THE LAKE NEVER GIVES UP ITS DEAD. Great Lakes diver Frederick Stonehouse offers his version of The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. This Book Review No. 10 addresses his 2005 revision, updated to include more recent diving expeditions and documentaries. Ultimately, he notes that Fitzgerald remains "the greatest mystery on the Great Lakes." Mr Stonehouse is skeptical of the Coast Guard's conclusion that improperly-secured hatch-clamps led to the sinking. His preference is for the hypothesis that Fitzgerald bottomed near Caribou Island although he's not capable to expand on the circumstantial evidence (the broken fence rail and the list) that Michael Schumacher's Mighty Fitz suggests are consistent with excessive hogging on big waves. Although Mr Stonehouse is skeptical of explanations that rely on converging rogue waves overwhelming Fitzgerald, he does note the observation Arthur Anderson's master Bernie Cooper made about the timing of a particularly large following sea. The observations Mr Stonehouse makes about possible shortcomings in Coast Guard coverage of the northern Lakes are somewhat less helpful. In the extreme conditions that prevail at those latitudes at the end of the shipping season, helicopters will not be able to fly and larger rescue boats will still be racing against time and hypothermia, even with additional rescue stations along Lake Superior.

The author does not take up the bigger public policy question: to what extent do government rescue services constitute a form of corporate welfare for lake shippers?