New book explores ‘conspiracy’ surrounding Cedarville tragedy
Forty years after the sinking of the Cedarville in the Straits of Mackinaw, a new book on the tragedy examines the disaster in narrative fashion. L. Stephen Cox, a practicing maritime attorney and former naval officer, dramatizes the events surrounding the collision of the Norwegian freighter Topdalsfjord and the Rogers City ore-carrier in his book The Cedarville Conspiracy: Indicting U. S. Steel (University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor).
The book picks up the story a few days before the Cedarville left Rogers City on her last voyage May 7, 1965. He follows the sailors as they say goodbyes to their families and the process of getting the ship ready to sail. The story concludes with the author?s summaries of a series of legal actions taken against U.S. Steel. The author takes a courageous approach of telling the story cinematic style, often telling what he thinks could be the thoughts of the real men and women whose lives were told about in the story.
COX EXPLAINS in the author?s note, ?the reader will note an abundance of dialogue in the telling of the Cedarville story. The reader may then justifiably inquire as to the source of this dialogue, as the events portrayed in this book are quite serious in their implications.? His author?s notes give insight, chapter by chapter, as to how and why the dialogue was crafted. Much of the story is told though the eyes of Len Gabrysiak, who was at the helm of the Cedarville on that fateful day in May 1965. Cox interviewed Gabrysiak and several others for the book.
He also pored over Coast Guard reports and reports from private investigators. In addition, court records provided the meat for much of the book. ?Most of the surviving Cedarville crew, several Topdalsfjord and Weissenburg officers, Bradley Fleet officials, company radiomen, widows, and other witnesses were questioned under oath,? he writes in the author?s notes. ?The transcripts of these interviews detailed ship movements and crew statements made during Cedarville?s last few runs and in the hours following her collision. Cited directly, these disclosures, along with statements made by key witnesses interviewed by the author, served as the framework upon which this narrative was built.?
THE AUTHOR MAKES his case for a conspiracy through a combination of things. He said the ?Cedarville?s longstanding deterioration,? the apparent destruction of WLC tape recordings, the assumed refusal of the company to make Coast Guard-mandated repairs, and the ?undisputed overloading of the vessel,? all played a major part in the tragedy. ?In fairness, none of the participants in the conspiracy ever admitted to their roles?or even that there was a conspiracy,? he sai
Even so, he admits later in the author?s notes, ?There are two sides to every story. Perhaps in the future some lost diary or memoir will surface to shed new light on the incident and the participation of the company officials. But in the meantime, this narrative ultimately reflects the author?s opinion on how the play was acted out.? The book takes the reader through the collision, the aftermath, and legal proceedings immediately after the sinking, as well as two years later. The book tells of heroism by many and poor judgment on the part of others.
It tells of efforts by the crew of German ship Weissenburg to save the crew of the Cedarville and why they were not able to save everyone. It humanizes an event, that for many it is just a story in a newspaper article, instead of an event which claimed 10 lives and altered the lives of many more.