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Rating: 
Summary: The definitive account
Review: I first read this book after a visit to Whitefish Point in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. At this magical location -- where waves break together from two different directions -- you can look out into Lake Superior 15 miles and see the spot where the Edmund Fitzgerald went down. You can visit the lighthouse-turned-museum where the Fitzgerald's bell sits for eternity. You can watch a movie about the tragedy and look at a half-dozen artist renderings of the ship's final moments. After doing all this, how could you not read this book? Frederick Stonehouse's book is still definitive in explaining the sequence of events that resulted in sinking the ore freighter Edmund Fitzgerald and the subsequent confusion that followed. Television programs since that time have tried to convince viewers that loose hatches sunk the ship, the same conclusion the Coast Guard reached after its investigation. Stonehouse doesn't believe it and makes the case for same in his book. For one thing, hatch covers weigh thousands of pounds. Even in a rollicking storm with 30 foot waves and 75 mile per hour winds, would these be dislodged so completely that the ship's hold would be filled with water sufficient to sink it? This is the zillion dollar question never answered with certainty. The silver lining is this uncertainty keeps the mystery of this wreck alive in the imagination of anyone who loves the seas, Great Lakes or shipping. If you love any of those things, you'll want to read this book.
Rating: 
Summary: A Thorough Review of The Case
Review: I found much of this "Casebook," as I see it very illuminating, with regard to the sinking of the Fitzgerald.
What I liked were the text reports from the Coast Guard and the Lake Carriers Association, along with the statistics and other official information. This goes a long way toward fitting in with what Stonehouse writes, in terms of his own experience as a diver.
The interview excerpts were also interesting, with some questions that needed to be asked.
While I understand Stonehouse's views on the Coast Guard, and how they were obviously not prepared, this does not mean that under the circumstances they are inept.
Look at the situation: The Fitzgerald's captain knew he was in trouble. While he did not panic, he signalled the Arthur Anderson that he needed help, that he had a list, had lost two vents and was taking on water. He also slowed down to make sure someone was close.
McSorley also made a run for it, the only thing he could have done. In those terrible seas, he could not have stopped, could not have relied on the Anderson's crew, and no doubt knew the Coast Guard did not have the means to make a rescue at sea. He did what he had to do, and I'd have done exactly the same.
I do hope the Guard is better prepared, especially now, with year round sailing and those thousand foot tubs.
Stonehouse does point out some very important points...those boats needed waterright bulkheads, better mandated rescue gear and equipment such as EPIRBs. I'm no sailor, and I don't know for sure, but I hope that stuff is now on those boats.
One other little PS: Stonehouse sails as close as he can get without libeling an author named Jay Gourlay, who postulated in various books and on an old "In Search Of" program that as there is no set verdict, no possibilities can be dropped. So, in his head, UFOs are possible.
Please...first of all, there was no UFO activity over the lakes, and if there was, how could anyone tell?
Overall, a good sobering read.
Rating:
Summary: Foremost resource on the wreck
Review: I just completed reading Frederick Stonehouse's book (1999 paperback addition) and could not put it down! The various theories mentioned in the text give the readers a good chance to draw an intelligent conclusion on their own. The details of Capt. Cooper's (of the SS Arthur Anderson) conversations with Capt. McSorely were an excellent way of putting us in the middle of the tragic situation. The interview with Steve Chandler of "South Shore" magazine was another useful tool in bringing up many points about the investigation of the Coast Guard, as well as zeroing in on small facts of the Fitzgerald that might have contributed to its sinking. Gordon Lightfoot's lyrics and reference were of particular interest to me, as his hit song was the way I found out about the wreck back in 1976. My only complaint; put the captions on the same page as the pictures instead of making the reader thumb back and forth to figure out what picture they are looking at. Otherwise, excellent work!
Rating:
Summary: Just buy it
Review: If you have any intrest in the Fitz, this is the book for you.
This is one of the most informative books about the Fitz I have ever read.The only thing I can say is you will not be disapointed.
Rating: 
Summary: Stonehouse has a serious beef with the Coast Guard.
Review: Others have called this the "definitive account" of the Edmund Fitzgerald's sinking, and it certainly is comprehensive. Stonehouse takes all the facts as they are known and lays them out for the reader to draw his or her own conclusions. He also (and this is highly commendable) includes the actual texts of the various documents pertaining to the sinking, along with pictures, sketches and diagrams, to give the reader as much of the evidence as possible.
However in the section entitled "A Conspiracy of Ineptitude," Stonehouse goes off onto a tangential rant about the incompetency of the modern Coast Guard and how they are not prepared for lifesaving on the Great Lakes and their equipment is outmoded and their training is inadequate and so on and so forth and boy, aren't the Coast Guard just a bunch of sorry yokels? all of which has very little to do with the Fitz's sinking. Now it may be entirely possible that the Coast Guard is in a dreary state today, and I'm sure that most right-thinking people would agree that the Coast Guard should have the facilities it needs to do its job. Can't argue with that. However, as even Stonehouse admits several times, there was nothing the Coast Guard *could* have done on the night of the Fitz's sinking, even under optimum conditions, because the ship just went down too fast. Therefore, his hatin' on the Coast Guard is seriously irrelevant to the topic of the book, the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald. (This may be why he saved it for an epilogue; but really, no more than a brief mention is necessary, and Stonehouse could have/should have saved this for another book--it might have gotten more attention in that way as well.)
The book is also somewhat confusingly organized; the primary documents are in the *middle* of the book for some reason when they could have been saved for an appendix, and the same could be said for the photo sections. There apparently also seems to have been more sections added for the 1996 rerelease of the book, and these were simply and oddly appended at the back of the book; though they could easily have been worked in with the main text.
The negatives here, however, are mostly minor stylistic stuff; the substance of the book is good, solid, and well-documented (indeed, Stonehouse's inclusion of the primary texts is invaluable). For anyone interested in researching the sinking of the Fitzgerald, this book is a must read.
Rating:
Summary: Foremost resource on the wreck
Review: The first copy of the book that I bought was in 1983, the reprint of the First Edition. It began my "hobby" and fascination of the Great Lakes, including writing about the great and truly awesome natural resource that they are. I have had a chance to dive each of them, and each has its own character - and its own wrecks. Fred Stonehouse did a wonderful job piecing together the sketchy information available just after the wreck. His was the first book on the wreck, and is still the most accurate. Fred's accuracy and his completeness in the criticism of the lack of resources on the Lake that night highlight how the power of the "Eighth Sea" is many times underestimated by people. This is as true today as it was in 1975. This is a great book on a tragic event.
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