Posted on 11/10/2025 1:57:48 AM PST by OttawaFreeper
Provided to YouTube by Rhino/Warner Records
The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald · Gordon Lightfoot
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I remember that night well. I was active duty going to school in Great Lakes Illinois. It was a monday night, we listened to the news reports on the radio in the dorm like barracks.
They might have split up or they might have capsized
They may have broke deep and took water
And all that remains is the faces and the names
Of the wives and the sons and the daughters
Haunting lyrics and melody.
Background and construction
Construction: The Edmund Fitzgerald was launched on June 7, 1958, and was the largest freighter on the Great Lakes until 1971.
Naming: It was named after the then-newly-elected chairman of the board of the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co., which owned the ship.
Nicknames: Due to its size and cargo capacity, it earned the nicknames “Big Fitz” and “The Pride of the American Flag”.
The sinking
Final voyage: On November 9, 1975, the ship departed from Superior, Wisconsin, with a cargo of taconite pellets, heading for Detroit.
Storm conditions: The ship sailed into a severe November storm with winds and waves that grew increasingly dangerous.
Sinking: Sometime after 7 p.m. on November 10, 1975, the ship sank in Canadian waters of Lake Superior.
Loss of life: All 29 crew members, including Captain Ernest McSorley, perished in the wreck.
Cause of sinking: The official U.S. Coast Guard investigation concluded the ship took on water due to ineffective hatch closures but did not determine how or when it broke apart.
Legacy
The wreck site: The ship’s remains lie in about 530 feet of water. The Canadian government has extended a protective perimeter around the wreck site to deter unauthorized divers.
Gordon Lightfoot song: The disaster was immortalized in the popular 1976 song “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”.
The bell: The ship’s 200-pound brass bell was recovered in 1995 and is now on display at the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum.
I just watched a recently completed two-hour privately produced documentary on the Fitz. It was one of the best independent documentaries I’ve seen.
Most of the independent ones are total crap and have nothing but stock footage - this one was quite excellent in comparison.
I don’t have the link now, but it shouldn’t be hard to find.
Thanks for posting! I always play this on Nov. 10, so you’ve made it easy for me this year.
Yep, I will never forget that day. We lived about 2 miles from Lake Huron, and about 100 miles north of Detroit. The wind there that day was a constant 70mph according to the radio weather reports. I filled a gallon milk jug about half way and threw it straight up as high as I could, about 500 feet later it hit the ground and kept going ha ha. The last place in the world that I would’ve wanted to be that day, was on the water. It was wicked.
i used to work on a patrol boat and whenever the weather was rough, the landbound gang would ask the local radio station to play this for us.
Vid with full lyrics here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vST6hVRj2A&list=RD9vST6hVRj2A&start_radio=1
and a live version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3x2vcergP0&list=RDM3x2vcergP0&start_radio=1
“Gord’s” voice was perfect for this haunting song.
BTW, nice mini-documentary (16 minutes) from the Minnesota Historical Society here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osAvIsgwIV0
After Lightfoot died, the famous bell @ the museum was, fittingly, rung THIRTY ONE times: 29 for the sailors, once (as usual) for all other sailors who have perished on the Great Lakes, and once for Gordon Lightfoot, for so fittingly immortalizing those mariners. Lightfoot said he wanted to make sure those men would not be forgotten: He succeeded beyond his wildest dreams.
Who says one man cannot make a difference?
Yes, the wind was brutal. I do not remember the speed of it in Great Lakes, i do remember staying indoors.
Read a book on the ship and it was nice when it was built. Heard the ship served gourmet dinners for guests.
Edmund Fitzgerald, right, and his wife, Elizabeth, exit the ore carrier that bears his name during an open house of sorts for the SS Edmund Fitzgerald in Milwaukee in July 1959. Fitzgerald was president and chairman of the board of Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co., which owned the ship. Milwaukee Journal Photo
Many believe that based on reports of other vessels, the extreme widely spaced swells raised the bow and the stern, leaving the center out of flotation. The bending moment created by the thus heavily loaded ends were greater than the keel could withstand.
It broke in the middle like a pencil
OS2 here; I was at Great Lakes from debt mine 1977, never been so cold in my life! Worst duty station ever
Brutal.
The families of the sailors and others dispute the opinion that the hatch covers were not fastened according to specs.
Lightfoot changed the lyrics reflecting the “main hatchway caved in”...to something like “it grew dark” to reflect the uncertainty of the claim about the hatch covers...
So far, there are lots of competing theories as to how that ship broke up....Lightfoot captured the ideas with a few great lines...
“That good ship and true was a bone to be chewed”
It may have split up, or may have capsized, it may have broke deep and took water
And all that remains is the faces and names, of the wives, sons, and the daughters
Since very cold water doesn’t allow bacteria to grow and create gas which makes bodies float...”the lake it is said, never gives up it’s dead”...
Brilliant, succinct, haunting, and touching lyrics
Lightfoot made all profits from the song go to the families of the sailors...very cool.
Yikes
I was in Wisconsin as a kid and saw a Great Lakes (?) ship I remember being amazed how large it was.
Green Bay so I guess it was Lake Michigan.
It shocks 😯😧 me that such tremendous storms occur there. I would have only expected that on the high seas.
We ate at some famous steakhouse in Green Bay - 1970s - forgot the name but it was all about the Green Bay Packers.
First time I ever saw 1/4 head of lettuce served as the salad. Cool 😎
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