[SuziQ]

I was a little surprised to find out a few years later that it was based on fact;

I was surprised to learn that it was based on a sinking that had only happened within a year of the song having been written. I thought it was a song that was written about a wreck that had taken place many years before.

[bannie]

That's what I thought, too, Suzie. It seemed so haunting that it caused it to seem distant in time.