Posted on 11/10/2020 6:38:17 PM PST by Ciaphas Cain
It was forty-five years ago tonight that the Edmund Fitzgerald, the largest ship plying the Great Lakes, sank and took 29 good men to the bottom of Lake Superior.
"The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" by Gordon Lightfoot. With photos of the vessel and her crew.
That is a good version.
I live two blocks from Lake Michigan and take my walks along it. When the Great Lakes are rough, they are deadly places to be, especially under gale conditions. There are various theories why the Fitzgerald sank. One was that deck hatches were left unlatched, which is alluded to in the song, but was later proven not true. Others are that it got caught between two enormous waves or there were structural defects that made it less seaworthy under extreme conditions. I believe ships of the same kind built by the same shipyard were found to have those defects.
People come to vacation and think the Great Lakes are just like the oversized ponds most places call lakes. They are actually fresh water seas with all that implies. No sharks, yet. But they can be very dangerous.
Great video! I had not heard of that one. As a ‘land dweller’ I am humbly awed, curious, horrified... not sure my lexicon has the word - when I consider what these men endured.
I just checked, she was carrying just over 26,000 tons. I think she would have been considered fully loaded.
It is the frequency of the waves; on the oceans the wave roll on Lake Superior they pound.
post #8 has a video with the lyrics
Hillary has to be the Witch of November!
I lived in Duluth for 17 yrs and never got tired of watching the lakers and salties coming from or going into the big lake, under the lift bridge... some of the 1000 footers never looked like they would make it out of the canal..
I’ve taken some pretty good rolls on a sub at 100’ feet deep. No way I wanted on a tin can surfaced. The Great Lakes ain’t nothing to screw with.
Also haunting is
“Does anyone know where the love of God goes, when the waves turn the minutes to hours.”
It is very windy here in WI tonight. I am listening to the wind rip through the woods.
Gordon’s song never fails to give me chills.
I just watched a Rick Beato (YouTube) video a few nights ago, about “If You Could Read My Mind”. He thinks it is one of the best performed songs ever.
Yes, I was looking for this video and didn’t find it. I especially like the list and the pictures of the crew. Rest in Peace.
A friend of my parents had a large yacht on Lake Superior when I was a kid and they would take us out for a few days.
One time got caught in a bit of quick sand as I was walking between two islands! It wasn’t very deep, but sure surprised me.
Those trips were always fun as it was so much different than my usual summer activities. Mostly at our shack of a cabin on a lake. Cruising around in a REALLY fancy yacht, exploring the islands on the south side of the lake and spending the evening on the boat in my own room!
Went across the lake and met up with his son on the son’s yacht in the middle of the lake, at night. This was back before GPS so I was pretty amazed at that. I guess using the charts got them close and then they used their radar. But still, as a young teen that was pretty cool.
A career Coast Guardsman involved in the search for the Fitz said that the weather during that storm was the worst he had experienced in his life, and he had spent most of his sea time in the North Atlantic.
Post 8 has the original recording with lyrics.
Amazing to see the hull of that freighter flex like that.
My dad is playing the song. It was the pride of the American side. As someone who loves to read up on ships, the Edmund Fitzgerald was nicknamed the Titantic of the Great Lakes. Dad took us to Michigan 6 years ago...and went to the museum where the crew is listed. Prayers to the families who lost loved ones on it.
Ya know..the ones I really take my hat off to is the River Towboat Captains. When they go through the bridge at Vicksburg, they are actually going through sort of side ways.
I feel a great bond with this event. I was 25 and had just graduated college. Didn’t have any money so I hitched a ride up to Escanaba which is on the Keewanaw Peninsula sticking right out into Lake Superior to visit a classmate who told me he might have a lead on a job. Didn’t happen. Started back to Detroit on 11/8. Glorious Indian Summer day. Camped at a little lake in the middle of the U.P. The next day - Sunday the 9th - I broke camp and hiked out to U.S. 2 and got a ride as far as the Mackinac Bridge. The weather was cloudy and starting to rain. Then the wind picked up. I got a ride with a guy who took me as far as I-75 and Eight mile in Detroit. The weather was really starting to get snotty. I called my Dad and he drove over from our house near Grand River and Six Mile and picked me up. Woke up the next morning and found out that the Mackinac Bridge had been closed about an hour after I crossed it because it was swaying so much in the wind and that the Fitz was missing and presumed sunk. I was a big Lightfoot fan (Gordon not Lori) and when the song came out I learned to play it on guitar. Regardless of the cause of the sinking it was a terrible way for those poor sailors to die and I mourn for them still. See my tag line.
Thank you for sharing your experience with us. I found it fascinating.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.