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Ernest M. McSorley

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American merchant mariner
Ernest M. McSorley
Captain Ernest M. McSorley shown in the wooden photo frame.
Born(1912-09-29)September 29, 1912
Spencerville, Ontario, Canada
DiedNovember 10, 1975(1975-11-10) (aged 63)
Lake Superior, Ontario Canada
OccupationCaptain (nautical) on the Great Lakes
SpouseNellie L. McSorley (m. March 19, 1949; died February 13, 1993)

Ernest M. McSorley (September 29, 1912 – November 10, 1975) was the last captain of the lake freighter SS Edmund Fitzgerald. Captain McSorley perished along with the other 28 members of his crew when the ship sank in the Canadian side of Lake Superior on November 10, 1975.

The SS Edmund Fitzgerald, Captain McSorley was captain of the Fitzgerald from 1972–1975.

Captain McSorley was a Canadian by birth. At age 11 in 1924, Captain McSorley moved to the United States with his father and stepmother and spent part of his life in the St. Lawrence River town of Ogdensburg, New York, and eventually moving to the Toledo, Ohio area. Captain McSorley started sailing as a deckhand aboard ocean-going freighters when he was 18 years old. He began working with freshwater freighters as a wheelsman, and achieved the title of Third and Second Mate before becoming the youngest Captain on the Great Lakes. A veteran mariner, Captain McSorley had over 44 years of experience on the Great Lakes, and oceans. Captain McSorley took command of the Fitzgerald at the start of the 1972 shipping season and had captained nine ships before joining the Fitzgerald crew.

Captain McSorley turned 63 a month and a half before the Fitzgerald incident and intended to retire at the end of the 1975 shipping season. His last known words were, "We are holding our own."

Captain McSorley resided in the Toledo suburb of Ottawa Hills, Ohio, and was married to the former Nellie L. Pollock, a Chicago, Illinois native on March 19, 1949. Although he had no children of his own, Nellie was the mother of three children from a previous marriage. Nellie, who was in ill-health at the time of her husband's death, survived for another 17 years, passing away at age 82 on February 13, 1993.

References

  1. ^ "Hopes fading for survival of lake freighter's crew". Toledo Blade. (Ohio). Associated Press. November 12, 1975. p. 1. Retrieved November 10, 2022.
  2. "General Frequently Asked Questions". S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald Online. 2000–2008. Archived from the original on February 12, 2014. Retrieved March 24, 2014.
  3. "Untitled article". Boatnerd.com. Archived from the original on March 14, 2014. Retrieved March 24, 2014.
  4. "Coast Guard calls off search, assumes all ship's crew lost". Toledo Blade. (Ohio). Associated Press. November 15, 1975. p. 1.
  5. "Legends & Legacies: The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald". Legacy.com. 1999–2014. Retrieved March 24, 2014.

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