wHitmer.
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.
The Witch of November came stealing.
I lived in Chicago at the time and I don’t remember the news. It must’ve been really important, but I was an involved 20 something butterfly.
I really don’t think even 20 somethings should be allowed to vote. Too flaky.
Thanks for posting.
The weather on Lake Superior ain’t looking to good right now.
Yeah, Gordon Lightfoot is a piker when it comes to singing.
There are three theories about the sinking:
1. Unsecured or leaky hatches or vents on deck.
2. Wave action that lifted the bow and the stern up-no support for the center-the ship was loaded and she had been cut in half and lenghten some years before.
3. There were part of the lake where she went down that were shallower than what was on the charts and with the wave action, she may have scraped the bottom which in turn damaged her deck platings.
Tenth Grade.
English class, studying poetry and music lyrics. This was my chosen song.
I forgot to bring the album with me to school that day, and had to read the lyrics. I don’t think I had the effect that Gordon Lightfoot would have had.
Big story where I grew up, in Cleveland Ohio.
A good friend of ours had a relative on the Fitz when it sank. I never knew about it until I stumbled on a book on the sinking and the author mentioned our friends name. I was shocked. He had never mentioned the connection during all the years we knew him.
I was also fortunate to have the opportunity to follow the Arthur M. Andersen up the channel into Toledo one summer day. My guests on board didn’t understand why I was so excited to follow the boat. They just thought it was just another lake freighter.
There was a sinking just prior to the year 1972..or a few years before, that convinced the WHOLE dam class at the Marine Diesel engineering school to skip going out on the lakes.
I was one of them.
The Fitz broke her back on the caribou reef. That reef is at about 36 feet and the Fitz was fighting waves of substantial height...her draft loaded was about 27 feet if I remember right. She went right over and it hit bottom and split her hull. They started listing and it went down after three huge waves hit her.
The Fitz had a loose keel. They would drive plate in there and weld it in place to tighten it up. That thing should have been condemned.
Us old schoolers call the great lakes freighters, boats. Ships are the ones who ride the Oceans. The great lakes freighters have a round bows and more flat bottoms and wouldnt last long at all on the high seas. They are more like barges than anything. Matter of fact, they now have many older ones that they cut a “V” in the back and drive tugs up into that V to run them.
I should have went on the tow boats on the rivers. But like a stupid kid, I took to the woods. I’d be a rich man now days if I would have done that. If only I could go back in time.
If any of you have ever seen the big lake at it angriest, you’d know why these guys take their lives in their hands every time they go out.
Ok, this is really an odd post, but tomorrow is my 44th wedding anniversary. The week I got married this song was being played over and over. It’s such a sad song, but it marks a wonderful day for me. I always feel odd about how I feel when I hear it.
Wow, thanks for sharing that. I had heard of the first two theories but not the third. Very interesting!
She hit the Caribou Shoals. 36 feet. Her draft was at about 27 feet with ten plus foot waves.
NOT quite
The Glitch of November came stealing
You’ve never heard that song before?
Yup, I was 16 when this happened.
I remember the reports on the radio the next day/weeks/years...
Excellent!
“follow the boat.”
God Bless you.
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