Michigan legislative action thread
Posted on 11/10/2015 7:31:08 AM PST by bigbob
Forty years ago, on Nov. 10, 1975, the freighter Edmund Fitzgerald sank during a ferocious storm on Lake Superior, killing all 29 men aboard.
Rather than linking to the famous Gordon Lightfoot song (and according to SiriusXM radio, Gordon personally attended todays annual memorial service held by the families), this is a 32 minute recording of actual US Coast Guard marine radio traffic from that tragic day.
I almost forgot this is the 40th Anniversary.
Gordon Lightfoot's song is also my Favorite song of all time.
I wonder if they will be commemorating this on The Great Lakes Today?
This Excellent Version has Captain Cooper's and The News reports sound bites scattered through out the song.
I highly recommend a listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgI8bta-7aw
BFL.
I have listened to this recording more than once. You can tell Cooper knew he wasn’t going to find anybody. As he explained elsewhere, it takes scant seconds for any member of the crew to issue a Mayday. Phones were located throughout the ship. The fact that the Fitz went down too fast for even a single, partial distress signal tells the story.
As bells tolled 11 times inside the Mariners’ Church in downtown Detroit, family members of some of the victims of the Nov. 10, 1975, wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald mourned but recalled happier times for their loved ones.
Sisters Elaine Riippa Sespico and Lonnie Turner journeyed from Ashtabula, Ohio, to Detroit to join more than 250 in the church at the foot of the Detroit River to remember their 22-year-old brother, Paul Michael Riippa, during the annual Great Lakes memorial service for the ill-fated freighter.
The service was broadened to remember victims from all disasters and tragedies on the Great Lakes.
Great song...to a sad story.
Part of my business is doing film to DVD transfer and recently I had a reel of film that showed the Edmund Fitzgerald making one of its runs through a lake channel.
I actually went there to listen to that piece, which is excellent, only to find the actual tape recording of the radio traffic had been posted a few years ago. Cynically you have to wonder if nowadays the lawyers for the Dubai corporation who owns the shipping company would have been consulted.
There is an annual memorial service as I understand it.
BFL
Thanks for posting this. Coming about in a laker in seas like on that night would just encourage the same fate as the “Fitsgerald”.
Bump.
Ping for later read.
Edmund Fitzgerald and Crew - Rare Footage
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tf7Z8ZWgAMk&feature=youtu.be
Tony Rice covers the tune nicely on his record of Gordon Lightfoot covers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUfalY7d83o
This place has an awesome exhibit with the actual ship’s bell and video of the retrieval.
https://www.shipwreckmuseum.com/
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.
