Deck Details

Hatch Clamps

    Part of giving the Fitz her look is getting the details right... especially on her work deck.  The Fitz had 21 hatch covers to her cargo holds and each had approx. 68 Kestner hatch clamps per cover.  I used reference images of the Reserve and other ships in the Columbia (Oglebay Norton) fleet for reference (see above).  These clamps were snapped into place to hold down the hatch covers and could be adjusted with a wrench.  Once in place, the clamps held in place the large steel covers weighing several tons.

 

 To lift the massive hatch covers, the Edmund Fitzgerald used a hatch crane.  Literally it was a rolling crane on tracks that was used to lift off the 2 ton hatch covers so that cargo could be loaded into her holds.  The covers were sometimes double-stacked on each other or placed in between the combings while ore was loaded.  Below are a few images showing my version of this work crane.

 

 

    As I worked through the hull sections, I continued to add details as I went including the railings on either side of the deck, vents for cargo hold, and lightholders.  The lights of the deck could be moved about, placed either at the rail or between the hatches.  I have seen pics showing both placements at times.

Transparent Peek Inside!

    Not too long after I released some preview pictures of the hull, I got some requests for wireframe and transparent pics.  I had a few boatwatchers question whether I had modeled all of the supports and girders in the hull.   So with that challenge, I created the following image.... their response?  "Wow......"   I was pretty happy with how it turned out.  you can definitely see all the modeling and time it took to create the pieces that made up this hull... And we are not even close to be finished yet.    Only the tip of the iceberg....







 

MOVE ON TO THE FORWARD HULL

 

Project History

    The seeds of this project were first sown in 1999, when I moved from Tennessee to Wisconsin.  I moved here and knew very little about the state, so I started looking for something that would interest me and draw me in.  Being a engineer by degree, the huge ore carriers of the Great Lakes instantly became of interest & the more I read and learned, the more I was drawn to one...  The Edmund Fitzgerald.  Like so many others, this huge vessel of steel had struck a nerve...  Made of steel to carry steel.... she now rests 530' below Lake Superior... her crew still manning their posts...  Silent sentinels to the past now long gone.  29 lost.

 

    I originally started my first attempts on this project in 2000-01, I was using a program called Blender and tried to create her in 3D.  But in those days, I had very few drawings or references... it was crude at its very best... but it was an attempt.  Now technology has changed, including computers software and my own skills...  So I started collecting images, diagrams, photos, and references and decided to set out again to create the "Toledo Express."

 

    I decided with this attempt that I was going to go with a very stylized look.  Washed out minimalist tones and edges... a cartoon shading if you please... along the lines of Frank Miller's "Sin City."  I wanted something that popped and was eye catching... something unlike the other attempts out there.

 

    I started gathering photographs of the great ship along with line drawings and blueprints...  Anything that would help me piece together the entire ship in detail.  I researched her "sister ships" with Oglebay Norton and asked questions of many researchers and boatwatchers alike from around the Great Lakes.

  The project continued to to grow and evolve and take on a life of its own.  As I completed sections of the great ship, I asked others who had served on her and had seen her to critique my work... pushing and pushing to get the details right and do the huge ship justice.  It was a huge learning curve for me, learning "on the fly" new processes and techniques and including them as I went.  This page is a overview of some of that process... and a highlight of what has been finished so far...  Please Enjoy and Remember the 29.

WHERE TO BEGIN?

The Mid-Deck & Cargo Holds
   
  With a boat of this size, the obvious question is... "Where to begin?"  That questions was not lost on me as I began.  The most outstanding feature of the Edmund Fitzgerald to me when I started the design was the sprawling mid hull of the mighty ship.  On the deck, 21 cargo hatches opened to the behemoth cargo holds below.

 

    I started my research on the Fitz here... gathering reference images.  The Great Lakes Maritime Institute has a great website that goes thru the construction of the Fitz hull.  I was particularly struck by the following image:

   

 

 

    This image shows the keel laid on the double bottom and the sides of the hull being constructed.  Showing the ballast and below deck walk-thru, as well as the cargo hold walls and cargo hatch bottoms.  This pic gave me the insight and ideas I didn't have before on "what's inside the holds?" 

 

 

 

 

 

    I also came across a article in the newspaper The Plain Dealer on the 30th anniversary of the sinking which featured a well done cross section render/drawing of the Fitz.   Several things stood out at me from this image.  In the Plane Dealer art, you will notice the "wall stanchions" on the sides of the cargo hold.  I don't know exactly what these are for and I didn't find any reference for these in the construction images on GLMI's site.  I didn't include these on my rendering.  The render also shows the outside of the combings under the hatch covers as grey... every image I have found shows these to be "hull red."  I decided to go with what I have seen on other Columbia (Oglebay Norton) boats... hull red!



My Work on the Mid-Hull & Cargo Hull

   

    Here you can see my version of the mid hull.  It is a two hatch section.  The Fitz would have had 21 of these hatches. 

 

 

Just below is a general view of all 21 cargo hatches.  Notice the rail track for the hatch crane, railings and lights, and the curve of the deck.  In my original model in 1999, I mistakenly had modeled the deck flat.

 

 

 

   To achieve some of the effects in the image, I used the newly developed "array" system in Blender 2.49b.  this system allowed me to model 1 complete cargo section and duplicate it 21 times over a given distance.  This gave me the cargo area that was need for the Edmund Fitzgerald.  Her deck not only features the cargo hold and bilge tanks, but also the above deck combings, and hatches.  Each hatch plate is secured to the combings with 68 Kestner hatch clamps.