks and tunnel through topside damage and flooding into the cargo hold through nonweathertight hatch covers caused a reduction of freeboard and a list. The hydrostatic and hydrodynamic forces imposed on the hatch covers by heavy boarding seas at this reduced freeboard and with the list caused the hatch covers to collapse. Contributing to the accident was the lack of transverse watertight bulkheads in the cargo hold and the reduction of freeboard authorized by the 1969, 1971, and 1973 amendments to the Great Lakes Load Line Regulations.”In short, the ship sank because of progressive flooding following damage sustained from some cause near Caribou Island, aggravated by overloading. The initial flooding and overloading made the Fitzgerald go lower in the waves of the storm, which began a downward cycle of boarding seas. These gradually brought more and more water aboard until a final, catastrophic collapse of one or more hatch covers allowed sudden additional and overwhelming flooding that drove the ship to the bottom.The NTSB added that the storm was significantly stronger than weather reports had predicted, and both the Coast Guard and the NTSB noted that the navigational charts used by McSorley were not entirely accurate regarding the underwater hazards around Caribou Island. This last factor led the NTSB to take the unusual step of including a dissenting opinion in its conclusion. Board member Philip Hogue wrote:“The most probable cause of the sinking of the SS EDMUND FITZGERALD in Lake Superior on 10 November 1975, was a shoaling which first generated a list, the loss of two air vents, and a fence wire. Secondarily, within a period of 3 to 4 hours, an undetected, progressive, massive flooding of the cargo hold resulted in a total loss of buoyancy from which, diving into a wall of water, the FITZGERALD never recovered.Like the Marine Board of the Coast Guard or the majority of the Members of the National Transportation Safety Board, I could speculate or surmise in the first instance that flooding into the cargo hold took place through ineffective hatch covers or in the second instance that flooding took place due to the failure of hatch cover Number One due to massive seas. I reject these arguments because neither of them is fully cognizant of the ramifications of the first reported list, the loss of two vents and fence railing at approximately the precise time the FITZGERALD was reportedly in or over shoal waters. Between the first reported damage and the time of the sinking, approximately 3 to 4 hours later, seas of 25 to 30 feet and winds gusting to 80 knots were variously observed. Without exception, expert testimony has affirmed the fact that seas in shoal waters are inherently more violent and wild than in open water. It follows, therefore, that subsequent to her initial sustained damage, the FITZGERALD suffered progressive damage from laboring, rolling, and pitching for the next 3 to 4 hours as it proceeded toward Whitefish Point Light. At or about 1730, Captain Woodard aboard the Swedish vessel AVAFORS received a report from Captain McSorley stating the FITZGERALD had a "bad list," had lost both radars and was taking heavy seas over the deck in one of the worst seas he had ever been in. In approximately 2 hours from the initial report of a list, the FITZGERALD had acquired a "bad list" and sustained the loss of both radars. Approximately 1 hour 40 minutes later at or about 1910, the FITZGERALD reported it was holding its own. This was the last transmission ever heard from the FITZGERALD. Aside from the expert testimony elicited at the Coast Guard Marine Board hearing, it is self-evident that Captain McSorley had a damaged ship, and that he did not know how damaged she was….It is reasonable to assume, from all that is known of Captain McSorley, that his first report of damage was based on damage sustained immediately prior to 1530 and that it was no small consideration that caused Captain McSorley to ask the ANDERSON to stay with him, saying, "I will check down so that you can close the distance between us."”In the end, while these are expert and informed opinions, no one really knows for certain what sank the Fitzgerald. There is an enduring mystery about the ship and its final voyage that is both tragic and strangely compelling. In this vein Woodard said something striking. He had spoken with many of the Fitzgerald’s crew when his ship and the Fitz were in port a couple of weeks before the sinking.“God strike me dead if I’m lying,” Woodard said, his spontaneous laughter checked. “We pulled in behind them and everybody I saw on that crew had an aura around them. That’s the honest-to-God’s truth. They glowed, just like a little brightness, you know what I mean?”When asked if he was benefiting from hindsight and imagination, Woodard said, “I’ve never seen that since.”My mother once told me a similar story. She said she had seen our next door neighbor at the local post office just before he was killed in a car wreck by a drunk driver. She later described seeing the same kind of strange aura and light around him when she looked at him.Do with that what you will. As I say, there is mystery here.Perhaps the biggest lesson that should be taken from the sinking is that no matter how skilled the sailors and how large the ship, all are still less than specks of sand compared with the vastness and power of the sea and of great storms over large bodies of water. It is no wonder, then, that both the traditional US Navy Hymn and Gordon Lightfoot’s enduring ballad speak with reverence of the power of both Nature and Nature’s God.Eternal Father, strong to save,Whose arm hath bound the restless wave,Who bidd'st the mighty ocean deepIts own appointed limits keep;Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,For those in peril on the sea!The U.S. NavyThe Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, by Gordon Lightfoot.Lake Huron rolls, Superior singsIn the rooms of her ice water mansionOld Michigan steams like a young man's dreamsThe islands and bays are for sportsmenAnd farther below Lake OntarioTakes in what Lake Erie can send herAnd the iron boats go as the mariners all knowWith the gales of November rememberedIn a musty old hall in Detroit they prayed,In the maritime sailors' cathedralThe church bell chimed til it rang twenty-nine timesFor each man on the Edmund FitzgeraldThe legend lives on from the Chippewa on downOf the big lake they call 'gitche gumee'Superior, they said, never gives up her deadWhen the gales of November come early