[bigbob]

A fascinating piece of history, and a good opportunity to remember those who were lost, and to give thanks for the Coast Guard and fellow lakeboatmen who put their own lives in jeopardy by heading back into the storm to assist in the search.

[KC_Lion]

Thank you for posting this.

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

[Fantasywriter]

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.

[Kartographer]

Gordon Lightfoot - Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6DUFPNILvM

[cripplecreek]

I personally believe she went down the front of a wave and just kept going. The captain wouldn't have known just how bad it was till the water burst into the wheelhouse.



Michigan legislative action thread

[oust the louse]

Great song...to a sad story.

[Finatic]

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.

[cripplecreek]

Armstice day storm of November 11 1940 killed 120.

[Sequoyah101]

Thanks for posting this. Coming about in a laker in seas like on that night would just encourage the same fate as the “Fitsgerald”.

[fatima]

Bump.

[Ticonderoga34]

Ping for later read.

[Whenifhow]

Edmund Fitzgerald and Crew - Rare Footage

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tf7Z8ZWgAMk&feature=youtu.be

[laker_dad]

This place has an awesome exhibit with the actual ship’s bell and video of the retrieval.

https://www.shipwreckmuseum.com/

[43north]

This always chokes me up. Forty years ago today I was hitch hiking to Detroit from the Upper Peninsula. It was Sunday. I had been camping in beautiful November weather but that day it looked like a storm was brewing. I caught a ride and we were crossing the Mackinaw Bridge at about 1300 and the wind was starting to howl. Around 1500 they closed the bridge to traffic because it was swinging so much. I arrived in Detroit at around 2000. The storm had followed me down. The next morning I awoke to the news.

God bless sailors everywhere.

[OttawaFreeper]

I can remember watching an interview with the US Coast Guard officer who went out on the lake that night along with Cooper. He said that he had served in the Navy and Coast Guard for about thirty years (on the open ocean and Gulf of Mexico) by that time but had never ever seen seas as nasty and rough as what was on Superior that evening.