Joseph MacInnis was the first man to dive under the North Pole and one of the first to dive to the Titanic. The latter escapade produced the best-selling Titanic: In a New Light. In Fitzgerald’s Storm, (and the Discovery Channel documentary of which he is the co-executive producer), MacInnis turns his attention to one of the Great Lakes’ most famous wrecks, the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

The first half of this slim volume recreates the Fitzgerald’s last voyage. Fleshed out with the history of the ship, the story of the huge ore-carrier and its 29-member crew as they move inexorably toward their fate makes for fascinating reading.

The second half of the book jumps among accounts of the families of the sailors, the official inquiry, the commercialization of the wreck, and Gordon Lightfoot writing his famous song. Though interesting, it lacks coherence, and no single aspect of the story is developed sufficiently to draw us in.

Photographs can help tell a story such as this, but here they are dark and unclear. As well, the Fitzgerald, being a working freighter, did not supply the poignant personal relics the Titanic did.

The sinking of the Fitzgerald captured people’s imaginations on both sides of the border and that will draw many to this book. They will be rewarded with a sense of the vessel’s final hours, but also with a feeling that the full drama has yet to be captured.