[Governor Dinwiddie]

Gee whiz. Over the years, as many as 25,000 ships have sunk in the Great Lakes. It is not exactly rare or particularly newsworthy.

That song isn't about a ship, it's a self-pleasuring homage by Gordon Lightfoot to himself. Nothing galls me as much as the moans of rich self-pitying hippies.

[Secret Agent Man]

Yeah not a fan of him either.

[sasquatch]

Not newsworthy?

It was, to date, the largest ship to ever sink in those waters, claiming the lives of 29 crew members whose bodies were never recovered.

What’s your threshold?

[T.B. Yoits]

Over the years, as many as 25,000 ships have sunk in the Great Lakes. It is not exactly rare or particularly newsworthy.

They had gone 22 years without a shipwreck on the Great Lakes and people believed such an event couldn't happen with modern technologies such as radios, weather forecasting and radar.

The sinking was a haunting reminder that they hadn't put that deadly history in the past. Gordon Lightfoot's song and the public response arguably forced the industry and politicians to not allow such a tragedy to be repeated.

As for one historian's claim that the number of ships is 25,000; that's not likely. Records of ship and cargo lost point to roughly 6,000. And of those 6,000 shipwrecks, many of those ran aground versus being lost in storms.

[shaggy eel]

It is not exactly rare or particularly newsworthy.

,,, I'd say that about the number of Michelle Obama threads on this site.

[bwest]

What a stupid comment.

[Getready]

Many of those in november.....hence the phrase “witch of november come stealin’.”
Lightfoot, himself a sailor, didn’t want the legacy of unrecoverable men to disappear...all profits from the song has gone to the families....doesn’t sound like self pleasuring to me...
I thought it was just a made up story, when researching something else in a library, I found the news story...great poetry...asks a question men have pondered from the beginning...”does anyone know where the love of God goes....?

[Captain Walker]

That song isn't about a ship, it's a self-pleasuring homage by Gordon Lightfoot to himself. Nothing galls me as much as the moans of rich self-pitying hippies.

Then why not write the lyrics about himself?

The proceeds from the song go to the surviving family members of the deceased.

What would you have had the guy do? Not write the song to hide his talent and not have any money to give to the families? (How would someone who wasn't a self-pitying hippie handle this?)

[Alberta's Child]

There were many wrecks over the years, but at the late date of 1975 it was unfathomable to think that a massive cargo ship could sink on the Great Lakes with the loss of the entire crew.

It was definitely an anomaly. There hasn’t been another incident like that in the 50 years since.