Posted on 11/10/2021 7:53:20 AM PST by shadowlands1960
Forty-six years ago today, on November 10, 1975, the SS Edmund Fitzgerald sank with the loss of its entire crew. We'll remember the ship and the 29 men who perished with Gordon Lightfoot's moving tribute at 10:15am and 8:15pm on 87.7FM.
I was going to share something similar, thanks very much for doing this. Wonder if there are others here who remember being in the area at the time and remember it all very well.
It was the largest ship on the Great Lakes at the time and the largest ever lost in there.
A tugboat captain I used to be friends with, now long deceased, told me he knew the crew and was the last person to see them alive. True? I’ll never know..........................
Gordon Lightfoot honored those who lost their lives in this disaster. While he didn’t use their names, people still remember the Edmund Fitzgerald and its crew because of his tribute.
Somewhat like Woody Guthrie did for the men of the Reuben James. Guthrie’s melody was from ‘The Wildwood Flower’ Lightfoot’s melody was original... and spot on.
I think the real story is that of the Arthur M Anderson that was ahead a few miles of the Fitz. They made it safe harbor when they got the news that they lost contact with the Fitz. The captain and crew volenteered to go back out to look for survivors.. Remember that what hit and sunk the Fitz was equivalent to a hurricane. The Anderson reported the got rocked by 2 gigsntic waves and the Captain though that what hit and sunk the Fitzgerald
I watched a documentary on the tragic night and I recall an interview with the US Coast Guard captain who went out with the Anderson in the search and rescue effort and he said those were the worst seas he had been on and that included about 25 years service on the Gulf of Mexico and elsewhere like that.
Such an epic song. Thanks for reminding us.
As the big freighters go, it was bigger than most, With a crew and good captain well seasoned.
It’s been a few years since I was there - but there’s a museum right by the Duluth ship canal where the ore and grain boats go in and out.
The museum is a couple of stories taller than the canal. back on November 10 1975, someone took pictures of the canal during the storm. I do recall that the pictures made Lake Superior look like a storm out on the ocean.
“They might have split up or they might have capsized...”
From a scan of the ship on the bottom, it was determined it broke in half, due to a huge wave picking the ship up that left one end hanging in the air.
Yes, great song.
“The Anderson reported the got rocked by 2 gigsntic waves and the Captain though that what hit and sunk the Fitzgerald”
True.
I did read a book a number about 12 years ago. it was written by another captain who was out that night. he found refuge for his ship in Thunder Bay. They did go out looking for the Fitz later.
There is a line of thinking that as the Fitz took a northerly route that it may have accidentally scraped its hull at a place called Six Fathom Shoal. The captain of the Fitz later reported via radio that the ship had developed a list and its pumps were having trouble keeping up.
The two waves that hit the Anderson then hit the Fitz and drove her underwater where she broke it half.
What a great song / tribute. Other naval disasters, the Thresher and Arizona for example, could serve as inspiration but Lightfoot; a Canadian, chose this one not surprisingly. One of few songs whose lyrics are burned into memory. Dan Folgleberg had a few, also.
Re: the picture at the head of the replies - anybody know why a ship that’s an ore carrier has a bowsprit like the one shown?
Another song about a tragedy is Cold Missouri Waters about the 1949 Mann Gulch Fire where 12 smoke jumpers and one other fire fighter died. Cry, Cry Cry did a good cover of the song. Its from the perspective of the crew chief, Dodge, who survived the fire. It is a very haunting song. Norman MacLean wrote the book Young Men and Fire about this tragedy. He was the author of A River Runs Through It.
bttt
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