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.
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.
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
Ah! Now I understand. I couldn’t figure out why people were talking about the “Rectum of Ella Fitzgerald”. My hearing ain’t what it used to be.
Per Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Lightfoot
“The Mariners’ Church in Detroit (the “Maritime Sailors’ Cathedral” mentioned in “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”) honoured Lightfoot the day after his death by ringing its bell a total of 30 times, 29 for each of the crewmen lost on the Edmund Fitzgerald and the final time for Lightfoot himself.”
Lake Superior is no joke, the largest and deepest and coldest great lake, lots of ship wrecks on the bottom